When time is a day
Rather than twenty-four hours,
It's measured in calm.
KEB 11/11/15
Today's prompt "Twilight"
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
First World Problems
So the worst thing that some folks have to worry about these days is the fact that Starbucks has removed any "Christmas" symbols, like snowflakes and reindeer, from their holiday cups. One militant Christian posted a viral video online saying that this is because Starbucks "hates Jesus." I'm fairly sure that snowflakes and reindeer are not signs of Jesus. And even if they were, why does it matter what is on your coffee cup? My understanding of Christianity is that Jesus is supposed to reside in our hearts, not on a paper coffee cup, especially a coffee cup that will, minutes after being paid for, be tossed in a trash can only to be replaced later by another such cup. Maybe this is why Christianity is making such a bad name for itself right now. People treat God, Jesus, and their faith like they treat their coffee cups; as disposable. For a little while people feel all warm and fuzzy inside and then they discard the cups and don't think about them again until they need to feel good again. This whole debate/discussion/tantrum about the red cups is ridiculous. I am almost ashamed to have even mentioned it. It does, however, give me an introduction to my own first world problem of today.
On Tuesdays i only teach until 1:30. With the addition of Piper to our family, we make sure that someone comes home every day at lunch to let her out. Since I had a relatively short teaching day, I figured I would come home and do some work from home this afternoon, though I had also entertained the idea of a nap first. This is one of those stories about the best laid plans...
While I was walking home, Weber called to tell me that there was a possibility that we had no power at home. How did he know being that he was at school? Our thermostat is hooked into the wi-fi, which requires electricity. When the thermostat goes offline, it sends and email notification. Sure enough, when I got home, no power. I figured that was a sure sign that God wanted me to take a nap since with no power, I could not do any work on the computer. (I have a desktop, not a laptop so battery power was not an option.) Cool! A forced nap. And then the problems started...
I'll just have some lunch first. Since I'm going to lay down, I don't want anything super heavy...maybe a couple pieces of toast. Oh wait, I cant use the toaster. No big deal. I'll have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Get the bread. Go to the fridge for the jelly. It is really dark in here! Where is the jelly? The fridge is stuffed full since it is early in the week so most of the weekly groceries have not yet been eaten. Fumble around feeling for the right sized jar in the place where I last remember seeing the jelly. Success! Next to the pantry for the peanut butter. Wow! I sure wish we had a window in the mudroom. It would make it slightly better than impossible to things in the pantry. Fortunately, the pantry is well organized so the peanut butter is easy to find. Voila! Sandwich now made.
I just need some iced tea to drink. Back to the fridge only to discover that there is none there. I didn't miss it in the dark. The big bottle would have been right in the front. Not a problem. I'll get a new bottle from the pantry. It will be warm, but I'll just have it over ice. Oh. No I won't. I can't use the ice maker to dispense the ice. Forget it. I'll have a Diet Coke; the power hasn't been off long enough for the cans in the fridge to get warm.
Lunch was good. Now time for my nap.
Gather up the puppy so that we can curl up in the recliner together. That way she doesn't have to go back to her crate but I know she, and all the shoes and socks in the house, would be safe. Ready. Set. Go. Push the button to recline and nothing. Oops. We now have a recliner that is electric. No reclining happening right now. The puppy and I move to the couch. In Piper's opinion, the couch is not a suitable nap location so we give up on sleeping and go sit outside on the patio.
The temperature here today was perfect so the lack of heat or air conditioning caused by the power outage was a non issue. I had a reasonable lunch, much more than many people get to eat in a day or maybe even a week. I had running water and a flushing toilet. My cell phone was charged and handy to keep me entertained. And I was surrounded by three loving dogs. Life was good.
The events of the afternoon did make me think about how much I take for granted every day - the ability to make a piece of toast whenever I want it, with either peanut butter or jelly atop, an ice maker, my beloved recliner, my computer. How silly is it to "miss" such trivial things?
About as silly as is it to miss snowflakes on a disposable coffee cup!
On Tuesdays i only teach until 1:30. With the addition of Piper to our family, we make sure that someone comes home every day at lunch to let her out. Since I had a relatively short teaching day, I figured I would come home and do some work from home this afternoon, though I had also entertained the idea of a nap first. This is one of those stories about the best laid plans...
While I was walking home, Weber called to tell me that there was a possibility that we had no power at home. How did he know being that he was at school? Our thermostat is hooked into the wi-fi, which requires electricity. When the thermostat goes offline, it sends and email notification. Sure enough, when I got home, no power. I figured that was a sure sign that God wanted me to take a nap since with no power, I could not do any work on the computer. (I have a desktop, not a laptop so battery power was not an option.) Cool! A forced nap. And then the problems started...
I'll just have some lunch first. Since I'm going to lay down, I don't want anything super heavy...maybe a couple pieces of toast. Oh wait, I cant use the toaster. No big deal. I'll have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Get the bread. Go to the fridge for the jelly. It is really dark in here! Where is the jelly? The fridge is stuffed full since it is early in the week so most of the weekly groceries have not yet been eaten. Fumble around feeling for the right sized jar in the place where I last remember seeing the jelly. Success! Next to the pantry for the peanut butter. Wow! I sure wish we had a window in the mudroom. It would make it slightly better than impossible to things in the pantry. Fortunately, the pantry is well organized so the peanut butter is easy to find. Voila! Sandwich now made.
I just need some iced tea to drink. Back to the fridge only to discover that there is none there. I didn't miss it in the dark. The big bottle would have been right in the front. Not a problem. I'll get a new bottle from the pantry. It will be warm, but I'll just have it over ice. Oh. No I won't. I can't use the ice maker to dispense the ice. Forget it. I'll have a Diet Coke; the power hasn't been off long enough for the cans in the fridge to get warm.
Lunch was good. Now time for my nap.
Gather up the puppy so that we can curl up in the recliner together. That way she doesn't have to go back to her crate but I know she, and all the shoes and socks in the house, would be safe. Ready. Set. Go. Push the button to recline and nothing. Oops. We now have a recliner that is electric. No reclining happening right now. The puppy and I move to the couch. In Piper's opinion, the couch is not a suitable nap location so we give up on sleeping and go sit outside on the patio.
The temperature here today was perfect so the lack of heat or air conditioning caused by the power outage was a non issue. I had a reasonable lunch, much more than many people get to eat in a day or maybe even a week. I had running water and a flushing toilet. My cell phone was charged and handy to keep me entertained. And I was surrounded by three loving dogs. Life was good.
The events of the afternoon did make me think about how much I take for granted every day - the ability to make a piece of toast whenever I want it, with either peanut butter or jelly atop, an ice maker, my beloved recliner, my computer. How silly is it to "miss" such trivial things?
About as silly as is it to miss snowflakes on a disposable coffee cup!
Sunday, November 8, 2015
A Vase, Photoshop, and Rumi
Today's Capture Your 365 photo prompt was color. I love color! This should have been so easy for me. I am discovering though, that the prompts whose subjects are those about which I feel deeply connected are the one's that are most difficult for me. I suspect that I over think them.
I finally decided that i would buy some colorful flowers this afternoon at the grocery store and photograph them in a colorful hand blown glass vase that Weber and I got while we were in Vermont on our honeymoon. That was a great plan until I forgot to but the flowers. The vase is pretty in its own right so I decided to photograph it empty. I gave it my by shot (pun intended), but the photos did absolutely nothing for me. I decided to see what would happen if I played with some fun techniques in Photoshop. This is what I got.
I feel like the Photoshop Twirls are the photographer's answer to drawing mandalas, a practice which I also enjoy. I simply went through a process with this and waited to see what emerged. I must admit that I was surprised but the image that resulted here. To me it looks like two hearts joined with a cross at the center. That pretty much sums up my relationship with Weber and since the original image was that vase that we bought on our honeymoon, the whole mood seemed to come together.
The quote from Rumi also seemed perfect. Every day I am thankful for the person with whom I share my life, but today I am particularly thankful for his support of and inspiration for all of my creative endeavors.
Friday, November 6, 2015
Thought for Today
Most of my thinking happens on a yellow legal pad. I am thankful for those yellow legal pads that help bring my thoughts to life!
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Thankful To Be Grateful
Sunday began November and the season of Thanksgiving. I love this time of year - the falling leaves, the cooler temperatures, big pots of warm soup, and the flannel sheets back on my bed. I also like the idea of being intentional about giving thanks, but, it's confession time, I don't really like the Thanksgiving holiday. It always seems like way too much work resulting in way too much food for way too little enjoyment. By the time we get everyone's "one favorite" Thanksgiving dish on the menu it seems that we end up with enough food to feed eighty rather than the eight of us. And of course I feel obligated to taste at least o little bite of everything and before I know it I have "tasted" way more than I needed or wanted. Over the years I have tried to find ways to simplify the Thanksgiving feast, but none has been particularly successful.
November 2: I am grateful for the newest member of our family and for Brooke's help in training and loving this little pup.
November 3: I am grateful for a peaceful backyard where the dogs can play and I can kick off my shoes and relax.
November 4: Though the time change leaves me little light for photography when I get home from school, I am grateful for the quiet of the long dark nights.
In an effort to perhaps prepare myself a little better spiritually for Thanksgiving Day, I decided to take time each day during the month of November to acknowledge something for which I am thankful. I started on Sunday by first considering what it means to be thankful. I realized that in my own thinking and writing, I tend to use the word "grateful" more often than "thankful." This sent me on a mental expedition in search of what the difference between these two words is. I had a hard time coming up with something concrete ton my own hat distinguished the two, so I turned to the dictionary. I was surprised by what I found.
Thankful is defined as "pleased or relieved" and grateful as "feeling or showing an appreciation of kindness." These definitions seem to have totally different connotations, yet each definition also gives the other word as a synonym. It is the word "relieved" used in the definition of thankful; that feels a bit odd to me. Even when I do choose to use the word "thankful" rather than "grateful," it is never because I am in need of expressing relief.
I am thankful for my family. I am relieved by my family. Um...no. This doesn't even begin to make sense. I am grateful for my family. I am appreciative of my family. I can live with the latter.
Thinking on these two words has done nothing to help clarify for me the distinction between them or their proper usage. Fortunately, it is only November 5th. Perhaps by the end of the month I will have better sense of each. For now, I am thankful that there is no reason that I have to be clear on the subtlety of these words and I'm grateful for the opportunity to continue pondering what is most certainly an extremely important concept, I'm sure.
Here are the things that in these first five days of November for which I am thankful/grateful.
November 1: I am grateful for who I am. I have lots of imperfections, but they all contribute to making me who I am. I am blessed by my family, friends, and by the work that I do. I do my very best to be in a light in my small corner of the world, but I also strive to keep that light from shining on me.
November 3: I am grateful for a peaceful backyard where the dogs can play and I can kick off my shoes and relax.
November 4: Though the time change leaves me little light for photography when I get home from school, I am grateful for the quiet of the long dark nights.
Grateful for the calm
Of the dark and quiet night.
Day's long lullaby.
November 5: I am grateful for comfortable clothes - my duck jammies, a sweatshirt, Crocs, and tie-dyed socks. I am also grateful for a husband who loves me even when I am wearing duck jammies, a sweatshirt, Crocs, and tie-dyed socks. I am also thankful for that husband who, after dropping me off at school at 7:15 this morning, went home to get my lunch that I forgot and brought it to me on his way to school.
I need to remember that often the little things are the big things and the big things are just little things.
Sunday, November 1, 2015
All Saints Day
A year ago today was my dad's memorial service. The readings, the hymns, and the day for that celebration were all details that I carefully orchestrated. What better day for a memorial service than All Saints Day? As today, November 1, 2015, comes to an end, I have now passed the year mark of life without my dad. Every anniversary date that comes along from now on will no longer be "the first." I was blessed to have had the opportunity to sing a Choral Evensong for All Saints Day with my church choir this evening. What a meaningful way to mark the passage of this last year.
I miss my dad, but I know that he is among the great cloud of witnesses, ever present and ever watchful.
Today's photo prompt: Who Am I
I am very much my father's daughter. The humble life that he led is my inspiration.
I miss my dad, but I know that he is among the great cloud of witnesses, ever present and ever watchful.
Today's photo prompt: Who Am I
I am very much my father's daughter. The humble life that he led is my inspiration.
Five Fabulous Finds - October 2015
Back when I was being faithful to my blog, I did a regular post each month called Five Fabulous Finds. In most cases it was a silly list of things that I had come cross during that month that were either new to me and that I found interesting, fascinating, edifying, or just plain fun. As part of my ongoing effort to get back in the swing of things here, I am reinstituting that monthly post today. It WILL appear on the last day of each month. There. I made it public. Now I must be accountable.
FIVE FABULOUS FINDS
1. Pumpkin Spice Oreos
It is no secret that I love cookies, almost any kind of cookie, but I am kind of a cookie snob and prefer homemade. That said, what kid of my generation didn't grow up with Oreos? I do like the traditional Oreas, probably more for the memories that they conjure up than their actual taste, but I do like them. In my adult years, when I guess Oreo was trying to spread their wings and try some new things, they came up with Uh-Oh Oreos. These were vanilla cookies with chocolate cream in the middle. In my opinion, they rocked! I preferred them to regular Oreos and would actually buy them to pack in my lunches during the school week when baking cookies from scratch just was;t going to happen. Then they disappeared from the grocery store shelves. Sadness ensued. Lately Oreo has spent a lot of time messing with these iconic cookies. Here is a link to the list to all of the Oreo flavors ever made made, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Though apparently they were first released in 2014, I just stumbled upon the Pumpkin Spice Oreos this year while at Target. They were neatly stacked on the impulse buy end cap right at the cash registers. The marketing ploy worked and we bought them. I do like pumpkin spice flavored stuff, but I am not an addict. I am not one who waits all year long for Starbucks to again start serving pumpkin spice lattes. I like pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread, but when its gone for the season I'm OK with that. The Pumpkin Spice Oreos just sounded good at the time and worth the risk of trying them.
When we made it to register to pay, the cashier asked if we had ever had the cookies before. We responded "no" and asked the same of her. She said that she had not tried them but wanted to. So, we opened the package right there and we shared the Pumpkin Spice Oreos with all the checkers within a few lanes of us. The consensus was that they are pretty good. Like pumpkin pie, they are nice while they are here and I'll wait until next year to buy them again. Now my waiting has turned to the Chocolate Covered Ritz Crackers that are only available during the Christmas season.
2. Moonshine: The Hee-haw Musical
Early in October, on a Thursday night, we joined some friends to see MOONSHINE: That Hee-haw Musical. "MOONSHINE: That Hee Haw Musical distills the spirit of an iconic television series and bottles it into an original musical comedy!" The Dallas production was the first for this new show and surely it will not be its last! The production and the cast were top notch. The book is hillarious and the music was superb. We loved it so much that on our way home that evening we bought tickets to see it again on the following Sunday night for its closing performance. If you hear of this show running in your area, it is well worth the ticket. We hope that it makes it to Broadway. And when they do, there is definitely a New York trip in our future to see it again.
3. Wearing God by Lauren Winner
LaurenWinner is a historian, author and lecturer. She is Assistant Professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke Divinity School. I have read several of her books in the past, my favorite being Mudhouse Sabbath. I had the opportunity to hear her speak at our church about her new book, Wearing God. I have not yet had the chance to read this newest book, which explores the many Biblical metaphors for God, but am looking forward to reading it at the end of the semester. I'm sure I will have more to say about this book once I have read it completely.
4. Pixels, Plates, and LOLs!
At first it may appear a little narcissistic to include Pixels, Plates, and LOLs! in this list since is it a blog that I co-author. Though I'd like to think that it contains some useful information and cause for a few laughs, that is not why it is included in this list. I am including Pixels, Plates, and LOLs! for what it represents. Tracey and I write about our shared love of food and photography and our friendship that has grown around these two things. The thing is, on the surface our lives are very different and we have never met or even talked to one another on the phone. Yet beyond the external, we have a lot in common and have found a way through our shared blog to both share and continue to build our friendship. The fact that we have been able to join together on this venture is due to the positive power of the Internet. Here is a link to our first post, which explains how we got started.
5. Puppy Bumpers
I hope you read the story of our newest family member in my last post. We are blessed to have her, but definitely were not planning on another dog at this point. We have just finished some major landscaping at our house a few weeks ago. Part of that involved tearing out some old chain link fence and replacing it with wrought iron fencing. The wrought iron is much prettier and does perfectly fine at keeping Harley and Adidas safe. It's bars that are four inches apart do not, however, keep a five pound puppy inside. It didnt seem fair for Piper to have to be on a leash all the time, so we started exploring ways to keep her safely inside the fence. Our first thought was to line the fence with some kind of mesh, but that kind of defeated the purpose of all of the beautiful landscaping that we had just had done. Then I discovered Puppy Bumpers on Amazon.com. Puppy Bumpers are threaded on the dog's collar and look like the neck rests that they sell in the airport to make sleeping on an airplane halfway comfortable. Basically, the make the puppy too wide to fit through the fence. I ordered one just to try. It was $20, not a huge investment if it didn't work.
We received our Puppy Bumper the next day. I first went outside with it without a puppy to see if I could push it through the fence. Nope! So I threaded it on Piper's collar, attached the whole contraption on her and off she went into the yard with the big dogs. She barely seemed to notice that she was wearing anything extra. She didn't seem the least bit interested in trying to slip through the fence. I'm not complaining, mind you! We're not sure how big Piper will grow to be. She may get big enough to not need her bumper, but if not, she is safe with it on. And, the bumpers do come bogger as well as in a waterproof and glow in the dark model. We have this girl covered!
Thank you for reading!
FIVE FABULOUS FINDS
1. Pumpkin Spice Oreos
It is no secret that I love cookies, almost any kind of cookie, but I am kind of a cookie snob and prefer homemade. That said, what kid of my generation didn't grow up with Oreos? I do like the traditional Oreas, probably more for the memories that they conjure up than their actual taste, but I do like them. In my adult years, when I guess Oreo was trying to spread their wings and try some new things, they came up with Uh-Oh Oreos. These were vanilla cookies with chocolate cream in the middle. In my opinion, they rocked! I preferred them to regular Oreos and would actually buy them to pack in my lunches during the school week when baking cookies from scratch just was;t going to happen. Then they disappeared from the grocery store shelves. Sadness ensued. Lately Oreo has spent a lot of time messing with these iconic cookies. Here is a link to the list to all of the Oreo flavors ever made made, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Though apparently they were first released in 2014, I just stumbled upon the Pumpkin Spice Oreos this year while at Target. They were neatly stacked on the impulse buy end cap right at the cash registers. The marketing ploy worked and we bought them. I do like pumpkin spice flavored stuff, but I am not an addict. I am not one who waits all year long for Starbucks to again start serving pumpkin spice lattes. I like pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread, but when its gone for the season I'm OK with that. The Pumpkin Spice Oreos just sounded good at the time and worth the risk of trying them.
When we made it to register to pay, the cashier asked if we had ever had the cookies before. We responded "no" and asked the same of her. She said that she had not tried them but wanted to. So, we opened the package right there and we shared the Pumpkin Spice Oreos with all the checkers within a few lanes of us. The consensus was that they are pretty good. Like pumpkin pie, they are nice while they are here and I'll wait until next year to buy them again. Now my waiting has turned to the Chocolate Covered Ritz Crackers that are only available during the Christmas season.
2. Moonshine: The Hee-haw Musical
Early in October, on a Thursday night, we joined some friends to see MOONSHINE: That Hee-haw Musical. "MOONSHINE: That Hee Haw Musical distills the spirit of an iconic television series and bottles it into an original musical comedy!" The Dallas production was the first for this new show and surely it will not be its last! The production and the cast were top notch. The book is hillarious and the music was superb. We loved it so much that on our way home that evening we bought tickets to see it again on the following Sunday night for its closing performance. If you hear of this show running in your area, it is well worth the ticket. We hope that it makes it to Broadway. And when they do, there is definitely a New York trip in our future to see it again.
3. Wearing God by Lauren Winner
LaurenWinner is a historian, author and lecturer. She is Assistant Professor of Christian Spirituality at Duke Divinity School. I have read several of her books in the past, my favorite being Mudhouse Sabbath. I had the opportunity to hear her speak at our church about her new book, Wearing God. I have not yet had the chance to read this newest book, which explores the many Biblical metaphors for God, but am looking forward to reading it at the end of the semester. I'm sure I will have more to say about this book once I have read it completely.
4. Pixels, Plates, and LOLs!
At first it may appear a little narcissistic to include Pixels, Plates, and LOLs! in this list since is it a blog that I co-author. Though I'd like to think that it contains some useful information and cause for a few laughs, that is not why it is included in this list. I am including Pixels, Plates, and LOLs! for what it represents. Tracey and I write about our shared love of food and photography and our friendship that has grown around these two things. The thing is, on the surface our lives are very different and we have never met or even talked to one another on the phone. Yet beyond the external, we have a lot in common and have found a way through our shared blog to both share and continue to build our friendship. The fact that we have been able to join together on this venture is due to the positive power of the Internet. Here is a link to our first post, which explains how we got started.
5. Puppy Bumpers
I hope you read the story of our newest family member in my last post. We are blessed to have her, but definitely were not planning on another dog at this point. We have just finished some major landscaping at our house a few weeks ago. Part of that involved tearing out some old chain link fence and replacing it with wrought iron fencing. The wrought iron is much prettier and does perfectly fine at keeping Harley and Adidas safe. It's bars that are four inches apart do not, however, keep a five pound puppy inside. It didnt seem fair for Piper to have to be on a leash all the time, so we started exploring ways to keep her safely inside the fence. Our first thought was to line the fence with some kind of mesh, but that kind of defeated the purpose of all of the beautiful landscaping that we had just had done. Then I discovered Puppy Bumpers on Amazon.com. Puppy Bumpers are threaded on the dog's collar and look like the neck rests that they sell in the airport to make sleeping on an airplane halfway comfortable. Basically, the make the puppy too wide to fit through the fence. I ordered one just to try. It was $20, not a huge investment if it didn't work.
We received our Puppy Bumper the next day. I first went outside with it without a puppy to see if I could push it through the fence. Nope! So I threaded it on Piper's collar, attached the whole contraption on her and off she went into the yard with the big dogs. She barely seemed to notice that she was wearing anything extra. She didn't seem the least bit interested in trying to slip through the fence. I'm not complaining, mind you! We're not sure how big Piper will grow to be. She may get big enough to not need her bumper, but if not, she is safe with it on. And, the bumpers do come bogger as well as in a waterproof and glow in the dark model. We have this girl covered!
Thank you for reading!
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