News . . .

Ok, the good news is, as of last night, laying down my knitting and rolling over to go to sleep, I had finished the gray part of the boy sock . . . so today, I'll knock out the toe (for those who knit much, I'm rejoicing to be done with the k2p2 ribbing, and may not rib for a while, it's sooooooo slow!). The toe won't take me long, and then they'll be done.

In other good news, my other birthday present arrived today - sock blockers! I'll take pictures later, but they are currently re-stretching my beloved green wool ankle socks back into a shape that can contain my foot. For the record - accidently putting your 100% wool socks in the dryer is not good, but not insurmountable, but the process of bouncing back does cramp the toes a bit.

In yet more news, still good, the boy has begun trying to roast coffee - and his first attempt, in the little cast iron skillet on the grill, with a small bag of Columbian Supremo was a raging success in my opinion. He says there are things he can improve on, so I guess it will get even better from here! Mmmmm Java!

Bad Planning . . .

So that last post was supposed to lead to a new post a few days later . . . but as I said, the boy has size 15 feet.

And why, may you ask, is that important?

Because it's taking freakin' forever to finish his socks!!!!



This is the first boy sock, finished early in the fall. Right now the second boy sock has about three white bars to go before I reach the point where I can start the red toe. Count back from where the red joins the grey at the toe, one, two, three . . . that's about where I am.

Never again will I knit boy socks on size 2 needles!! I swear to goodness!

It hasn't been cold enough for him to need them but maybe once, but honestly, I just want to be done. And I like knitting socks!

Ahem . . .

The boy has size 15 feet . . . the importance of this will be revealed soon. There will not be a quiz.

Happy Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. It's also Nov. 23. Dad would be 59 tomorrow. In honor of the fact that Thanksgiving is also Dad's Birthday, the ENTIRE family and assorted friends are gathering with us for Thanksgiving dinner - and since it's been a family tradition since long before I was born, we're having chocolate cake with chocolate icing for dessert. It's different, definitely not your typical pumpkin related pastry, but it's us. And with a crowd of 30ish, I'm making two of them.

Sadly, and perhaps ironically, I really don't like chocolate cake, but this is for dad's Birthday, and we didn't grow any collards this year, so we had to do something.

Happy Birthday Daddy. We love you.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I'm thankful for you, and all my other blessings.

Q

Yeah So . . .

I haven't posted much of great interest lately, or much lately at all.

To tell the truth I've hit a bit of a wall when it comes to ideas/concepts to discuss . . .

I do have lots I'd love to post about in the knitting/general craftiness category, but as all of them are Christmas presents, I'm left to document them now, and I'll post them after the first of the year.

I started doing this, way back when, because it would keep me writing, which I don't really like to do, and don't feel very good at. It certainly has helped, except for the great improvement part - just need to find something to talk about.

Inspiration is bound to strike soon.

Big Ball of Yarn

A few weeks ago the boy's parents came to visit us for a few days. I took them on a tour of the station, and we went down and had Rally's with the boy at the shop. They had fun checking out where we worked, and all in all it was a great visit. Thankfully for us, they didn't want to be kept entertained every minute of every day, so we could just relax and enjoy each other's company. It was really good to see them.

Now, about my title. The mother in law decided one afternoon that the fact that she'd been here three times now, and hadn't been to a thrift store was a crying shame. So I took her down to my favorite thrift store. We had a great time. She found 20 some odd Records (you know, that vinyl disc that our parents played music on??) straight out of the 80's for the sister in law to use for the upcoming spirit week at school. There was some great stuff in there. I on the other hand, knowing that I had $10 in my wallet, and that I could spend it, but not much more, decided to look for wool sweaters. I got three - none of which were big enough for me to wear, but that's not the point. We were going to unravel them.

Well, I came to find out, that two of them were made from such a fine gauge of yarn that trying to get them unraveled was a losing battle. Bless her heart, the mother in law worked to unravel one body section, but it came out in so many pieces, I'd be felting them back together forever. So I decided that that sweater and it's twin were a lost cause. Since we haven't touched the twin, I'll take it back as a donation, so someone can at least wear it.

But the larger of the three had a thicker yarn, and came apart beautifully. When I left for work Saturday night we'd undone the front and the back and one sleeve, and had three quite sizable balls of yarn. When I got home, the boy had finished unraveling the last sleeve, and had decided to take his new found knowledge of felting yarn together and make a GIANT BALL O'YARN!!!!



Isn't it cute? I'm thinking of knitting a pair of slippers for myself, and felting them so they're sturdy and warm. Whatever's leftover I'm going to save for a sweater project, when I find some more yarn for the illusive hooded sweater.

It's much thinner than the yarn I use alot right now see:



So it will knit up into a thinner, drapier fabric, and that means that the comparitive size of the ball makes for way, way, way more yardage. I'm excited. I will have to play this game again. The small green ball is about $3 of peruvian wool, nearly 200 yards. The big ball is about $3 of blue merino, unknown yardage.

Thoughts

"The most important thing about a person is what that person thinks when they think about God." A.W. Tozer

We often speak of the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, as if to say that they are separate beings. In our minds we juggle the concepts as they battle each other. We struggle to blend the image that the Old Testament portrays with the image portrayed in the New Testament - Holy and Just with a dash of jealous and vengeful vs. a loving Father who made the greatest sacrifice to save us. Who wins?

I know I tend to lean towards the Old Testament God when things are going well, figuring he's going to "get me" soon, like some sort of supernatural boogey man, and something bad will happen; I hope for the New Testament God when times are tougher, that he would come love on me.

But really - there's only one God! The 1001 rules God is the love and grace God. It almost doesn't make sense, but the thing of it is, it's true. There is only one God and He's never changed.

Now hold on just a second! How can that work? How can He be the one God and be the same "yesterday, today, and tomorrow?"

The answer lies in the fact that God does not exist in a vacuum: He created us so He could love someone - not something, like I love warm socks, but someone. And by loving someone he's created a relationship, and relationships are dynamic.

God is our father, and like a father's love must take different forms as a child grows and matures, God's dealings with us have changed as we grew more mature, and in order to cause us to mature.

With a toddler, you spend your every waking hour (it would seem) saying "No." I think of the 10 commandments and some of the subsequent laws as a long list of No's. As the child gets a little older they start applying this - imposing their own No's on others, even their parents. Hence the Pharisees and the Saducees and all the regulations added in our attempt to use what we thought was the right way to live.

But at some point a parent needs to break that cycle and show the child grace and a little trust, both because the child is maturing and ready to understand and to push the child to further mature. This is where we are in the New Testament and beyond - God is now the father of a teenager/young adult - we screw up a lot, but we're beyond the spanking stage. Now he must love us until we learn the ways of that love.

It's not God who has changed, it's us. But we're still in that teenager/young adult stage - we're conflicted and we only accept things in parts. We still try to impose regulations where we shouldn't; we go too far in love sometimes and allow ourselves to do things we shouldn't. We get angry and sullen when we're frustrated. We try to do damage to ourselves. We try to fix some of our problems on our own, so we won't have to own up to them. We're on the cusp of beginning maturity, we're complicated, and we're loved.

And we think that we are the only constant in the equation, but we are constantly changing - He's always been the same.

A visit

The boy's parents are spending a few days with us this week. We just hung out this morning, as all of us were feeling restful. They got in pretty late last night, and they were not happy because some of their luggage hadn't made it here with them. We got that today, so now all is well.

Tomorrow I think we're going out to lunch, and then I'm going to show them around the station. Then later we're going down to take the boy some dinner, and have a mini tailgate party down at the shop.

It took us a little work to get the apartment back in to "company" shape, but it's nice to be all neatened up now. Hopefully, I'll have good tales to relate after the visit.

I have a desk again!!!!!

We were so productive this weekend, it was great! We cleaned out the second bedroom, and claimed the desks that my grandmother had wanted to give us. No more big scary project looming over our heads, and now there's a place for the boy's folks to sleep when the come tomorrow night. Ah, motivation.

I'm so happy to have a desk again!!!

Playtime

We do not stop playing because we grow old.
We grow old because we stop playing. - Anon.

Besides my impatience in waiting to play with some of the new features offered by Blogger in Beta, my goal with this blog re-design was to make the site more conversational - to tie together a community of blogs and comments. So to start things off, I'm branching off of a friend's blog.

Sure, at a certain age, our bodies get too old for certain activities, but somehow, I don't think we were made to stop playing in some fashion. - Hanski

And she certainly has a point.

When do we reach an age where we are too important for play? And perhaps more importantly, why does the thought possess us that we're too old to play anymore? I believe it must occur around the same time that we lose all of our youthful bravado and confidence in ourselves. So, for most of us, middle school. We are suddenly caught up in trying to fit into someone else's mold of coolness or perfection, and we let go of anything that stands in the way of our fitting in. There's an element of depression to it, as we cast aside parts of ourselves, parts we loved and valued, and feel embarrassed that we ever loved them. It kills the spirit.

And with that our sense of fun, our love of play is gone. Sometimes forgotten. We can look back and wax nostalgic about the joys of our childhood. We can deny that which we find embarassing (I used to own Barbies, for example, don't die of shock).

Or perhaps we can latch back into our playful side - and start having fun again. We can start up regular games of ultimate frizbee. We can indulge our imagination with books that are far below our reading level, but have the kind of innocent creativity lacking in most adult fiction. We can spend as much time as possible playing with children - inspire our inner child. We can try hard not to squash the imaginative fun of future generations.

Or we can shamelessly watch old episodes of the Muppet Show - it still makes me giggle. Yes, I giggle.

Nuggets

-The Shower Experiment-
The new Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower cleaner is a wonderful invention. I know, I bought one . . . for an experiment. The plan was to use the two bottles of cleaning solution up and see what we thought. If we didn't think it worked, such is life. If we didn't like the solution, I had a substitute to try. Well, the device works pretty well, and though it doesn't cover every square inch of our rectangular tub/shower it does hit the toughest spots and help keep them clean, so I don't have to devote an hour and some serious sweat equity to cleaning the shower. However, the solution they made for it, sucks. That's not to say that it doesn't get rid of the mechanic's grime and mildew - it does. But I'm not sure I can say it leaves the shower clean. If I stood in the bathroom while it sprayed the shower, my face would burn for a good three hours afterwards. The cleaner built up on the boy's soap and got in his eyes - he wasn't happy. I'm not a fan of having to clean up after my cleaner. So, I rinsed out the bottle and filled it with white vinegar - shower's still clean, and nobody's getting burned. Do you think I could convince them to sell the sprayer with an empty bottle? Didn't think so.

-Cleaner Laundry-
On another vinegar related note - I'm also a big fan of the Downy Ball - for delivering the white vinegar to my laundry after the wash cycle is over. I own two downy balls (the apartment building has two washers) but I've never bought Downy in my life, and I probably never will.

-Spiders-
Spiders are great - so long as they are outside where they belong. The same goes for crickets, but roaches get to die anytime I see them.

-Protestants-
I have joined the ranks. As one who was "sprinkled" as an infant, one of the steps for me to join the church that the boy and I have grown so fond of was an adult baptism. So I got dunked Sunday - I'm a protestant now.

-Knitting-
I've been doing a good bit of it lately. Sorry there are no pictures, I should take some. However, since the vast majority of my work lately has been for Christmas presents I can't post some pics 'til later. I have been playing with Kool Aid dying - man if that isn't fun! The colors are great, and there's no wet wool smell. There was, however, the faint scent of cherries.

-Stairs-
Are not really my friends. I have trouble walking up and down them successfully. But, on the upside, I now have this stylish, sophisticated, sexy little black ankle brace that is making my left ankle feel so much better. How much talent does it take to twist both ankles but only sprain one of them? That's how much talent I've got right now.

-Health Food-
Yeah, so I'm not a fan of "Health Food." And those so called "healthy options" like artificial sweeteners, artificial butter etc . . . yeah, keyword: artificial. Artificial = Bad. It's funny though - I must be turning into an adult; I'm choosing to eat healthier and I actually like it. I've basically stopped drinking soda. I prefer coffee or iced tea. I've found that I like the taste of brown rice and whole wheat pasta over their bleached counterparts. I love vegetables, even ones I used to avoid. I've even craved salads - for me that's wierd. I'm still a fan of chocolate, cake, and cheese flavored potato chips, so I guess the world is not completely on it's ear.

-State of the World-
Speaking of which, what is up with the world lately? I mean really - three school shootings in less than two weeks? And this last sicko?? Guns, zip ties, KY?? Seriously! And while it amuses me greatly that tonights 90 minutes of news included a school shooting, adjustable breast implants, and the Illinois bathroom Jesus - I'm really tired of stories about school shootings. How about we just talk about the bathroom Jesus for a while.

So . . . that's what's been going on in my head . . . my apologies if you read all of it - take a tylenol.

A New Neighbor

We have a new neighbor. She took up residence in our kitchen window the other day, and I intend to leave her there, as long as she wishes to remain. She is a barn spider, araneas cavaticus, and since I was raised in this country as one of the last members of generation X, that means I am compelled to call her Charlotte A. Cavatica, so I do.
Meet Charlotte.

I took the picture, and then scoured the internet to find out what kind of spider she was, before I could decide on a name for her. Charlotte had come to mind at first, but I wanted to know what she was, in hopes of a less cliched name for her. No such luck, once I saw the latin name, I was stuck. But it suits her I think.
Isn't she pretty? I love the way her legs fade to a redder hue near her body. I wish I could get a picture of what she looks like with the light in the window behind her at night, but the camera wasn't doing so good at getting a good exposure with a shutter speed fast enough to fight my unsteady hand. But I still think she's pretty.

More Adventures in Baking

To continue on the baking theme . . . I did bake a few loaves of sourdough the other day, I just didn't get a chance to post pics because I ran out of time.
After adding flour and water to the starter, I had a dough ball

This I kneaded, and let rise for one hour. Then I folded it like a letter twice, and let it rise for another hour. Another set of letter folds and it was left to rise for a couple hours. I then formed it into a round loaf and placed it upside down in a colander lined with a towel. After another three hours or so, I carefully turned this out onto a baking sheet and put it in the oven. This made a loaf of bread.

I'm not entirely satisfied with the process, neither it's length or how the bread turned out - I don't like my crust that dark - but the bread tastes just fine.
Next time I think I'm going to forego the round loaf and make the loaves in my bread pans, for easier sandwich construction. Also, I'm going to turn down the heat in the oven a bit, and bake a little longer, which will make a less burnt looking crust.
I ended up with four loaves of bread from that baking day and we already had one in the freezer from some I'd made earlier - so I won't need to bake again for a little while. Now I'm trying to decide what to make next.
Whatever I do, the next baking day needs to include some more ciabatta - or chewbacca bread (the boy "re-named" it) - for sandwich buns. It makes a great panini, and we're betting it would be good as texas toast and hamburger buns.

A Surprise Today

I decided, that while I was over at mom's doing laundry, I would take the camera and peruse the garden for interesting things to shoot.
Well, mom's surprise lilies were up - we're not positive what they are, or how they got there, but they're pretty so we don't complain. See?


Well, this particular surprise lily included an added surprise, you might have noticed it in the last picture, but I managed to snap a better one . . . the lily had a little friend!

And just for flavor, I just want to share . . . A warm, soft, fluffy towel that smells lightly of lavender just makes a day so much better, even if it's already good.

A small lesson learned

1Today we remember as a country. We remember a day when we all felt the pain of a now iconic tragedy that struck us from behind when we weren't looking.Yesterday we remembered as a family. We remembered a day when we felt the pain of a still somewhat fresh tragedy that struck us from behind when we least expected it.Today is the five year anniversary of the plane crashes on September 11th. Yesterday was the six month anniversary of my dad's death.
And I've been thinking today, about pain and tragedy, in an altogether not depressing or morose context. I'm feeling incredibly blessed to have not experienced the numbing pain of a major tragedy too early on in life. I feel like I was spared that depth of painful experience until I was mature enough to handle it. One never thinks oneself capable of handing the pain before it happens, I certainly never would have guessed I could. And yet, I think of all of the versions of me that I've been as I've grown up, and I'm glad it's the post-freshman-year-of-college me that's been faced both with the tragedy of 9/11 and with the loss of my dad. The other me's weren't ready for that. God is good.
After the towers fell I felt tired and numb for a few days. I didn't know what or how to think, and I felt like napping a lot. Now I can look back and see some of the good that has come out of it all, though I still don't know quite what to think about all of it.
After I found out dad had died, God and I had a very animated conversation in my truck, in the Home Depot parking lot. Then I had mom to look after, and there were certainly tears, but I had something to do, I had a "mission" of sorts. Now I look back, and 7 out of 10 times, I smile. Sometimes I still cry. Like today.
I can't even hazard a guess as to what would have happened to the pre-college me, in this type of situation . . . I'm just glad I'm the me I am now. Like I said, God is good.
___________________________________________________________________1. I have yet to go to bed, so it is still today, despite the fact that it is past midnight.

Baking Day

Not too much going on in the gardening arena, and nothing to photograph of the knitting projects right now . . . but I did bake today. I also cleaned the bathroom, but that's not half as exciting, even to me.

So I decided a couple days ago to make a Ciabatta (Italian for slipper, bakenese for crusty italian bread with lots of holes in it)

This process starts with a biga

Meet Biga:



After a day or so, that's what happens to a small amount of flour, water and yeast, left in an oiled bowl.

So I mixed that with some more flour, water, and a little more yeast. Then I put it back in the oiled bowl to rise. This is when I went and cleaned the bathroom, made the bed, put away the laundry, and finally got out of my pj's. After a couple hours, I poured the blob out on the bread board, and poked it and stretched it so it finally looked like this, when I put it on the cookie sheet:

After another hour and a half or so, it looked like this:

Then it went in to a very hot oven, and came out like this:

Meanwhile, I had to bring a fan into the kitchen, because it was getting quite warm. I let the loaf cool a bit, and then sliced into it:

After that I decided it was time for lunch:

Nevermind the fact that it was around four o'clock. I had breakfast around noonish, so it worked out nicely. So, I noshed on fresh bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, olives stuffed with garlic cloves, hardboiled eggs, and carrots while I put these pictures on the laptop. It was a good day.

Sourdough Saga

I'm making a new sourdough starter - so this time I thought I'd document its growth.

Day 1: 9/2

Added - 120g organic whole wheat flour, 120g water
Removed - nothing
Aroma - wet wheat
Consistency - a moistened and stiff dough



Day 2: 9/3

Directions - there will be no visible change in the color or texture of the starter. Do nothing.

This was the day we spent up on the Northern Neck helping my grandparents, I have no pictures, though I assume it looked much like it did day 1, maybe a little bigger.


Day 3: 9/4



Removed - 120g starter (approx half the original amount) before feeding
Aroma - slightly wheaty, with an unknown note
Consistencey - a moist dough
Added - 60g flour, 60g water



Day 4: 9/5

(no before picture, my apologies)

Removed - 120g starter (approx half the original amount) before feeding
Aroma - cheese, more specifically, white cheddar cheese puffs
Consistency - thick pancake batter
Added - 60g flour, 60g water



Day 5: 9/6



Removed - 120g starter (approx half the original amount) before feeding
Aroma - Cheese with a trace of fresh paint
Consistency - thick pancake batter
Added - 60g flour, 60g water



"You will now have about 1 cup of active starter. (You may feel the impulse to give it a name. Give in to it . . .)"

If anyone would like to suggest a good name for my starter, I'd appreciate it. I want to give it an interesting name. Now I must keep feeding it daily for two weeks.

For the record - I have been working from "The Bread Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Ernesto

Ernesto ploughed through Norfolk, the center of the storm passing right over our heads. Sounds scary right? Ernesto was back down to being a tropical depression when he hit us; I drove downtown to work just after he'd passed by - not because I needed to wait for him to leave, but because I didn't need to go to work that early. There was a little flooding, but we didn't even lose power. Well, there was a lot of flooding, but we didn't have much where we were.
Ernesto actually came at Hampton Roads from the best possible direction - over land. But as it continued up the bay, it had more water to push and hit a high pressure system, that compacted it, driving up the wind speeds. By the time he made it to my grandparents on the Norther Neck, he was dealing damage somewhat like Isabel.
We drove up Sunday to help my grandparents dig out of what Ernesto left behind.






We took around 100 bags of debris to the dump, and that still leaves half of the pile of sea grass in front of the cottage (another 50 bags or so). The boat losses were high, because Ernesto wasn't supposed to be so bad - but no one anticipated what he'd manage to do up in the northern bay - they had 90 mph winds in Baltimore. This was certainly not a Katrina - but I think we underestimated Ernie just a bit.

Cape Charles

Your 3 was on tour in Cape Charles last week . . . we had fun, see?




This is Nathan . . . he works at the station - he's working hard, can't ya tell?

Pretty Things

It's time for something on the lighter side!

So, the S&S Gray 2.0 household has a new camera. Be warned, this means more pictures in upcoming posts, and probably posts solely for the purpose of posting pictures. Now, I firmly believe that it's not the camera, it's the operator that makes beautiful pictures . . . but there is a point when the limitations of a point-and-shoot camera limit the posibilities of a person's skills. Thus the Canon Digital Rebel XT - our first fully functional SLR that can be completely manual. We are (obviously) excited. Tomorrow I'm headed to the eastern shore for a remote newscast "Your 3 On Tour" - I'm taking the camera, so expect one of those aforementioned pictures only posts in the near future.

Anyway, on the theme of pretty things, I was playing with the camera today. I didn't wander much farther than the fire escape, but I found some fun stuff.









Now, those are all pictures of things that aren't mine. On the gardening front, I planted a little New Zealand Spinach in one of the pots on the fire escape just to see how it did, and while it's still small, it's coming along nicely. I had good luck with some lettuce, but now that we've reached the dog days of august, lettuce gets very bitter (inedible, trust me). NZ spinach, on the other hand, doesn't mind the heat.



Now, the gardening thing is not new news around here . . . most anyone who has been reading my ramblings knows I've been playing with green growing things this summer. But in an attempt to find a portable form of entertainment that I could take to work for when I had down time, or long meal breaks, I have turned to . . . Knitting! I'm sticking primarily to small projects that provide a little challenge - the first of which was a pair of socks. I think I'm hooked. My domestic adventures never end!



Now I'm working on socks for the boy (gray w/red heels and toes), and a bunch of possible christmas presents . . . pictures will come, but not until after they're given to the folks they're for.

So, that's what's up here, at least for now.

I feel a need to clarify

. . . but as to whether or not I have the ability, I'll leave that to you.

As long windedness is not my strong suit . . . I will try to sum up what I was getting at last time -


I think that the legal battles being fought by the homosexual community in terms of their rights reguarding civil marriage ceremonies and the subsequent ability to file jointly on their taxes or obtain "family" memberships at establishments like country clubs and pools . . . should be decided in their favor - they do have the right to all those things. I don't think they should be treated any differently than any other person.

In terms of their battles within the church, I don't think the church should adopt a homosexual marriage ceremony, and I don't think the church should be elevating active homosexuals to positions of authority (priests, bishops and the like). But I don't think the church should exclude them from the fellowship, or sacramental activities of the church.

It's really a tough issue to deal with. I still think homosexuality is a sin. But homosexuals suffer from a great deal of exclusion in the church, not because of their lifestyle, but because their lifestyle is more visible than other sins. The reason the church shouldn't decided who gets to take communion, or participate in other ways is simply because the church can only make that decision based on what it sees. But the visible isn't everything. It is really up to the individual to hash it out with God and decide if they should or shouldn't do something . . . but within a large body made up of people, what should happen and what does happen are often quite different . . . and perhaps it should be that way - this is our earthly existance; I'm not sure we're supposed to get it right much of the time.

Clear as mud, right?

To Continue

In light of an article Curly suggested after reading my last post . . .

I would like to add something to my statements -

The church should not take it upon itself to allow or deny a person participation in the sacrament of Eucharist . . . it's not the job of the church to decide who can and cannot partake. Whether a person should or shouldn't take communion is between them and God, and if we were brutally honest more often . . . we wouldn't take communion half as often as we do (I too am guilty of that one).

Also - Wyman, glad to know I'm not alone on this one - it's one of the few issues on which I get all "separation of church and state" on folks.

Raising Controversy

I'm really not trying to raise eyebrows, or give people frown wrinkles . . . really.

I've just been thinking about some stuff, and I'm fairly sure my conclusions are going to make some people angry . . . somewhere . . . if they find out about them. Unfortunately, I'm feeling a need to get some of these thoughts off my chest - so here goes.

I think homosexuality is a sin in the eyes of God.
Therefore:
- Homosexual unions should not be honored in the church.
- A homosexual marriage ceremony should not be canonized.
- Active homosexuals should not be placed in positions of high authority in
the church. Just as people who sodomize young boys, or embezzel money, or lie uncontrollably should not be placed in positions of high authority.
- I'm not particularly comfortable with calling a homosexual union a "marriage"

But . . .
- I see no reason not to allow homosexual unions in the civil and legal sense.
- I don't think the federal or state goverments should outlaw homosexual unions.

And . . .
- I see no reason to treat homosexuals as second class citizens, they are
people after all
- There is nothing especially wrong with someone living a homosexual lifestyle that isn't wrong with all of us (we're all sinners, it's in Romans), so they deserve the same respect and love that I'd give anyone else.
- And for that matter, I know a bunch of really cool people; some of them are gay. No.big.deal.

Have I offended you yet? Or at least confused you?

As a species we tend to fear what we do not understand, and while that's a fairly good survival instinct in the wild, in society it's not a habit we should be proud of or try to maintain.

Ok, I'm done being offensive now.

This Looked Pretty Cool

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1. One book that changed your life: they really all have in one way or another . . . I'm like a french lacquer finish . . . with every pass of the alcohol soaked cloth, my surface is refined.

2. One book that you’ve read more than once: Jeremy the Tale of an Honest Bunny by Jan Karon

3. One book you’d want on a desert island: Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder

4. One book that made you laugh: Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Berniere . . . though I didn't get very far with it.

5. One book that made you cry: The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman

6. One book that you wish had been written: I often find the library lacking in practical guides for my age/stage/lifestyle/budget . . . they're either too gung ho or not at all helpful. (see: The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book by Carla Emery)

7. One book that you wish had never been written: Beloved . . . and really anything else by Toni Morrison. I know lots of people like her books, but I.just.can't.

8. One book you’re currently reading: Rebel Angels by Libba Bray

9. One book you've been meaning to read: oh . . . here is where I confess to having not read any of the Anne of Green Gables books . . . but I promise it's on my to-do list.

10. Tag five others: Anyone who hasn't been tagged yet, is officially tagged here.

Garden Update . . . It has pictures

Let's see now . . .

It's getting warmer, and with the rain we've been getting, the backyard garden (at mom's) is really booming.

The tomato crop is starting to come in, especially the grape tomatoes:



We're about to have a second wave of beans, and the first wave were nice and sweet, so we're excited to have more.



There are lots of big green tomatoes on the vines:



On a side note, I've become very fond of lemon basil tea - it's really quite tasty. So I'm trying to multiply my lemon basil crop so I'll have more to dry for tea.

The chamomile is still flowering madly, I'm excited to have that to sip all winter.

We rescued mom's rose bush from being swallowed by the hedge and it's been thanking us with blossoms:











The daylilies have also been quite happy:



But, then again, mom has always been good and growing low maintenance plants - it's her specialty.

I'm hoping, when Seth get's further into the impending pond project in the back yard, maybe we can grow some more daylilies in different colors - like not orange.

That's what we've got in the garden these days . . . not much going on on the fire escape at present, I'm still experimenting with how much sunlight some of these plants really need. Oh, wait, there is news - the Jalapeno on the fire escape now has four peppers growing on it, for a total of 5 so far. We smoked the first one, in an attempt at home made chipotle. It's an adventure, what can I say?

I don't have the words

I really need a happier post after all this . . .

The Lindle family needs our prayers . . . their son Ben, a fixture at Asbury College and founder of the Lexington Kid's Choir has left this world.

Sweet, gentle, "Big Ben," you will be sorely missed.

Ok, so it doesn't have pictues, but I must accept the challenge!

1. Grab the book nearest you, turn to page 18 and find line 4. The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, Ann Budd "are placed back on waste yarn or holders."

2. Stretch out your left arm as far as you can. What can you touch? a wall, a window, a cup full of sharpies, a computer screen, a keyboard, a couple of books, my planner, my nalgene

3. What is the last thing you watched on TV? The noon news - but it's my job.

4. Without looking, guess what time it is. 2:33

5. Now look at the clock. What is the actual time? 2:33:27

6. With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? The fans in the switcher, the fan in the kalypso, which sounds like the little engine that could, not much else, it's quiet in here

7. When did you last step outside? What were you doing? Ran out to get lunch - it's a rainy day, but if I didn't have to come back to work, I'd be playing in the garden anyway.

8. Before you started this survey, what did you look at? The production wiki - to check and see if anyone left me a note.

9. What are you wearing? Jeans, my film nerd shirt, and a hoodie - AC's on high for the electronics

10. Did you dream last night? Yes, I think I did.

11. When did you last laugh? This morning, hanging out with Seth before I had to leave for work.

12. What is on the walls of the room you are in? Some windows, lots of small TV screens, a bulletin board, and some memo's

13. Seen anything weird lately? I just was a trash truck with a cardboard box wedged in the gap between the front bumper and the body of the truck.

14. What do you think of this quiz? I'm likin' it . . . it's different.

15. What is the last film you saw? In the theatre: Cars . . . on DVD: Bee Season

16. If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy? Well, I'd give half of it away (a third of that being to the Media Comm or Theatre departments at Asbury, the other half I'd split between our church, a couple of missions organizations, and heifer international), then I'd do a couple little fun things, like a digital SLR and accessories, and invest the rest for our first house.

17. Tell me something about you that I don't know. Hmm . . . I want to have a cute little house on a decent plot of land where we can raise a few animals and I can have a huge vegetable garden, an herb garden, a knot garden, and a tea garden. And I want a really BIG dog - mastif perhaps.

18. If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt and politics, what would you do? shift the global balance of money and power closer to an even keel, and take 10% of the top 25 nation's respective budgets and spread it among the quality relief organizations in the world

19. Do you like to dance? yeah, sometimes

20. George Bush: Not too sure. Sometimes I think his elevator isn't going to the top floor, but he means well, and tries hard. Other times, I think he's looking after the interests of the wrong people, and not serving the nation that elected him. I'm waiting for Haley to run for president; that will be the first time I know I want a particular candidate to win.

21. Imagine your first child is a girl. What do you call her? I'd like to call her George, but only if that suits her. As for what I'd name her, probably something like Anne George, though Leigh Harmon is also a favorite of mine, in which case I'd call her Harmo.

22. Imagine your first child is a boy. George? Just kidding. I'd like a Jack, not a full on John Preston, but a John something. It'll probably make mom cry, might even piss Bit off, we'll have to see.

23. Would you ever consider living abroad? In a heartbeat! But I'm a little particular about where.

24. What would you want God to say to you when you reach the pearly gate? Dude!

25. 3 people who should do this quiz in their blog: Hmm . . . Rosie (when she feels like it), Bookie, and Wyman (though he might feel he's above quizzes).

Ok . . .

Sad mopey post out of my system . . . it's time for something with pictures . . . post haste!

A Quiet Drive Home

"Well I've never been the kind to ever let my feelings show
And I thought that bein' strong meant never losin' your self-control" 1

It's quiet in the truck, and traffic is light. Not many folks around, just me and the radio

"'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.
'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 2

The whole wedding was a bit of a blur, it was sweet, and fun, and great to see all those folks. Bit said she couldn't look at mom, too many tears.

"To hell with my pride
Let it fall like rain, from my eyes
Tonight I wanna cry."1

So apparently I have now run out of whatever's been keeping my mind on happier things.

"Would it help if i turned a sad song on
'All by Myself' would sure hit me hard, now that you're gone"1

It's been just over three months; mom's alone in the house for the first time since it happened. I wonder how she's doing?

"It's gonna hurt bad before it gets better
But I'll never get over you by hidin' this way" 1

I still walk into their bedroom and talk to him, tell him what's up . . . at least say "good morning."

"'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'" 2

Some details are fuzzy . . . did it happen before my quarterly review? Did I get to hear him say he was proud of me? Did he say "That's great gooz?" He would have. Who all came? So many people said so many sweet things. There was that stupid shopping cart - I need to get the dent in my door fixed.

"God has paid us the intolerable compliment of loving us, in the deepest, most tragic, most inexorable sense." 3

I miss my daddy.

"Let it fall like rain, from my eyes Tonight I wanna cry."


1 Tonight I Wanna Cry, Keith Urban
2 The Velvelteen Rabbit, Margery Williams
3 The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis

Back To My Garden

Seth and I had a really good time in Chincoteague, aside from our sunburn episode at the beach - I need to get better at reapplying my sunscreen. We saw some pretty countryside, and some cute shops. We wandered the trails on Assateague island, and only did what we wanted to. It was relaxing.

The only think I actually missed while we were gone was my garden - I'm such a nerd. When we left we had a tomato that was getting ready to chance, our first big one, and I didnt' really want to miss it. Turns out I didn't . . .

Um . . . overboard?

Ok, I realize my mother is prone to these kinds of things, but I guess I hadn't mentally prepared myself for this . . .

The forecast for the wedding day is looking more and more like it will be hot, though hopefully dry, and so my mother in her infinite momness made a stop at the dollar store yesterday and bought something like 150 BATTERY POWERED FANS!!!! I'm not saying it was a bad idea, it was in fact, a pretty good idea - but what are we going to do with all the leftover fans?

And besides, I think she just bought us karma insurance that it will definitely rain that day. Oh well . . .

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