Saturday, November 29, 2008

A light in the darkness

This is the day that they announced that William Gibson died. He shed light on the deepest love that, I think, earth can know. The love of light and communication coming into the darkest place. "The Miracle Worker" my very favorite story. I read the story many, many times, but I don't remember ever watching the movie. I tried out for a part in it...that is another story...
William Gibson will be known throughout history as the man who shed light upon one of the most intimate experiences known to man. The initiation of communication in the soul. Thoughts can stay welled up in a human soul with no ventilation of communication and a person an Annie Sullivan can wrestle the devil and loose the tongue of communication through sign and in the hand and through touch. Now we can all know that Helen Keller had feelings and hopes and dreams and thoughts and beauty in her blind and deaf and uncommunicative state. I love the faith that took the devil to task in that arena and prevailed to the glory of God. I love the faith that thought it a worthy venture to put the story into the venue of the day, play and movie form. I love the beauty of the relationship of women who have played those roles and the change that you see in them from that learning experience. I love the fact that we have a trust in this country that we can tell the good stories and the bad ones to people in the media.

Friday, November 28, 2008

It was a frosty Thanksgiving Morning

The frost was covering the blooms on my butterfly bush and not a bird came out to greet me on the morning of this Thanksgiving. I felt different because the house was not filling our olfactory nerves with the roast turkey and I had a choice, to cook the Turkey or not, this year.
The day bloomed into a warm and sunny one. No trace of the earlier frost was there by the time it was time to give thanks.
Thanks to some precious friends who cared enough to share their family tradition with us, we had a relatively leisurely morning. I whipped up some lasagna and some apple pie to bring with us and the presence of a Good God was with me in the prep work and with us in the visit to our friends house.
I can't remember back to a time when Thanksgiving was filled with all love and future thoughts and no one in the room was on the last Thanksgiving, that we knew of. We had been on that season for so long that the lustre of the day had come to mean goodbye instead of Thank God. I didn't realize that, until we were with couples who were younger.
Although there were many lessons sitting Shiva (as it were) with the elders in our families, over the years; it was rejuvenating to enjoy the life giving spirit of families where that was yet a far off thought, still. "There is a time to live." Our friends gave us the privilege of taking that time to live with them.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Queen Isabella was a woman who financed

The NEW WORLD. She sent the NINA the PINTA and the Santa Maria out from Spain and could imagine that there was a world out there beyond what she could see. That took alot of faith and trust to put out that much money on a venture that was outside of the view of the entire known world. The American Journey of a new nation was started and found by this kind of venture capital. Financing thoughts that are outside of the realm of our imagination, but are a part of the future. This keeps our economy floating. There are new ventures out there. There are resources to keep the world moving and growing. It doesn't always have to run on baby boom to baby boom. War and Peace. Let's reach outside of the realm of creating baby booms and build real live families with skills to live and abide with eachother or live apart in peace.

Friday, November 21, 2008

So interesting, this season that

My mums and my pumpkins have gone the way of all perenials vegetation. Halloween season is the season of harvest and taking stock in what is ours and what is home. Snap, my front peartree has lost almost all of his leaves and Ginger is hanging onto hers in this cold autumn season. This is remarkable to me because it was Ginger who, at first looked like she wasn't going to take to corner living. It is my peartrees' first Autumn with us. One in front and one in back.
I have "Peaches" in the house. She is far too delicate to be outside. but I am afraid that she may not make it. She is losing some leaves in the house also. I have watered her. She just doesn't look well. I have to talk to her more, I think. I will work on her some more. It is cold outside and the trees start to fall asleep so that they can survive the season. I too want to sleep off the cold weather. That is not surprising.

My carpet is nearly 3 years old and for its birthday I found a carpet shampooer at a thrift store. I am so pleased with the results and the beautification. My triangles are not as deep as the first day that I set eyes on her but when I clean her with my Green Machine, she almost feels as sweet as new. I want my carpet clean enough to live on and sleep on, but not untouchable. When the children are grown up we can have luxuries like thick carpets. For now, clean and freshly shampooed is happy.

Monday, November 17, 2008

I followed suit with the banana hats





So many times, they made fun of my hats. When I wore them, they were certainly not in style, but I wore them anyhow. I see now that I was following a theme that was far beyond me. Families grow sometimes, without us realizing the emotional task ahead of us. Years and love is growing and costing and plowing ahead.\
I am grateful that God says that blessed is the man who has his quiver full of them, children. The world is full of children of the women who spent their strength to deliver. My banana hat, my mommy's banana hat and Carmen Miranda's banana hat are a joke, but the children who came out of those hats are not bunnies. They are influences upon the world.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

My Mommy had her own banana hats in those days

This was a picture of us leaving Atlanta in 1965. I was not looking forward to my plane trip with those two siblings of mine who were screaming and crying. I am sure I did my own amount of screaming and crying at the earpopping experience on the plane in 1965. I remember Paul was crying when we left as though we would never return and I could not believe that a ten year old boy could cry. It was a trip I will never forget. I remember Aunt Dorothy washing our faces and taking us into her home and Peachtree Street and my little friend Patty. Hospitality to little people goes a long way. And what a brave young 23 year old woman to get on a plane with the three of us!

Friday, November 14, 2008

I just loved Carmen Miranda!


More than a banana covered hat and an expert dancer. Carmen Miranda was the picture of the prosperity available in this country to whomever would be diligent and resourceful. She used her influence and gifts to change the stereotype that was assigned to her. A sexy woman, whose beauty engaged and enthralled and used that reality to show women how to direct the minds of lust to the task at hand. ie. In the movie A Date with Judy they gave her the part of a dance instructor and she was able to teach this man to Rhumba and keep his mind on the learning of that skill and not get distracted by the beauty of what he was touching in the lesson. It was amusing and instructional.
The lesson I seemed to see in that was that it is not in our power to make men not lust, but it is in our power to, with the power entrusted to us in their lust to get the job done. Whatever that job may be. We may not have the job of a Rhumba teacher, but in whatever we do, let us keep our minds on the task at hand. That is not always easy.
Do we get high on admiration of our skills or beauty and lose our focus or do we direct the day for good. She was a revolutionary. Let us be also....

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Old Man River!

He does keep rolling along! Why is the world continuing, is a question that we ask in our grief. That song is a reminder that this economy continues, when cotton was king, it kept going. When the industrial revolution was king the Mississippi kept on flowing. When slavery was rampant the Mississippi was flowing and there is a beauty in the fact that the world will continue long past us, if Jesus tarries.
In times like these, we need a Savior! In times like these, we need a hope beyond, even the mighty Mississippi River's continuance. It will continue rolling along and if we take our motivation from the consistency that God placed in her, we too will be much blest. One wave upon another and God adds grace upon grace and strength upon strength and generation upon generation.
The economy does not revolve around the River anymore and the economy does not revolve around the slave trade anymore and there will be some shoulder to swing the economy in this next millenium through the ingenuity of some genius. Wait and work and pray and try and God will prosper, by and by.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Young women came over

we enjoyed tea and crumpets and chicken and crackers and salad and fruit and singing happy birthday. 22 is a new season. We trust the God will carry us through this year as he has for so many years before.
For me, it marks the 22nd anniversary of my first childbirth experience. It marks the amazing grace that allows us to be held by His hand through motherhood. Motherhood shines a bright light on your ignorance and unimportance. Learn to humble yourself, before God has to humble you!

I am grateful for the lessons I learned from listening to the ladies yesterday. There are precious young people to whom the world belongs in the future. God is good and He has blest their lives and interests with prosperity.
I know that if we touch the hem of His garments we can be healed.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

My own little inventors and creators labor

on products and inventions, some of their own and some for a teacher's inspection. They are always intensely, attempting to find some new way to make our family life simpler or worry free. That is impossible (to be worryfree). When we get such a bunch of people bumping into eachother in one building there are always conflicts and learning to navigate between the essential and the sublime is helpful and might prove healthy.
We have urgent needs and we have less urgent needs and one of these days we get down to the wants. When we react to the urgent all of the time, it makes for a stressful life. Coming away from the scene for a little while, such as, at work, adds and distant view of the situation. I need to do that so that I can address the urgent needs with adequate consideration.



ON Growing and building real human relationships.
Last night I spent some time with one of the men of my dreams and it was breathtaking. Thank God, he's my son, or Ben would be jealous! It was awesome to hear the thinking of this young man congealing into a thoughtful, eloquent individual. I could truly relate to what I heard about Rodney Dangerfield's mother sitting in the seat and daring anyone to mock her son's jokes. It is important that I allow his voice to show through his writing and not his dominant English major mother. He speaks and my heart is in praise to the God who can build hope out of grief. I thought I would never hear such a voice. Helping him with his homework is not hard for me, but it is hard for him because he hates for me to look at him adoringly as I do. Thank you God for miracles.

Friday, November 7, 2008

George Washington Carver...

found a way to avoid the decline of the king cotton economy by utilizing peanuts. It is obvious that we live in a time when the bollweavel of providence is calling for another genius to come along and readdress the economy. We must find a new wind to float our economy. God is able to grant wisdom to the foolish and He answers the prayers of His people and can turn the whole thing around to help us to float this economic boat. Let's put our minds and hearts together to produce and create and not just consume.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Finding Unity in the midst of the internal conflict of our nation

I am grateful to the candidates that took on the responsibility of representing the current sentiments of our nation to us to the poles. As usual, the temperature is that the parties have represented the general sentiments accurately and we are separated into the 2 equal or nearly equal camps.
Now comes the hard part for the victor of the conflict. To address those challenges and concern with accuracy and effectiveness. It is ours, to pray for President Obama and Vice President Biden. It is theirs to address our issues and bring some kind of civil peace to the civil conflict.
The dust has settled, the issues are out on the table and now the budget process and the counting occurs. Can we put the pieces of this puzzle back together and labor together as one nation? Yes we can!

Monday, November 3, 2008

Change of weather and beautiful leaves

Somehow, it seems an oxymoron to have weather patterns in the 70's and the leaves falling off of the trees. I would expect to have my parka on and my leggings and drinking warm cider to warm my "innards". The beauty of the autumn days down here, make me think about the beach and the pool and the summer refreshments. We are used to responding to the temperature and not to the tree changes. It is beautiful, none theless. I love it!