Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Ipod Apps I Like: prayer and words

Equanimity - Meditation Timer & Tracker

I am surprised at how a techno-app can stimulate my meditation times, but this one called "Equanimity" has! It has a timer that begins with a gong and ends with three; the time is shown to pass by the darkening of the circle. First I downloaded the free version, which is only the timer. I liked that so much that I bought the app that includes a journal and records of sittings. This is re-motivating me to sit twice a day!

The other app that is very enjoyable is a game my children play, based upon Scrabble. We can even play together long-distance (See how new I am to all this?). Son DC almost always wins.

Words With Friends

If you want to play a game with me, I am listed as "Janintx."

Whirly Words

My friend Nancy suggested the game "Whirly Words," which I also find fun. I seem to be getting these games for my trip to Spain, but they are enticing here at home, too.

And here I never even knew what "apps" were before!

2 Dads and 2 Babies

Friends Ben and DC, with babies Luke and Avery

These two dads have been friends since they were about 9 years old. Ben met his future wife at DC* and AA's wedding in 2006. Now the couples have babies who are almost the same age. This picture was taken a few weekends ago out in the Texas hill country. Luke is a about a month older than Avery, but Avery has more hair!

I love this picture.

*DC is my oldest child; he will be 32 this summer.

Come into the Silence

by Kristin Noelle

Kristin created this cartoon to go along with an interview with Christine Valters Paintner, the abbess at Abbey of the Arts.

Friday Five: Cars

Singing Owl brings today's RevGalBlogPals Friday Five:
Maybe it's just me, but I often remember how long ago someting occured or something about it by recalling the car we had at the time. For today's Friday Five, tell us about the cars in your life. Maybe we can even tempt some of the guys of the ring to join us. Specifically, tell us about:

1. The earliest recollection you have of a family car
I always remember my father loved to dicker for new cars and would surprise us with a new one, which must not be as often as I remember. I remember cars being black and/or white for a long time. The first one I remember is a big black Ford, probably a Mercury sedan.

2. The first car you drove when you could (legally) get behind the wheel yourself.
I learned to drive in my dad's green Volkswagen beetle and in my mother's red Satellite with the black roof. I preferred the latter, as it was an automatic.

3. A memorable road trip
We had "road trips" every time my father was transferred to a new Marine Corps post--to go and visit the relatives. The most stressful road trip I remember was when CB and I moved to Oregon from Virginia in 1974. He drove a U-Haul truck, while I drove our Datsun 510. Somewhere in the west, I lost him and got to our motel destination, with no sight of that U-Haul. This was the time of no cell phones, so I used the pay phone to call my parents and then the State Patrol. I was only 23 and very frightened. About an hour late, CB showed up; I still remember him stating that I should not have been concerned because the truck always went slower than the car.

4. The car you drive now. Love it? Hate it?
I have an Toyota Avalon. I love it because it drives easily and is comfortable. I keep thinking we should have a hybrid though. We got it because there is enough leg room, both in the front and back seats, for husband CB.

5. An interesting story that involves you and a vehicle.
When we lived in Euless, TX in 1985, with three small children, my parents came to visit from my dad's grandmother's home in Mineral Springs, Arkansas. I was surprised to see them drive up our driveway hill with a Dodge Caravan that was red with "fake" wood grain paneling. I thought it was an unusually large rent-car for the two of them. They came into the house to tell me it was their gift (to their only child)!! I will never forget that extravagant and wonderful present. (I also remember driving them to DFW Airport and ducking my head at each entrance to the parking garage.)

That was so helpful with three children (and later with four!). Our most recent trip to see my grandmother had been chaotic and troublesome with them bickering and bother each other in the backseat, with one-year-old BJ in his big car seat.

Going to Granada!

This is a picture of the Hotel Plaza Nueva, where I will be staying while visiting MJ in Granada! I just made the reservation for four nights, so this really seems like it is going to happen! MJ suggested this hotel as it is on this plaza and is close to her school IES. We are also going to stay in Seville and Madrid; I am excited that concrete plans are finally being made!

Ash Wednesday: Richard Rohr

"It seems that we need new beginnings, or everything eventually devolves and declines into unnecessary and sad endings. You were made for so much more! So today you must pray for the desire to desire! Even if you do not feel it yet, ask for new and even unknown desires. For you will eventually get what you really desire. I promise you. It is the Holy Spirit doing the desiring at your deepest level. Therefore you will get nothing less than what you really desire, and almost surely much more. "You are the desiring of God. God desires through you and longs for Life and Love through you and in you. Allow it, speak it, and you will find your place in the universe of things. Now let me tell you something: You cannot begin to desire something if you have not already slightly tasted it. Now make that deep and hidden desire conscious, deliberate, and wholehearted. Make your desires good and far-reaching on this Ash Wednesday of new beginnings. You could not have such desires if God had not already desired them first—in you and for you and as you! Remember finally, that the ashes on your forehead are created from the burnt palms of last Palm Sunday. New beginnings invariably come from old false things that are allowed to die." Richard Rohr: From Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent, p. 13

My diagnosis?

from here

Due to continued pain, I went back to my doctor today, who told me I have "non-specific arthritis." Okay, that almost sounds like I have made it up. I asked about being referred to a rheumatologist, and Dr. S. said he would be laughed at when he told them that I had such a low sed rate and so would not do that.

So I am again trying a low-dose of prednisone (1/2 a pill), this time for five days, then off, and possibly on again. Dr. S. said to try this to see if it would help me during my trip to Spain to see MJ (March 30-April 13). I hope I won't contract the side effects of taking a steroid. . . .

I appreciate your thoughts and prayers during this season of discomfort.

The Hope in Dormancy

Do you remember how my children gave me a live oak tree for Christmas? I have been worrying about it because its leaves all went brown. Could it have died? I only told oldest son DC, because it made me too sad. He's the one that said to scrape some bark off one of the branches to see if it was still green underneath.

That seemed to work, but still I doubted there was life, as the brown leaves hung there. Then yesterday husband CB told me that there were some little green buds popping out on one of the branches! I tried to take a picture, but couldn't get those tiny living leaves into focus with my camera. But that is proof that there is hope in dormancy (or death?).

And fortuitously, last night I received this cartoon from Kristin Noelle:

TRUST IS

By Kristin Noelle
(#23 of 30 on Trust)

"Knowing dormancy is part of the cycle" is a good thought as I head into the season of Lent. Also death is part of the cycle and still there is hope!

Believing that seasons change

Trust is

By Kristin Noelle
(#22 of 30 on Trust)

Having faith that weather seasons change is more obvious than other seasons of our lives shifting. Friends sometimes come for a season. I am recently aware of a period of pain in my life, which I hope will only last for a season. I want to believe that those seasons change, too!

Stuff and Things on Saturday

by Natalie Dee

When I googled "stuff and things," I found this cartoon aways down the page. It seems meant for me--about trying new things, about which I too often am hesitant. I haven't done a list of trivia for some time, and so I thought today I would do that again.

• Our priest of the past two years is leaving All Saints Episcopal Church. Sandy Casey-Martus has accepted a call to All Saints by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Santa Barbara, CA. She is excited and eager to go, which is somewhat understandable as her period here has been stressful, which has succinctly been described by Ron about "An 'after-pastor' moves on." I am trying to let go of my disappointment (and resentment) that she is leaving before Easter and in the middle of Lent, remembering how she anticipates this new call.

• The pains in my joints continue. I appreciate the prayers in this rocky (or rickety) period of my life.

• I am going to Spain at the end of the month to visit MJ, who is an exchange student in Granada! CB is not going; so I am venturing off by myself. There was a tight window for me to see her, as she has plans to go to Prague the week before and then her boy friend is spending his spring break with her, which is around the middle of April.

• And I got an Ipod Touch. I am excited (and also a little inept)! Four daughters (2 natural and 2 by marriage) have them, which enticed me. The trip to Spain spurred me on to order it and get it, so that I might learn how to use it before I leave (on March 30). Husband CB thinks such things are silly, but he is politely refraining from critical remarks as I play with it. I know it helps that we do not have to pay extra for internet usage, which we do not utilize on our cell phones. I am grateful that my two oldest children (DC and AE) are helping me learn to maneuver this device.

• My fourth year of EFM is almost over. We have six more chapters (and weeks) to go. I will sorely miss the group and leaders, who have become my friends. I have spent my Tuesday afternoons for four years with these people.

Maisie's wet adventure

CB bathing Maisie

This morning Maisie ran away and had a joyous run in the rain as a cold front was blowing through here with thunderstorms. Usually we close the driveway gate when one of us leaves, but this morning CB forgot. I did not realize that and put the dogs outside; after an hour or so, I wondered where Maisie was because the other dogs had come inside. That is when I discovered the gate was open!

I very slowly drove around in the heavy rain, trying to spot her. After 30 minutes, I called CB who was working at a Habitat house, wailing that Maisie was lost. So he drove back and started looking, too.

Eventually, he called to say he had found her but that she kept running away from him. I drove to meet him; luckily, by then CB had gotten her into his truck. YAY!! I was so worried that Maisie was gone.

The result for Maisie was a bath. Now she is whimpering because she is stuck in the laundry room until she dries off; she can see Baillie and Cisco--and me typing on the computer through the French door.

It is a good day, after all.

Friday Five: Lent Edition

KathrynZJ brings RevGalBlogPals this Friday Five:

What about you? What are some things you appreciate about the season of Lent? Perhaps you would share 5 of them with us. And for your bonus question feel free to share one thing you could do without.

1.
2. I treasure the special worship opportunities in the season of Lent, including Ash Wednesday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. The latter two services are what clinched my decision to move from the Methodist Church back to the Episcopal Church some years ago. The solemnity and awe impacted me greatly and still do.

3. Having the intensified focus of 40 days before Easter helps me to live more in the Presence. As others have suggested, this also includes more consistent practices lived out.

4. Adding to my posts on Lent.

5. I am pondering if I will have a practice of adding to or letting go for Lent. It seems delusional to give up chocolate for Lent, because I already have done so for Fair Trade reasons--plus I need to lose some weight. I have a friend who used to fast from dinner the night before to 3 pm the next day; that has always sounded easier to me. Perhaps this Lent, I'll try that, but I haven't decided yet.

Bonus: I dislike the pretense that Jesus was not bothered by his suffering on the cross, because he knew he would be okay in the end. (I remember that was another reason I left that particular Methodist Church with that specific minister years ago as he preached that on Good Friday.) Too often we give complete divinity to Jesus in his earthly life, while doctrine says he was both human and divine. (I could go on and on. . . .and will not.)

Pain

I have been hesitant to write about the traveling pain in my joints, which has been going on for the past two months. At first, I thought the pain in my feet was due to my age and bunions, but when my ankles and knees also hurt, I went to see my doctor. Ordered blood tests showed low levels of inflammation, which seemed to rule out forms of arthritis. Dr. S. put me on a six-day regimen of steroids, which magically cleared any discomfort from all parts of my body. My swollen right fingers came back to normal size in only three hours!

A week of normalcy was followed by sporadic joint pain, which remains in my thumb and knee joints. Another doctor visit had him prescribe an antibiotic (doxycycline) that eliminates joint pain in 30% of cases. We will see if anything changes in the next nine days.

I am trying not to obsess about the pain and the possible reasons for it, which can degenerate to imagined and unwelcome outcomes. Meditating and praying the power prayer help discourage those ruminations. (The power prayer is: "No power; God is." It is to remind me to stop giving my power away to those depressing thoughts.)

3 month old Avery with her family

Here are some of the many pictures I took of Avery at her home in Austin this past weekend.

Avery and (big brother) Sampson

Grandpa CB and Avery

Nana Jan and Avery

Mommy AA holding Avery and Daddy DC holding Sampson

Smiles

Avery, 3 months old

We had a wonderful time in Austin visiting son DC and his wife AA with 3 month old Avery. We all were enamored with her smiles and would do silly things, trying to get her to smile for the camera. She is a happy and pretty baby, and I am a proud grandmother! You can see her "crazy toe," which they point out is just like her mommy's little toe.

More pictures will be posted.

Baby Visit

Avery, 3 months old

We are going to visit Avery and her parents this weekend! CB and I are very excited. A friend is staying with our three dogs, so they will not notice our absence. Holding our grandbaby will erase all thoughts of our pets left behind.

Cozy Chair

Maisie loves to climb up into CB's lap. In this chair, she likes to sleep on his lap. (In TX, CB often wears shorts in the winter. Today it was 89 degrees F.!)

Love=Meaning

Love was the meaning.
Who showed it to you? Love.
What was shown to you? Love.
Why was it shown to you? For Love.
Keep yourself in that love and
You will learn more of it,
And you will never learn anything else--ever!

~~Julian of Norwich (Gerald May's translation)

Good night; sweet dreams!

Texas and guns

Doesn't this image startle you? It seems to be the image many Texans endorse with the prospective law (in the Texas Senate) that concealed weapons may be carried by students and professors on university campuses. More than half the members of the Texas House have signed on as co-authors of a measure directing universities to allow concealed handguns. And probably most of those members of the Texas House are "Christians."

Christians or not, it is ridiculous and stupid to allow students and professors to carry weapons on campus (and elsewhere). For protection? Or for a "final say" in a dispute? Adolescent fury coming forth at the drop of a hat?

It doesn't help that Texas has a governor who likes to shoot off his mouth and guns.

In this April 15, 2010 file photo, Texas Republican Gov. Rick Perry fires a six shooter filled with blanks as NASCAR driver Colin Braun looks on at an event in downtown Fort Worth, Texas. Texas is preparing to give college students and professors the right to carry guns into their classrooms, adding momentum to a national campaign to open up another prominent part of society to firearms. (AP Photo/Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Rodger Mallison, File)

"University of Texas President William Powers has opposed concealed handguns on campus, saying the mix of students, guns and campus parties is too volatile.

"Guns occupy a special place in Texas culture. Politicians often tout owning a gun as essential to being Texan. Concealed handgun license holders are allowed to skip the metal detectors that scan Capitol visitors for guns, knives and other contraband.

"Guns on campus bills have been rejected in 23 states since 2007, but gun control activists acknowledge it will be difficult to stop the Texas bill from passing this year. "Things do look bleak," said Colin Goddard, assistant director of federal legislation for the Brady Campaign Against Gun Violence, who was in Austin recently to lobby against the Texas bills."

Go here for the rest of the article.

Also, Dating God blog has a more inspirational take on "Guns and Christianity."

The truth of grief

Trust is
Cynthia at Reverend Mom directed me to Kristin Noelle, who creates cartoons that touch my heart. You can sign up for 30 days of sketches based on the theme of trust here. If you want to see a sample of what you'll be getting, click here and here. It's like the New Yorker cartoons, but with kindness and grace.

Thanks to Cynthia, I signed up for the 30 days of cartoons. The one above was the ninth of 30.

Technology and Me

A void in your soul

There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?
You feel the separation
from the Beloved.
Invite Him to fill you up,
embrace the fire.
Remind those who tell you otherwise that
Love
comes to you of its own accord,
and the yearning for it
cannot be learned in any school.
~~~Rumi

Friday Five: Words

Today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:

There is a dramatic and surprising venue for Spiritual Formation/Sunday School classes at my church: Each week a different person teaches about a "word" that expresses his/her passion or interest. The first week someone spoke about "hospitality" with abundant treats on her mother and grandmother's china arrayed on tables. Other words have been "connectivity," "Trinity," "money," and "dreams." No one knows which person will be teaching until the class convenes. I am teaching this Sunday and plan to talk about "stirrings."

For this Friday Five, please list five words that identify your passions, spirituality, and/or life. Describe as much or as little as you wish.

And now I have spent the day trying to organize my thoughts about "stirrings," as mentioned above. So I am quickly and briefly doing this FF:

1. procrastination: Obviously, what I do, especially about writing. I even have a blog label entitled "Procrastination."

2. stirrings: Coming from that time at Lebh Shomea where I was first struck with stirrings, I am trying to be more attentive to these subtle feelings within me.

"A glimpse is not a vision. But to a man on a mountain road at night, a glimpse of the next three feet of road may matter more than a vision of the horizon."
~~C. S. Lewis

3. yearning: As my blog title shows, I yearn for God, now realizing that this yearning is actually the presence of God!

"Julian regards prayer as an act of yearning which leads to beseeching, and beseeching leads to beholding. Yearning is the first mark of awakened soul, the beginning of its movement back to its source, its deep rootedness in the being of God."
~~Kenneth Leech

4. connection: I thirst for connection--with both friends and family. It is surprising how the internet can provide a depth of relationship, although personal/physical connections are the most intimate.

5. meditation: Since beginning to practice Christ-Centered Prayer, which is centering prayer without a word to focus upon, I have found greater peace, confidence, and even some detachment.

Christ, Cosmology and Consciousness

Today I received this two-cd set in the mail from the Center for Action and Contemplation. I urge you to listen to it somehow. Go here to read more about it.

I am still pondering Richard Rohr's introduction where he replaces "word" and/or "logos" in the beginning of the gospel of John with "blueprint." Listening to this section merits buying the cd set (for $15).

God in our emptiness

When Feeling Down and Out

by Ronald Rolheiser

"At the end of the day our task is to recognize that God is in the silence, the frustration, the loneliness, the emptiness of our lives.

"We should never be shocked at our own emptiness, nor should we run from it and think that God is dead. God is in the emptiness. But the God who is found there is not God as we imagine Him. The God we find in loneliness and emptiness is the real God, the God that nobody can look at and live because that God is too real, too ineffable, too infinite, too unnameable, too wild, and too much pure fire to be captured in any concepts, words, imaginations, or even feelings. That God, of course, can be met and known; but, this side of eternity, perhaps that God is most easily met precisely when our own words sound flat and empty."

Go here to read the rest of the article.

If you would like to receive Fr. Rolheiser's twice-weekly column via email, subscribe here.

Happy Valentine's Day, Dear Friends!

“I cannot even imagine where I would be today were it not for that handful of friends who have given me a heart full of joy. Let’s face it, friends make life a lot more fun.”

~Charles R. Swindoll (American writer and minister)

“A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be.”

~Douglas Pagels (American inspirational author)

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

~Anais Nin (French born American author of novels and short stories)

“Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day.”

~Dalai Lama

The Star of the Evening

For the past 15 years or so, my husband and I have been involved in a monthly dinner group, which was first made up of (his) company's employees and spouses and now most of the employees are retired. It is sometimes laughingly called "The Casserole Club."

Tonight was our turn to host this dinner, with five couples, counting us. Oddly, the star of the evening was CB's Keurig coffee maker.That was my surprising Christmas gift to CB a few months ago. He is notoriously difficult to buy gifts for. When our sister-in-law Chris told me how much she loved hers on our visit to Bellingham last summer, I decided to get one for him.

It is a silly extravagance, though I am told that it makes excellent coffee. Since I do not drink coffee, a single-cup brewer seemed ideal for my husband. He likes the coffee.

Tonight the friends from this dinner group were amazed by it, never having seen or heard about one before. (You have to realize that most members of this group are 10-15 years older than us.) I am betting that one man is going to go buy one very soon. His wife, my daughter's former piano teacher, made mugs of coffee for anyone who wanted one tonight. It was cute.

Power of the People

By Mike Peters
Found here.

To receive a free daily cartoon from Center for American Progress, sign up here.

Friday Five: Love in My Heart

by Lisa Wolk

Singing Owl brings today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:

In two days my husband and I will have been married (ulp!) forty years. And, of course, Valentine's Day is coming soon so I'm thinking about love. For today's Friday Five, tell us about five people you love, people who will remain in your "heart" forever. This can be a friend, teacher, family member, mentor, pastor...

FIVE already would be fulfilled if I just listed my husband and four children. They are always in my heart, plus more are added with my children's marriages and offspring (Avery!).

Friends have already been discussed with my failed January Naplobomo.com on Friends. They are special friends, but I am going to try to stretch myself and think of others who are in my heart besides all of the above.

Today I tend to think of people who have died who continue to exist in my heart.

1. My mother: She died in 1992, and I am accustomed to her absence now. She was my friend, confidante and encourager. Even though she lived in WA State, she visited us at least twice a year and then we went to Washington every summer.

2. Judy Dickson: Like my mother, she died quickly with pancreatic cancer. She was the therapist who saved me while I suffered from depression. After going to The Meadows, I was sent to aftercare here in Corpus Christi; I lasted only one day, because I knew more than they did! I remember one of the activities was to make something out of beads, like in kindergarten. My dear husband negotiated with the insurance company for me to have therapy three times a week, which occurred for years with Judy. Her wisdom, humor and spirituality connected deeply with me.

3. Margy Hoffman: Margy was the kindergarten teacher for three of my four children. Her husband worked for the same company as mine, and so we became friends. We also went on our pilgrim Walk to Emmaus together in 1994. We shared spiritual yearning and an abused childhood. She was the first person to show me how to listen--Margy waited and never filled in the spaces with words!

4. Helen Brauer: Helen was a member of the weekly Wisdom Class, which is a book study group at all Saints Episcopal Church. She always looked elegant, down to a matching purse and shoes. I still remember a charming little shoulder purse that was quaint and unusual. Helen showed and expressed love, especially as she neared death. Her dear husband is now attending the Wisdom Class, because she loved it so much and he feels connected with her there.

5. Joe Lovelady: Joe died in September 2008. He was married to my good friend Mary Jane, who has since moved to California. They moved to Corpus Christi from Montana to retire and he died of cancer. Joe was a funny, caring, musical and teaching sort of man. Mary Jane gave me a little pottery moose of his, which sits on my kitchen windowsill.

Of course there are others--a heart is never too crowded for more love.

O Eternal One

Eternal One,

Silence

from whom my words come;

Questioner

from whom my questions arise;

Lover

of whom all my loves are hints;

Disturber

in whom alone I find my rest;

Mystery

in whose depths I find healing and myself;

enfold me now in your presence;

restore to me your peace;

renew me through your power;

and ground me in your grace.

Thanks to Ellie at The Anchorhold.

This prayer is also posted at A Place for Prayer today. Please visit this ministry blog of RevGalBlogPals.

Shoved from behind

I have rarely been pushed from behind, but that happened to me yesterday when I visited my doctor. He told me to stand in front of him, facing away and then shoved me! I almost fell and moved my right foot forward, which is what the doctor expected. He told me afterwards that he tried that to see if my "power" foot was the one that has been hurting, which it was. Staying on my left foot showed that I push off with that foot and it is more stationary. My left foot is the one hurting since Christmas. I had never heard that before, and "power foot" doesn't come up when I google it.

Future goals

Though it is Tuesday, which is a very busy day here, I stopped in at yesterday's RevGalBlogPals Meet and Greet and thus visited a new member's blog Fruitful Words, more specifically her category for "Declutter." I am struck by the idea of "Goal Planning Monday" (even though it is Tuesday):


There's a seed for my future. . . .as well as visiting the other new blog members, plus old regulars, since I have not been blogging much lately.

New baby Avery picture!

Sampson and Avery

A book and a prayer

This flashy cover caught my eye at the library and is now the book I am currently reading, having let Paul Tillich take a rest. The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama takes place in India and is about a retired gentleman who starts a marriage bureau out of his own home, mainly because his wife was tired of him being underfoot. The descriptions of food and customs in modern-day India, with cultures colliding, are interesting and entertaining as are the various snippets about people. It's a good book!

Oddly enough, today I found a prayer:

"After a few minutes, she started reciting the three-thousand-year-old Gayatri Mantram under her breath in Sanskrit, as her father taught her to do whenever she was unhappy or confused. 'Om bhoor bhuwah swah. . . O God, Thou are the giver of life, the remover of pain and sorrow, the bestower of happiness; O Creator of the Universe, may we receive Thy supreme light; may Thou guide us in the right direction.'" (243)

Zama, Farahad. The Marriage Bureau for Rich People. NY: Amy Einhorn Books (G. P. Putnam's Sons), 2009. 243.

That's a prayer we could all say!

Girl Scout Cookie Time!

It is Girl Scout Cookie Time again. It is a tradition to buy them and eat them, especially when they are frozen, at our house.

The thought of Girl Scout Cookies brings back lots of memories:

• Selling door-to-door, lugging the boxes around with me--back in the 1950's!
  

• When my mother was our Brownie leader in Quantico, VA, she brought some of the girls to stand outside the Mess Hall and sell cookies. We sold a lot, which now seems understandable with those young Marines probably having younger sisters our age! A few years later, we may have done that at Camp Pendleton, too.
  

• When I was the cookie chairperson for AE's Girl Scout Troop in 1989, we had cases and cases of Girl Scout Cookies around our living room. I vividly remember this, because that was the time I found out I was pregnant with our fourth child, MJ. This was unplanned, and I worried so much that she would not be developing well because some days I would eat an entire box of Thin Mints or Peanut Butter Tag-a-longs for lunch! This was before I knew I was pregnant, as one could not learn that as early as women can nowadays. (Fortuitously, MJ is healthy, pretty and smart and did not seem to be adversely affected by all that sugar, or by cans of TAB, which accompanied the cookies.)

• Now we rarely get girls selling at our door, but find groups selling in front of stores or on street corners. I found my cookies at the corner of a busy street where I was turning right; I kept on turning right--into the parking lot!

And now that I am trying to return to healthier eating, the cartoon below really struck me as funny.

Rare icicles in Corpus Christi, TX

This is the observable ice in our yard at noon today. Highly unusual for Corpus Christi, TX! My son in Austin and friends of his in Fort Worth have posted pictures of inches of snow on Facebook, but we only had ice and some sleet here.

The sun has just come out, so it seems warmer, even with the temperature at 31 degrees F. When the wind was blowing and the skies were gray yesterday, it seemed much colder at the same temperature.

Yes, Texans are wimps. Even though we lived in NJ and RI in the 1990's, those cold temperatures are long-ago and faint memories. It is nice to see the sun out again, knowing there will be only a few more days of freezing temperatures--and way too soon I will be complaining about the HEAT!

Gracie, all warm and cozy, on my winter coat today.

It's cold, even in Texas!

I know we are not inundated by snow and ice, but the difference in temperatures from the norm is about 50 degrees colder than a few days ago. Low temperatures for the next few days will be in the 20s F., which is very unusual for south Texas, on the Gulf of Mexico.

Of course, there are over-reactions. Public schools are closed for the next two days. A friend told me that her husband's medical office has received appointment and surgery cancellations due to the impending weather. Snow is predicted for Thursday-Friday, but it is unlikely in my opinion, though the local meteorologists are enthusiastically predicting the worst.

The only significant snowfall in recent history in Corpus Christi was the amazing 4-6 inch snow of Christmas Eve 2004. We never expected any to be left when we woke up on Christmas Day, but the snow was still there. They say that Christmas Eve was the first night ever to have NO crimes reported! (Everyone was out playing in the snow.)

There are rolling blackouts throughout the state of TX so that the state power grid will continue to operate. We did not lose electrical power today at our house, but about a mile away, neighborhoods were without power for a couple of hours. Traffic lights were off at some major intersections, too.

I am happy because a new book was delivered from Amazon this evening: The Essential Tillich edited by F. Forrester Church. I was so excited by this week's chapter on Paul Tillich in the fourth year of EFM that I had to find out more about his theology.

I have only read a little bit, but already love what Paul Tillich wrote in 1958 for the Saturday Evening Post:

"The first step toward the nonreligion of the Western world was made by religion itself. When it defended its great symbols, not as symbols, but as literal stories, it had already lost the battle. In doing so the theologians (and today many religious laymen) helped to transfer the powerful expressions of the dimension of depth into objects or happenings on the horizontal plane. There the symbols lost their power and meaning and became an easy prey to physical, biological and historical attack.

"If the symbol of creation which points to the divine ground of everything is transferred to the horizontal plane, it becomes a story of events in a removed past for which there is no evidence, but which contradicts every piece of scientific evidence." (4)

Tillich, Paul. The Esential Tillich. Ed. F. Forrester Church. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1987.

This all makes so much sense to me; I will later find out how he concludes this essay!

STAY WARM and SAFE!

Groundhog Day!

Groundhog Day

Celebrate this unlikely oracle,
this ball of fat and fur,
whom we so mysteriously endow
with the power to predict spring.
Let's hear it for the improbable heroes who,
frightened at their own shadows,
nonetheless unwittingly work miracles.
Why shouldn't we believe
this peculiar rodent holds power
over sun and seasons in his stubby paw?
Who says that God is all grandeur and glory?

Unnoticed in the earth, worms
are busily, brainlessly, tilling the soil.
Field mice, all unthinking, have scattered
seeds that will take root and grow.
Grape hyacinths, against all reason,
have been holding up green shoots beneath the snow.
How do you think spring arrives?
There is nothing quieter, nothing
more secret, miraculous, mundane.
Do you want to play your part
in bringing it to birth? Nothing simpler.
Find a spot not too far from the ground
and wait.

~ Lynn Ungar ~

(Blessing the Bread)

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And go and see Sherry's more cynical (and realistic?) look at Groundhog Day!

Thomas Merton's 96th Birthday

Thomas Merton
by David Mah

Blue Eyed Ennis prompted me to post about Thomas Merton today, because of her enriching post about his birthday. Just before I looked at her blog, I had been talking to a friend in Houston who mentioned reading about Thomas Merton. These connections brought this contemplative to mind, especially as he is so often quoted, even though he died in 1968.

“The things I thought were so important – because of the effort I put into them – have turned out to be of small value. And the things I was never able to either to measure or to expect, were the things that mattered.” (Thomas Merton)

First off, where I found the icon picture was here, which has a short article entitled "Father Louie and the Little Sister." and then Blue Eyed Ennis has various quotes and links on her post. Please look!