It's 29 degrees!

We're over the January hump, reader friends.  And it's five months to strawberries!  Am I looking forward to spring?  You betcha!

One of my friends from our folk group at church was telling me that years ago Father Chuck was saying Mass.  His normal procedure was that he would nod to her when he was ready to start.  On this particular Sunday he appeared ready but he never nodded.  So she waited for a while.

Finally, thinking that surely it was time to start Mass, she gave the signal to the folk group and they started to first song and Mass began.  When Father Chuck gave the sermon, she got a huge shock.  The whole sermon was about patience and he used her as an example.  She couldn't wait; she'd been impatient.  He knew she would do what she did.

I know she was really embarrassed by this incident, because it is etched in her memory.  But she'll never forget the lesson on patience.  We are an impatient people and there are signs to me anyhow that it is getting worse over such silly things as shoes, cell phones, and driving manners. 

And while we are impatient, God is infinitely patient with us, giving us every chance to see Him, to follow His ways, to hear His voice.  It is humbling to compare ourselves to God, isn't it?  There is no way we ever win that argument.  So while it is the human tendency to do as the Pharisees, and compare ourselves to other humans who seem so much worse than we are, it is not the other human beings that we have to reconcile ourselves with.

Having patience with children is very important.  By not rushing from this to that, we give them the time to react to things, to talk about what they've seen or done, and to get their perspective on life from an early age.  And by doing this, we show them that what they think and feel is important to us, important enough that maybe if we are lucky they will continue to share with us through those rough teenage years.

Advice people say take a deep breath.  Breathe in deeply, expand the lungs fully, and then slowly let out the air.  Breathe out the stress.  Just doing that here and now was very relaxing.  It stands to reason that at the high point of stress, taking those few moments to take deep breaths would help us cope, would help us regain our balance, and would help us be patient.  And then the next step we could take would be to breathe in deeply, thinking of someone we want to pray for, and then as we breathe out, meditate on that person, on their needs.

I'm going to take my own counsel today and try to do the breathing thing.  Won't you join me?

Thanks for reading.  See you tomorrow.

My Manifesto

I understand that the master planner for the September 11, 2001 attack, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, has issued a manifesto.  It was provided to the court during his trial and deemed not to be a threat and so it was made available to the public.  It was published in the Huffington Post two days ago.  Equally disturbing is the other publication that he mailed to a penpal of his in England, a healthcare worker who first wrote to him, with the promise of a Part II and a Part III.

So maybe we all should have a manifesto, defined in this way by Merriam Webster's online dictionary:  A manifesto is a published verbal declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government.^[


Here is mine, loosely inspired by one of my favorite publications of all times, Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, except that mine includes my faith which always tops the list.

I will know, love and serve God.
I will love others as I already love myself.
Love will be the center post of my life, the love that I learned from God.
It is not my job to judge others, or to determine the fate of others, but only to offer them what God always offers me -- understanding and compassion.
I will plant roots that will tether me in the wind and the storm, and I will not plant roots in the sand which shifts and changes.
I will recognize that each day on earth is a miracle, a gift from God, and not to be squandered.
I will laugh and find humor in life, because we were created to laugh and enjoy one another.
Life is too short to waste on getting upset about the little things.
Don't wait until the doors of the churches are closed to see that our liberties and freedoms are being questioned and challenged.  This is not a little thing.  Get upset.
If there is anything that I do well, it is because of God.  So therefore, I do not boast, but only give the glory to God in everything and in every situation.
Like my mother always told us when we went for a picnic, leave the place as clean or cleaner than how you found it.
If the eyes are the window to the soul, then let my eyes feast on what is beautiful in the eyes of God.
Finally, let me marvel at the wonder of creation and the value of every human life and live my own live accordingly.

Okay, these are pretty lofty, aren't they?  But according to the definition, these are my intentions, my motives and my views.  KLM's manifesto covered some 36 pages.  I'll stick with mine.

God Bless You!!!

Bully and Bullying

When I was a kid, there was a boy down the street who liked to bully me.  I might have told you about him before.  His name was Jimmy and his bullying took on different forms depending on what time of the year it was. 

In warm weather, he took my bike on the way home for lunch just before I got home and then he rode around on it until just before it was time to go back to school.  If I had been more clever, I could have said something like, "So you like riding girls' bikes?"  But I wasn't all that clever and what he did bothered me a lot.  In cold weather he followed behind me and hit me with snowballs that melted and went down my shirt until I was even colder.

So I knew what it was to be bullied. 

And it made me afraid and hesitant, especially in the mornings.  After a while,. I didn't want to go to school and sometimes I'd fake being sick.  Believe it or not, I did the old thermometer in the hot chocolate trick and it worked.  Even with the mother's famous rule -- if you say home you stay in bed -- I'd still be happy to be at home rather than go to school.

Somewhere along the line, Jimmy must have moved because I just don't remember him anymore.  After kindergarten, I had kids to walk which was much, much better.

But whenever I hear about bullied kids, it's hard not to remember that feeling. 

On another occasion when I was probably about ten, we went to Westgate Mall.  Across the street from my house was a crossover street that ended at a park.  If you walked across the expanse of the grassy park, it ended up at Westgate Mall, a new mall but uncovered.  There were at least three of us walking that day and when we reached a point in the hike where we were the most vulnerable in the grassy expanse, a car appeared out of seemingly nowhere and it chased us.  Let me tell you, being chased by a car is terrifying.  The boys who did that should have been seriously punished but they weren't.  We weren't even clever enough to get their license plates.  We just ran as fast as we could.

So from that point on, I didn't want to go to Westgate Mall via the shortcut. 

The anti-bullying programs seem to work, but they only work if the bullies are identified at as young an age as possible.  Bullying behavior is a sign of something that needs to be fixed. 

Today I think about the two kids from Brunswick who committed suicide.  One of them for sure was bullied.  Let's pray for them and all of the other kids who are on the wrong side of a troubled kid's aggressions.

Inspiration

Early yesterday morning, the puffy clouds picked up the pink from the rising sun and made a beautiful contrast with the azure blue skies.  It was inspirational.

What really inspires you?  What makes you want to try something you've never tried before with a sense that you "can do this?"  What gives you a sense of purpose, a renewed vigor for life?  What reassures you that although life constantly changes, there are some things that never do?

Honestly, we need these little touches of inspiration in whatever form they come.  This is what colors life so that the ho-hum is pushed away. 

Here are some ideas for how to find inspiration, things that have worked for me, even when I wasn't trying:

1. The Bible -- Read the psalms if you want to experience a range of emotions from despair to pure hope.  You'll know then that you are most assuredly not alone.
2. A meaty conversation with a friend who knows you well.  Speak openly.
3. A magazine with pictures of do-it-yourself projects.
4. Find something to repurpose in your house and make plans on how you will do this.
5. Look at travel materials about visiting sandy beaches and seeing the beautiful aqua blue water of the Caribbean.  Just the colors alone will be a feast for your eyes.
6. Watch someone doing a simple work-out routine.  Adapt it for your own use. (Start slow)

That's all I can think of at this moment.  I got an inspiration from a magazine a couple of days ago.  It's in the Martha Stewart Living this month.  A woman down south dies her own fabrics for draperies, pillows, etc.  She has a work area in her house for this purpose and this is what she does for a living now (left corporate America).  I'm sure she uses block printing with the kind of ink made for fabrics (like silk screen).  But the results are really nice and it made me think that I could do something like that using simple muslin cloth in an off-white shade. 

Rather than the silk screening inks, I'd use acrylic paint, possibly with some water mixed in.  For the blocks, I might try using an almost-dry sponge cut to shape and mounted on a wood block.  It would work a little like stenciling a wall.  I'd have to use some old scraps to give it a try first.  I'd use the custom-color design to make some valances for the kitchen and dining room.  Then maybe a couple of pieces for pillows.  The idea would be to put the color on the fabric so that the color would go on unevenly.  In other words, not like a big colored blob.  After the design starts showing up, it would look beautiful, I think.  Different.

At our church in Canal Fulton, we are still waiting for the custom doors that were ordered in November, I think.  They did come in, but they were the wrong size so we had to start all over again.  Once they are in, then on Fridays I'll start making a holy hour at 2:00 p.m.  During that time, I'll start out reading a paragraph or two from the Bible and then just meditate and think about it for the rest of the time.  If I find my mind wandering, I'll read another passage.  Hope it works.  My mind is notorious for wandering!!

Take care, and have a great day, friends. 

Mist on the Canal

On a rainy, dank morning it seemed the right thing to do to go to Lieberman's for donuts.  The air is warmer than the ice covering the river and the canal, and so there was a spooky mist in the wooded areas bordering Erie Avenue.  For photographers with a lot of stamina and patience, it would have been a good morning to capture one of those memorable pictures, the kind that evoke emotion.

Apparently, some of the stuff I've said in this blog over the past year is accurate.  Journalists have a terrible reputation among the populace and are not believed.  This is very troublesome.  As I've said before, the job of the journalist isn't to create news, adapt news, or skew the news.  Their job is to report news as accurately as possible.

Depending on what station you choose for your news reports, you may not be getting a true representation of what is going on.  Some stories are covered up, others are promoted unceasingly.  If a certain story would make a certain person look bad, you might not hear about it on some stations. 

Being a reporter is very interesting.  There is no routine, no humdrum, no boredom.  Each day brings new stories, new people, fresh challenges.  Depending on how much energy a reporter has, stories can have many layers of meaning.  You can seek out someone else's take on the story.  You can research more facts, dig deeper for information.  And yet, there are those who can't seem to stick to the basics.  Is it a power thing? 

Without balanced news, people who vote regularly in national and local elections don't have the information they need to cast an informed vote.  I think this has influenced a number of key races in the past few years.

Will it ever change?  I don't know.  But it is terribly wrong to abuse this position.  It's a sin. 

Journalists have always been taught to go after the story but to handle it professionally, as accurately as possible.  At least that's the way it was.  When does the corruption start?  When a journalist gets higher on the totem pole?  When the boss puts pressure on the reporters to report this, not that?

The best bet is to move around the channels for the news.  Don't stick to just one broadcaster if you want to know what is going on.  If you get your news from the Internet, then check out various sources for that as well.  Compare and contrast.  Who is saying what?  That will give you an idea of what sort of spin a particular news source is likely to take.

See what the newspaper says and then check an on-line source, for example.  Read the same story in both media. 

There was a time when politicians feared the media because they could change the game plan overnight.  But now it seems as though the media insulate and shelter politicians -- and that is definitely not the way it ought to be.  The news media should be politicallly unaffiliated.

Do you know something?  We're getting close to the year-a-versary of the blog.  It's been great for me, and I hope you have gotten something out of it.  If you have ideas for postings, let me know.  If there's something you would like to hear about, let me know that too.

Take care.  It's around 44 degrees out!  Feels pretty good too.  Enjoy.

A Great Little Appliance

The microwave oven is one appliance that really earns its keep.  So today since it's so cold and nasty outside, it seemed like a good day to take a closer look at how it came to be.

The oven was invented by Percy Spencer from technology that came about during World War II.  The first oven, known as a "Radarange" was sold in 1947.  Then Raytheon developed an oven under the Tappan brand in 1955 for home use, but it was too large and bulky for most families.  The more familiar countertop microwave oven was introduced by Amana (bought by Raytheon) in 1967.

My brother-in-law was in the vending business and learned about microwave ovens in that way.  He bought one and it was quite the topic of conversation!!  This was in around 1975, I think.  When I got pregnant with Greg, it was the one thing that I really wanted.  They weren't available in just any store, so my brother-in-law bought one and then we paid him back.  It cost around $400 which was a tidy sum in 1976 but it was a great purchase.

I used it to heat formula and then later Greg's cereal, and we saved time, energy and money by reheating leftovers much more efficiently.  We were early adopters but very pleased with the purchase.  The oven performed great for years until the handle broke.  That's all that was wrong with it.  And of course, the number of watts was probably fairly low.

How does it work?  The oven heats food by bombarding it with electromagnetic radiation in the microwave spectrum causing polarized molecules in the food to rotate and build up thermal energy in a process known as dielectric heating.  The particles bump into one another, causing friction and heat.  Heating is fairly uniform and even. 

One of the neat things about the microwave oven is that even gourmet cooks can use them, especially for bringing butter to perfect consistency and for heating chocolate. 

Today, we made eggs.  Here's how it goes -- take a coffee cup (or a bowl but it will be hot to handle) and add a scrambled egg and a little butter.  Microwave for about 30 seconds and then mix it a little, add cheese if you like and microwave again for about 20 more seconds or to taste.  The eggs are fluffy and delicious.  No pan to clean and no extra calories from oil.  It's great for dieters.  We had toast with the eggs.  Just keep a good watch on what's going on in the oven for the first time, because I'm not 100% sure of the timing.

So that's our little posting for today.

The microwave oven -- it's hard for me to use one without thinking of my brother-in-law who died six years ago.  He was so kind.  One of these days I'll write about him. 

Have a wonderful day, and let us all thank God for a new beginning, a fresh start.

Blank Page

Today the white of the page in front of me is like the white of the snow in the driveway.  So here we go.  Let's fill it.

We watched "ET" last evening with my granddaughter.  On a broader level, ET might be seen as a movie that shows how children can accept strangers, creatures far different than we are, and find ways to communicate and appreciate them -- even offer them love. 

The amazing thing about the movie is that somehow the viewer begins to care about this alien being and wants him to survive, to return to his home. 

This morning, the big discussion on one of the talk shows is whether or not 12-year-olds should work or not.  My own feeling is no.  They are too young to work, but they are definitely not too young for chores around the house and for volunteering or helping neighbors.  Like our posting yesterday about the void within us that looks to be filled, kids will find something to do.  Better they should be engaged in something with purpose, making them feel useful and needed.

When ET showed up at Eliot's house, mostly because Eliot coaxed the creature there with M & Ms, the three children suddenly had a goal, a purpose.  They rallied together, put aside their differences with one another, and worked toward that goal with great effort.  This kind of response is common at schools who have some kind of service project going.  The children just blossom in these situations.  Children want to be involved in something bigger than themselves.  Don't we all?

They just need a little guidance.  A little inspiration.  A little organization.

Children who grow up in a loving home, where that love is shared outwardly with others feel that sense of purpose at a younger age and grow up knowing that they can make a difference. 

"We are many parts; we are all one body," is a hymn that we have been singing for years in the church.  "And the gifts we have, we are given to share."

And then, "May the Spirit of love, make us one indeed.  One, the love that we share.  One, our hope in despair.  One, the cross that we bear." 

Isn't that just beautiful?  So all of our gifts are given to us so that we might use them for God's purpose. 

No day can be so gray that a smile or a gesture of friendship can't brighten it.  Let our lights shine. 

Prayers for the people in the Avon area who have a water shortage, and to the people who still do not have natural gas.  Prayers for the people who are dealing with burst water pipes and flooded floors. 

Blackie, the cat, survived the storm and is in her house right now.  The heating element in the bottom of the cat bed has made her much warmer and she is content.  She got warm water and wet and dry food this morning.  The only thing she missed was some coffee!!

Take care.