Admitting Difficulty

It's only a few days into Lent, and already I'm having difficulty meeting my self-set goal for daily prayer and journaling.  I'm not giving up, but usually I have an easier time staying on track at the start of a new discipline.  It's later on that I struggle to maintain it.  Perhaps that's a good thing -- it isn't supposed to be easy.

Friday's meditation centered around 2 Timothy 1:1-6.  The purpose of the meditation was to reflect on and thank those people in my life who taught me the faith, and then to think about I can carry the faith forward.  Believe it or not, I had difficulty with this prompt.  There are many people who are responsible for teaching me about God -- my mother, my uncle, Sunday school teachers, ministers, friends, and I've tried to carry on that tradition in whatever way I can.  I was "raised" in Sunday school so to speak.  My mother and aunt taught the nursery school/kindergarten Sunday school class and I went to Sunday school with my mom as early as 2 months old.  By the time I was old enough to attend the class as an official student, the stories and songs were a part of me.  I still catch myself humming snatches of old tunes or remembering odd phrases from songs I used to know like the back of my hand.  (There was one lovely song about the Easter lily -- the bulb went into the ground all cold and dead, but on Easter morning it raised its head . . . There's a similar song in the New Century Hymnal, but it's not the one I remember well in dreams, but not during waking hours!).  I attended Sunday school and vacation Bible school throughout childhood, and was blessed with an amazing curriculum and set of teachers.  When I think back on my first church experiences, I remember sunlight, acceptance, and lots of hands-on experiences.  My church was an old New England one, dating its existence back to 1639. It was the First Church, having been established when the town was first settled.  It split during the Great Awakening  into 2 churches, and the second church was built one block down the road.  In 1926, the two congregations reunited, keeping both buildings.  During the 1960's, when I was a child in this church, the second building was where the Sunday school was located.  We had our own sanctuary where Sunday school started with a short worship service, and then we headed off into the classrooms for our lessons.  I loved the Plymouth Chapel.  I have strong visceral memories of sitting in the pew, sunlight streaming through the clear glass, as we sang "This is My Father's World" and "For the Beauty of the Earth."  I can't hear either of those hymns without tearing up!  What truly amazes me is how wide the curriculum was.  In addition to all of the usual Sunday school lessons, we learned a great deal about the ancient Hebrews and Judaism.  We built Succoth booths and we had seders, and we learned about Purim and Hanukkah.  I knew Jesus was Jewish.  This may not sound unusual nowadays, but believe me, it wasn't common back in the early 1960's!

I used to say I was a life-long UCC member, but then I realized the UCC was born after I was!  I do remember when my church added UCC to its name.  Then we when we moved to New Jersey we spent several years at a Congregational church that did not join the UCC.  But that church also had a dynamite Christian education program, again with a children's chapel where we met for a short worship service.  This church was definitely more conservative than my previous church. This is the Sunday school where we sang many of what I call "missionary" hymns:  "Onward Christian Soldiers", "Follow the Gleam"  (we sang this one lustily and at much faster pace than the link plays it) are the hymns that I associate with this dark, wood paneled inner sanctuary.  (The only chapel I've ever been in without windows).    I was confirmed in this church in 8th grade.  That was a traumatic experience as my mother had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage 4 days before my confirmation.  A neighbor (who attended a different church) drove me to church, and then to a gas station where my cousins from Ct met me to take me to my aunt's until Mom came home from the hospital.  No one in my family was there at church with me on that day because Mom was still in intensive care.  I've just now realized how weird that was ---- I don't remember any question of my not being confirmed on that Sunday, and I suspect, knowing my parents, that nobody told the minister that my mom was so ill!  It was a large church, and it was 30 minutes away from where we lived, so I don't think anyone knew!!
Two years later we moved further west, and joined a UCC church near Cleveland, OH.  It was now the '70's and we had what folks might term a "hippie" youth minister.  I remember great youth fellowship meetings watching thought-provoking movies like "A Gentleman's Agreement" with Gregory Peck, "Cool Hand Luke," and "To Kill A Mockingbird."   I also remember an overnight retreat at the minister's house.  It felt very risque', as it was co-ed.  We all slept on the living room floor and when the minister served communion to us, he used real wine!
When I went to college back east, I continued to attend church - this time Storrs Congregational Church at the University of Connecticut.  They had an active campus ministry and even had a minister hired specifically for college students. The ministry team held Sunday night dinners for college students and I remember being specifically invited to attend by members of the congregation who also came to the dinners.  I got very involved in the church, becoming the secretary to the campus minister, and eventually transferring my membership to that church.  When I got married, the campus minister co-officiated at my wedding.   What I took from those years was a deep sense of personal faith and community.  There was a small group of us who gathered on Friday afternoons in a small chapel at the church for communion.  (One of my jobs as the minister's secretary was to get the bread - a lovely loaf of freshly-baked bread from a small bakery).  We usually sat in a circle on the floor, 6 or 7 us, and shared the bread and wine, prayed together, and sang together.  The church opened its Sunday school classrooms to us, at night, and we'd gather there to study -- it was much friendlier than the college library, and much more conducive to study than our dorms! We were a small circle within the congregation who welcomed us, supported us, and prayed for us.

I am now a member of the United Church of Jaffrey, UCC - a small but very active congregation.  For over 30 years I've worshiped here and I've been involved in almost all aspects of church life.  I've been a trustee, a deacon, on stewardship, taught Sunday school, senior high youth leader, confirmation class teacher, and now, I'm the moderator.    We're an Open and Affirming, Just Peace congregation and we maintain both an emergency shelter and a food pantry.  Like most small churches we are really struggling to raise funds and to balance the needs of our ministries with the availability of able hands.  We're in the position of having very willing spirits, but rather weak flesh!

I didn't really expect to trace my church history quite so extensively, but this where this particular meditation took me.  I have learned from all of the people I've encountered in all these places. I've learned to love, to share, to be open to new stirrings of the spirit in the many experiences I've had in these places.  I have seen faithful service modeled for me.  I've been provoked to new ways of understanding scripture by sermons and conversations and study groups.   I've grown in my faith as I've attempted to share and explain it with others, young and old alike.  Evangelism is being discussed right now in a study group that I can't actively participate in, but I'm attempting to follow the conversation.  I think that in my tradition, sharing the good news has been done quietly, subtly, through example, rather than by trumpeting it through the streets.  It's seeped into the pores of my generation and an older generation through osmosis.  That's not enough anymore --- we need to be more blatant, by naming our ministries as evangelism, and by speaking and sharing the WHY of our outreach and service.

My prayer this week is that I am able not only to make the time for this prayer discipline, but that I WANT to make time for it.

Just a few thoughts on Bartimaeus

Today's reading is Mark 10:46-52.  This is the story of the blind beggar, Bartimaeus.  Jesus heals his blindness and Bartimaeus responds by following Jesus on the way.  I've read and heard this story before so it's not a new one for me.  But two new thoughts occurred to me.  First, Bartimaues is named and identified, not just as a blind beggar, but as the son of Timaeus.  In fact his lineage is noted before his condition.  Bartimaeus, son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, is how the verse starts.  That strikes me as significant.   It's a specific person, not just one of many anonymous beggars.  I'm not a biblical scholar, but it seems important that this story is about somebody recognizable. The 2nd thing I noticed is that Jesus did not go to Bartimaeus.  In fact the passage says "Jesus stood still."  Bartimaeus had to physically get up and find Jesus.  Once he got to Jesus, Bartimaeus had to specifically request Jesus to restore his sight.  I hadn't noticed that before --that the one in need had to go meet Jesus, Jesus didn't go find him (or her).

What does this mean for me?  God knows me, wife, mother, daughter, sister, teacher, bookkeeper, friend, individual and recognizable.   God knows where I am, physically, spiritually.  God "stands still" or waits for me, ready to give me what I need.  But before that can happen, I have to go and meet God.  I have to ask for healing.  That sounds simple, but it's not.  What do I need healed?

Actually a third thought has occurred to me.  The very last verse says that "Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way."  I think I've always taken this verse as kind of the "lived happily ever after" kind of ending, but I just realized it's not.  It's one of the key points here.  I may be willing to go to God, ask for healing, but I also have to be ready to accept my healing and follow him on the way.  And that's what makes this all so difficult.

Help me God to be willing to meet you.  Help me ask you for healing.  Help me be ready and willing to follow you.  Amen.

Lenten Discipline

I am trying something a little different this year as a Lenten discipline.  I've been reading Unbinding the Gospel by Martha Grace Reese.  There's a group reading it at church, but I can't make the group meetings. But I bought a copy of the book, and touch base with the group.  They try to post questions and insights to our church's online "chat room" at least occasionally, to include others in the conversation.   This book includes a 40 Day Prayer Journal discipline, and that's what I've undertaken for Lent.  I've asked one of the group participants if she'd be a prayer partner with me, but we haven't worked out the details yet.  As another way of helping me I've decided to use this space as a kind of prayer journal, at least occasionally.  I'd love to say that I'll post every day with my insights or questions, but I know that won't happen.  I think I've carved out time daily for directed prayer discipline, but I'm not sure where the posting time will come regularly.  I'm "blessed" today because I'm home sick (for the 2nd day in a row!).  I've got a wicked sore throat and for 3 days I've had a matching headache.  The headache seems to have finally dissipated, but now I have swollen glands.  A doctor's visit may be on the horizon later today.

Today I read Isaiah 40:10-17, 28-31.  This is passage is a hymn of praise to God and reminds the exiled Israelites that God is the Creator of everything, and that God is the source of strength for all who "wait on the Lord."   The verse that resonated the most with me is verse 11:

He will feed his flock like a shepherd;

he will gather the lambs in his arms,

and carry them in his bosom,

and gently lead the mother sheep.

I am not a keeper of sheep, but I am familiar with them (what knitter isn't?).  It's lambing season, and I know that those who have sheep spend long nights and days with their flocks, being ready to help if the ewes have trouble giving birth, keeping track of the lambs as they're born, and making sure that mother and lamb are faring well.  Most of the sheep farmers I'm familiar with have small fields, and during this season keep the pregnant ewes in a fairly small enclosed field with shelter so that they don't wander off and give birth in a well-hidden place.  But I know that in other parts of the world, and in other times, sheep were kept in unenclosed fields and in rocky terrains, and it was easy for them to wander away from the larger flock, and hide to give birth.    This image of God gathering the sheep, carrying them close, and leading the mother sheep is comforting to me, even as a non-shepherd.   God knows me, knows each and every one of us.  We are gathered into God's arms and cared for. A shepherd watches carefully over the flock, provides shelter and protection.  God is our shelter and God will not only watch for us, but will search for us if we are lost.   The question that I'm pondering right now is two-fold:   How is God searching for me, right now?   Why do I keep hiding from God?

A Soppy Sunday

It's raining.  That's news because for most of the past 2 months, it's been snowing.  Rain is good.  It means that it's above freezing.  It means that maybe, just maybe, we might see bare ground in a month or so!  My brother down in Virginia keeps posting pictures of crocus.  I look out my kitchen window and see about 2 feet of snow on the level, and driveway plow piles of 5 or 6 feet.  The last 2 days have been warm enough for snow to melt.  Yesterday, the dripping of melting snow hitting the overhang by the door, and the lower roof  in the kitchen, made it sound like it was pouring!  At least my roof is now snow free!

March is usually the start of mud season around here too.  As the snow finally melts away, the ground is saturated, and there is mud everywhere.  Many of the back roads around here are gravel or dirt, so some of them become impassable for a week or two.  I give up trying to keep my kitchen floor clean for about the same time.  (Not that I am know for a spotless kitchen floor!)

It's been a long winter, especially considering the fact that we had no measurable snowfall until Jan.9.  Since then we've officially received 115 inches of it! All since Jan. 9.

So I don't mind that today it's raining, and that it's pretty foggy as the snow sublimates directly to a gas.  I do worry a bit about flooding in some areas.  The lakes are still frozen as is a lot of the ground.  Low-lying areas are prone to flooding, and some of the faster flowing rivers will overspill their banks if the melting occurs at too fast a rate and we get a lot of rain.

On the reading front, I just finished this book:

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Every once in a while I pick up something I consider pure fluff, and Sophie Kinsella never disappoints.   Becky Brandon is at it again, this time with 2 year old Minnie in tow.  As a serious economic crisis threatens everyone's financial stability Becky and company embark on an attempt to cut back on expenditures.  For Becky this means a promise not to buy any new clothes until she's worn everything in her closet at least 3 times.  As you might suspect, this puts a serious cramp in her style (pun intended). Minnie is also a real challenge, and her behavior (she's banned from Santa's Grotto) brings "Nanny Sue", a leading child expert, into their home.    At the same time, Becky decides to throw a surprise birthday party for Luke, and of course, keeping it a surprise becomes more and more difficult as word gets out.  I needed something frothy and light-hearted, and the frenetic pace of the novel suited me just fine.


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I've started reading the new biography of Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff.  It's  packed full of information, so it's not a fast read.  I haven't gotten too far yet.  I'll be posting about it later on.

I'm busy with a new knitting project - a sweater from a Family Circle knitting book. I'm almost finished with the back.  I'm using a Valley Yarn, Goshen, in colonial blue.  By the time I finish it, it will end up being a fall sweater.  

I'm looking forward to the rest of today.  My church is joining with the other UCC church in town for a "union" service. Both choirs will sing together, along with a band.  I love when our two churches join together for worship because together we create something new and wonderful.  I'm secretly (and possibly not-so-secretly) praying that we ultimately find a way to join together permanently.  We are both proud and active churches, and each of us has a different style, but we are also both struggling with aging congregations, diminishing congregations, and of course, finances.  There would be all sorts of obstacles to surmount, not the least of which is BUILDING.   And of course, nobody is actually talking about uniting.  But that's my dream.  

The really cool thing is that my church was a church "plant" by the other church back in the early 1800's.  Several members of that church saw a need for a new worship center in another part of the town as the existing church was so far from the population center which had moved since the founding of the church.  So they were commissioned to leave the original church and start a new one three miles down the road!  Wouldn't that be cool to re-unite!

The Last Day of Vacation

The weekend doesn't count officially as vacation.  I'm glad I have it, but reality is setting in, and it's time to finish any chores that haven't been done yet.

Yesterday was a snow day --- and it would have been one if we'd had school.  We had a mostly snow event, but there was also some freezing rain.  We got somewhere around 8 inches of frozen white stuff, and the roads were not good.  We don't venture out on days like that.

One chore we finished was compiling tax information for the accountant.  In the process we discovered that a small investment had been "sent to the state" as abandoned property because our statements had been returned as undeliverable.  Since we've lived at this address for almost 30 years that seemed odd to us.  Plus we received tax info from the company last year. We discovered this when I couldn't find the 1099 for 2010 so we called the company to get our tax info.  Apparently they turned it over to our state back in September, when they said the statements had been returned.  This makes no sense to us, and my husband spent almost an hour on the phone tracking down information, and then I spent some time on the phone with the abandoned property division of our state to find out how to get our money back.  It's not a  huge amount of money, but it really drove home the point to make sure that you check on everything at least once a year.  I'm not sure how I missed the fact that we weren't getting the statements, but I guess the fact that we were getting 1099's lulled me into a false sense of security.

I did a little bit of genealogical research but found more questions than answers.  One of my criticisms of Ancestry.com is that fact that there's a huge amount of misinformation on it.  People find their name and assume that it's their ancestor without verifying facts.  Not everybody with the same last name or even the same first and last name is your relative.  On my mother's side, I'm well-documented  on one branch back to colonial Connecticut.  I'm trying to document some family lore about other important colonial connections, but have lost the thread.  On my  father's side, I'm stymied by the fact that he was born in Cuba in 1924, and his parents died there during the 1930's.  There is family in Asturias Spain, and in Brazil, but I don't have all the names and dates I need, and I don't speak/read Spanish well enough to be sure that I'm understanding what I read.  And I don't understand the Asturian dialect, nor do I understand Portuguese.  My husband's family is from Russia and the Austrian-Hungarian empire, and they were Jewish, so many of those records are just lost.    It's an intriguing, fascinating, and frustrating search!  It's certainly not the straight-forward "journey" that the current TV genealogy show portrays.  I'd love to have the help of some of the professional genealogists they use though!
 
I spent a good part of the day reading this book:

Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the best Inspector Gamache book in the series so far!  I stayed up until 1 am last night to finish it.  That hasn't happened in a long time.


Penny masterfully weaves three stories into one.  Gamache is in Quebec City recuperating mentally and physically from a tragic terrorist plot in which four of his agents were killed, and he and Jean-Guy Beauvoir were critically injured.  He's staying with his friend and mentor Emile Comeau when a well-known Quebecois citizen is found murdered in the basement of the Literary and History Library. Gamache acts as a consultant to the local police as this murder is investigated.  Anglo and Quebecois political and cultural rivalries are brought to the forefront and questions about Samuel de Champlain's burial site are raised.   The story of the terrorist plot is played out in Gamache's flashbacks, and by Beauvoir's narrative in Three Pines where he's been sent to unofficially reopen the case against Olivier who's been convicted of the Hermit's murder.  As both Gamache and Beauvoir come to terms with the tragedy they've both survived, new facts emerge in both cases, and new dimensions of both characters are revealed.




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This was a terrific read.  My only disappointment is that I am now caught up with this author's series.  I can't wait for the next one, and yet wonder how else can the series be extended.

Another Vacation Day

I can't believe how quickly this week is passing!  I'm really trying to hang on to each day since they are so precious!

My husband went truck shopping last weekend, and today he brought his purchase back home.  He bought a Honda Ridgeline which he's been talking about for almost 2 years.  He had a love/hate relationship with his previous truck, a Ford 150.  He loved the actual driving of it. It was very comfortable to sit in, and it handled beautifully.  But he had a great deal of trouble getting in and out of it, and last week, as he was getting out of it, he slipped on some ice and fell.  He wasn't seriously hurt, but he really banged himself up, and more importantly he got scared.  So off he went truck shopping.  He got a terrific deal on it, they gave him full trade-in value for his old truck, and after doing all the math, decided that he wasn't going to be coming out in the hole.  Since he pays cash for his vehicles, he didn't have to worry about financing. So he's happy as a clam right now.

Elder Son called to say he had an interview next week although he admitted he wasn't exactly sure for which job.  Apparently a large insurance company saw his resume on monster.com and called him.   He says it's a "cattle call" type interview for a variety of sales and marketing jobs, and he has experience in both areas.  He's been unemployed since Christmas, so this made him happy even if it's not the dream job, or even if he's eventually offered it.  The experience of interviewing is always helpful.  I think that's  a good attitude for him to be taking.

We went out to dinner at Olive Garden.  I had planned to make meatloaf, but when I went to take the hamburger out of the refrigerator at 3:30, I realized I'd put it in the freezer on Tuesday.   So my husband suggested dinner out.  I never say no to eating out!  We took his new truck out and I must admit it's very comfortable. I miss the 'step' I had on the Ford. It's a pretty high stretch for this 5"1' pair of legs to manage but it's doable. There's a good handle on the side of the door frame to help pull myself in!

I enjoyed the rest of the evening watching Gray's Anatomy and Private Practice in real time.  The benefit of no school the next day is that I can stay up!

My natural body clock is bed between 11-11:30 and getting up around 7.  For most of the year I'm forced into bed 9:30-10, up at 4:45 am.  I really like non school weeks!

Vacation Week: Day 3

Today was lovely.  My husband decided to go visit some of his old college friends who live about 2 hours away.  I was invited to go along with him, but ultimately decided I'd rather stay home.  I think he really wanted me to stay home too.  He left about 9 am and didn't get home until about 7 pm.  He had a great visit with three different friends and came home very relaxed.

I spent some time during the morning with some chores, but spent the bulk of my day catching up with DVR'd TV shows, reading, knitting, and napping.  I occasionally thought about errands I could run, but that's all I did, think about them.  It truly was terrific to have an entire day of doing exactly what I wanted to do.  I highly recommend it!

There are only 2 more days of vacation left, plus the weekend.  I am trying very hard to wring out every last drop of enjoyment!

I finished this book today.

A Cold Treachery by Charles Todd
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I had a hard time getting into this installment of the series.  It finally picked up during the last third of the book, but it was too late for me to really get hooked. Inspector Rutledge is sent to the Lake District to investigate the gruesome murder of almost an entire family.  A nine-year-old boy is missing and is one of the suspects as are his aunt, uncle, and biological father. One of the hallmarks of Charles Todd's writing is the definite sense of time and place that is created, and in this book, the setting is so well-created that it becomes a character itself.  Rutledge's struggle with Hamish is much less a part of this story than in others, and I was glad of that.  And I do wonder whether Rutledge may have met a potential "love interest" in the person of Elisabeth Fraser.  While this wasn't my favorite Rutledge novel, it's worth reading.


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Vacation Week: Day 2

Elder son came home to get his car services at our local garage.  He hasn't found a garage he likes where he lives, plus here in our state there's no sales tax on services, so he can save money.  Since he's currently unemployed, saving money is paramount with him right now.  As is usual when he visits, he goes "grocery shopping" in our cupboards - with our blessing of course.  Our main entertainment was to watch Monday's episode of CASTLE.

I solved my bookkeeping problem of yesterday, and the business books are now balanced through January and are up-to-date.  I even made major headway on our taxes.

Our afternoon was disrupted because a problem arose with the business (what else is new?) and I ended up having to follow my husband to a location about an hour away, so that he could bring a vehicle there, and then drive him home.  The roads here in northern New England are ridiculously bumpy at this time of year with frost heaves.  For folks who aren't familiar with this term, it's particularly apt, because occasionally the roads are nausea-inducing.  The freezing and unfreezing cycle cause road beds to buckle so you feel like you're on a particularly bumpy roller coaster!  It's especially rough on the back roads, and that's where our trip took us!

I did experiment with another crockpot recipe from Real Simple.  This time I made Asian pork with snow peas, peppers and noodles.  This was another really delicious meal.

The evening was spent watching Glee and Parenthood and trying to get some knitting done.

I can't believe how quickly the week is flying by.  I wish school weeks went as fast!!

Vacation Week: Day 1

Although I woke a number of times during the night, it was always knowing that I didn't have to get up at 4:45 am.  I started to think about getting up for good about 7 am after being semi-awake for about an hour.  The phone call at 7:15 made that a definite decision.  As usual, when your spouse owns his own business, there's always a problem on the first day of vacation.  That put him in major stress mode.  A key employee didn't communicate some vital information in a timely fashion, and that resulted in a major problem.   So instead of having a leisurely breakfast with him, he rushed off to the office.  I got up and fielded a few phone calls relative to the problem.  When he returned, several hours later, we spent some time working on the company billing.  I had originally planned to bring the company bookkeeping up to date this morning, but due to the unplanned event, I didn't get started on that til after lunch.  And then, the fun began.  One of the big problems I had to wrestle with is entering our payroll.  We use a payroll service, but switched providers with the start of the new year.  The payroll service now offers direct deposit, and we have employees who are utilizing this service.  It really complicates the bookkeeping.  I've been talking with our accountant about how to do the entries so that I don't have to enter about 75 transactions.  He sent me instructions, and I started to follow them, only to discover a problem.  We are still working on resolving that problem,  but it's now 4 pm and I haven't entered the Jan. payroll into the computer records (although I deducted the gross amt and the employer's share of taxes from the actual checkbook), so I can't balance the Jan. books yet.  I guess I will have to use another day of vacation to deal with this, though I had wanted to get all the tedious chores out of the way today!

I am trying a new recipe for dinner tonight.  It's a crockpot recipe I found in the newest issue of Real Simple magazine, called Curried Chicken with Ginger and Yogurt.  It smells heavenly!  It took a few minutes to put together (grating fresh ginger and chopping a few ingredients) but all I need to do later is cook some rice and stir yogurt into the sauce.    I love this magazine, and it's one  I subscribe to.  I almost always find a good recipe or two and I like the consumer product tests they have every month.

I also did a number of piddly tasks while I was waiting for call-backs.  I handwashed my hand-knitted socks. (I was astonished to discover I have an even dozen pairs of socks I've knitted for myself!), I cleaned the birdcage, and I discovered a bill I had forgotten to pay!

For the rest of day one I hope to watch an episode of Season 1 of Bones on my instant Netflix, watch House and Castle in real time, and knit.

Stochastic* Sunday

From dictionary.com
* 

sto·chas·tic

   

[stuh-kas-tik]  Show IPA

–adjective Statistics .

of or pertaining to a process involving a randomly determinedsequence of observations each of which is considered as a sampleof one element from a probability distribution.

I was looking for an alliterative adjective since I've used Scattered Saturday as a blog title previously.  Besides, it's fun to learn new words.

So in my stochastic order:

1.  I've learned 2 new things today, and it's not even 8 am.  The first I just mentioned.  I found a synonym for random and scattered.  The second thing I learned from a sermon written by Rev. Martha Spong that's posted on her blog here.  We've all heard Jesus' teaching to "turn the other cheek".  What I never knew was that doing so was "So turning the other cheek was not giving in to abuse. It was the most powerful kind of non-violent resistance. " (from referenced sermon).   Offering your right cheek forced your superior to either step back or use the open hand to slap, and thus forced him(her) to lose stature.   I so appreciate it when scripture is opened up for me, either through a sermon or my own study. It makes it so much more powerful.

2.  I have a busy day ahead --- church, followed by our monthly council meeting.  I wonder what would happen if the moderator (me) decided not to show up!  I actually like council meetings. I don't like that they last for about an hour and a half on Sundays after church.  Today it's really not a problem, since it's the start of vacation week, but usually I resent the intrusion into the little free time I have.

3.  It's vacation week!  We're not going away.  I had hoped to go somewhere warm and sunny, but it just didn't happen.  Instead we will "staycation" - although a number of chores will be accomplished.  I've actually completed 2 1/2  chores that needed immediate attention.  I found the tax info my son needed, and I faxed our business W-3 to the accountant who's working on the business taxes.  The 1/2 chore is that I organized our personal tax records so that the personal taxes can be done.

4.  I can stay up to watch shows that air at 10 pm in real time.  I love the fact that I have a DVR and most of what I watch nowadays is via the DVR.  But sometimes I just want to watch an episode as it's aired.  (Like "Castle" ) 

5.  I can have 5 leisurely mornings in a row this week.  Even if I still wake early from force of habit, I don't HAVE to get going immediately. I can drink a 2nd or even a 3rd cup of coffee.

6.  I love my Keuring coffee machine.  I get a perfect cup of coffee every single time.  My cup of coffee is always hot, hot, hot.  I can drink strong coffee while my husband can enjoy his milder brew.  And there's no waste!  I know the K-cups are expensive, but we used to throw out 1/2 a pot of coffee every day because our old machine didn't brew small pots well.  

7.  It is cold again.  We had a wind advisory Friday night through this morning, and the wind blew away the springlike temperatures.  Friday afternoon when I left school it was 57° F and it's now 10°F.  With wind gusting up to 50 mph at times, the windchill was subzero.  Snow is predicted tomorrow - 5 inches at least.


8.  I have a stack of books to read (what else is new?) and a new knitting project underway.  


9.  I also have a Netflix date this afternoon with an episode of Midsomer Murders on disk, and several episodes of first season Bones in my Instant View queue for later this week.  


10.  My husband and I are sharing a new addiction to a computer game  (Poppit).  There is something mesmerizing about clicking on balloons to pop them and release all the "prizes."   As with all our previous game addictions, we will play this one for long periods of time for about a month, and then one day, we'll wonder what we saw in it.  I still like Snood and Super Mah-jong on occasion, so this will be a welcome addition to our game collection.

Time Passes So - o-o Slowly , , ,

When it's the week before vacation.  The kids are super antsy this week too.  Usually the craziness doesn't start until midweek, but it started bright and early Monday.   Give me strength!!

Two for School and One for Me

I read (actually re-read) this one since I'm just about to launch it as part of the 7th grade Holocaust unit.  It will be one of several books I will be using.  I am going to be using literary circles with these novels -- a teaching technique I haven't used in a very long time!

The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had read this book a number of years ago, but I re-read it as preparation for our 7th grade Holocaust unit.  This will one of the books used in our lit circle groups.  It's Passover and Hannah's family is celebrating their seder with their extended family in New Rochelle, NY. Twelve-year old Hannah is fed up with the ritual and the constant insistence on "remembering". When she opens the door to welcome Elijah, she is transported in time to 1942, to a small village in Poland.  She finds herself in the persona of Chaya, an orphan recovering from a grave illness, now living with relatives.  As her new family travels to a wedding, they are caught up in a sweep of Jews, and are taken to a death camp.  As the story unfolds, Chaya/Hannah learn how to survive in the camp, and she comes to understand just why it is so important to remember what happened.  As a work of historical fiction, Jane Yolen does a superbly sensitive job of describing the horror and degradation of life in the concentration camps.  It is a disturbing book, but it's the kind of disturbance that adolescents need to experience.


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My next review is also a Holocaust book.  I am reading this one aloud to my 7th grade students.  They are actually protesting when I stop reading for the day.

Hana's Suitcase by Karen Levine

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hana's Suitcase is actually two stories in one.  Both are true, and this is an excellent piece of informational text.  In 2000, Fumiko Ishioka, the director of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center receives a small battered suitcase labeled with Han(n)a Brady's name.  After much research, Ishioka discovers the story of Hana Brady who perished at Auschwitz at the age of 13.  The book alternates between the story of Ishioka's research and her work with Japanese schoolchildren, and Hana's biography.  The book is peppered with photos of Hana and her family, pictures of the town she grew up in, and Hana'sdrawings from the Theresienstadt ghetto where Hana was briefly imprisoned.  It's a gripping story, and despite that fact that the story is inherently sad, it's also a story filled with hope.  It's an excellent classroom resource for upper elementary and middle school students.

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And my final offering for this week is  this one:

Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the second book in the Kate Burkholder series, and I liked it as much as the first.  Kate is called to investigate the gruesome execution of an entire Amish family.  As she pursues the perpetrator, the case brings unresolved personal issues to the surface that threaten to interfere with how she does her job.  John Tomasetti is also affected by the investigation as there are parallels between the present murder and the execution of his wife and children.  Linda Castillo writes a gripping story, and while I could do without some of the graphic details, I also understand that the details help create the intensity of the novel.   

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Thriller!

I think I may have found a new series to follow with Linda Castillo's book Sworn to Silence.



Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fast-paced thriller set in a small Ohio town.  Kate Burkholder is the police chief faced with a horrific crime that may be linked to her childhood rape and her self-defense killing of her assailant.  Her assailant was suspected of a string of gruesome murders that ceased with his death.  Complicating the investigation is the fact that she grew up Amish but left the community.  Her Amish family kept her rape and the murder secret and now 16 years later, it appears that the Slaughterhouse Killer is back.  Kate battles a nervous town council who call in backup, as well as the long-held family secret. I read this in one afternoon.  I couldn't put it down.  Despite some graphic descriptions of the murdered victims (which I skimmed over), I really liked this and am looking forward to the next one.


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Anybody Home?

As I was sitting at my computer in the kitchen I heard a odd thudding noise behind me.  I figured it was ice falling off the roof as we had some melting weather today after the mixed precipitation of yesterday.  I really didn't pay much attention to it.  I heard it again, and turned to look.  I had visitors!  There were 6 squirrels in the yard, mostly at the feeder, but one brash rodent decided to get up close and personal!

Two Books I Didn't Like

I don't often read two books in a row that I didn't like.  The first one was just plain silly.  The second wasn't terrible, but I just couldn't get into it.

Book #1


Deadly Sanctuary by Sylvia Nobel
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I'm glad I didn't pay for this one. I downloaded it for free on my Kindle.  Kendall O'Dell (don't like the similar sounding first and last name) is a feisty reporter who has just moved to a small Arizona town.  Her first assignment is actually a secret one.  She's looking into the sudden disappearance of the reporter she's replaced.  This was just plain silly. She meets two men who fascinate her:  Eric, the handsome rich guy, and Tally, the long-suffering cowboy.  It's no mystery as to who she'll end up with, and no mystery as who at least one of the bad guys is. The writing is terrible, and I think the only reason I finished reading it, was that it was the only book I had my Kindle that easily put me to sleep.


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And book #2:

The Five Bells and Bladebone by Martha Grimes

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I always look forward to reading Martha Grimes, and I was especially eager to shake off the taste of an inane mystery/romance I'd just finished.  This 9th installment in the Richard Jury series started off really well.  Jury is finally getting some vacation time, spending his holiday in Long Piddlington with his friend Melrose Plant.   All of the usual characters are here, including Aunt Agatha who is suing Mr.Jurvis, the local butcher over an accident she caused.  Of course his holiday plans are completely disrupted when a body tumbles out of an antique secretaire that antique dealer Marshall Trueblood is showing Jury and Plant.  I thoroughly enjoyed about 2/3 of the book, but the last part fell apart.  I had trouble keeping the facts straight, and I thought the ending was too convoluted.  I ended up feeling very disappointed in my visit with Jury and company.  I guess not all entries in the series can be great.

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Scattered Saturday

I've just been playing around with the camera and the fact that I can upload pictures easily and quickly now. I took these through my kitchen window. We're awaiting the arrival of some more winter weather and the feeders are quite busy. I tried to grab some shots of the squirrels and the blue jays on the feeders and on the corn scattered on the ground, but they were much more wary of movement at the windows. Plus the fact that one of our cats decided it was an opportune time to perch in the window didn't help!

We had another 14 or so inches of snow this week and another day off from school. The last day of school is now June 22d. Ugh! And we still have most of Feb and all of March to get through. The snow piles all but block the view to the road and make getting out our driveway a bit chancy. Our house is at the top of small rise, and cars coming up the rise come at a clip sometimes, and unless it's dark, I can't tell they're coming, and they can't see me until they're upon the driveway. Now that the sun is peeking over the horizon when I leave for work the headlights don't send as strong a message that there might be cars coming.

We went out to dinner with friends last night. We tried a new-to-us restaurant, a pub inside an old inn, as a matter of fact, and we had a very enjoyable evening. Either this place is not well-known or people were too cold to venture out because we almost had the place to ourselves. We sat in front of an open fireplace with a roaring fire, and enjoyed some fine adult beverages and some good food. The beef was grass-fed and locally raised, and all of the menu items were made on site. We tried some winter squash fritters as an appetizer that were very good, and really enjoyed the peach linzer torte and chocolate chip whoopie pies for dessert!

Before dinner I met with my church's minister - our first monthly minister/moderator meeting. It's just to touch base with each other and to check in on projects, issues, concerns, etc. that either of us has. We definitely live in "interesting times." We're struggling financially as many small (and large churches?) are, but we are also struggling with an aging congregation and questions of lay leadership. In addition we are once again looking for music leadership. Some big questions loom large: How can we make ourselves more visible? How must our music traditions change? How might our worship traditions evolve? How do we interest, attract, and keep people who might be seeking a spiritual base? A group of people will be meeting next week to discuss evangelism. What does the word mean? For many people it's knocking on doors and handing out tracts. It has some negative connotations for some of us who have grown up in the mainline church. For some of us it means hospitality, it means telling everybody about who we are, it means sharing the good news with others, or it means inviting others to join us in our journey. I'm hoping I can get to the meeting, both to stay informed, but more to be a part of the discussion.

We're also heading into a difficult time of year as our school and town budgets are voted upon, and decisions about teaching assignments for next year start being made. Our administrators are beginning to meet with individual staff to discuss evaluations, test scores, professional goals, and some of us will get news we don't want to hear regarding the definite reductions in staff that will take place. It's a very uneasy time for us, and with anxiety, we sometimes become less kind to each other.

The sun has broken through at least temporarily. It's time to think about shoveling off the kitchen roof --- before another few inches of snow and this time, ice, arrive. And there are always the Saturday errands to run!

Winter in our Neck of the Woods

We're working on the cleanup from this latest storm.  We got somewhere between 12-18 inches of snow on top of what was already on the ground since about 7 am yesterday.  We were sent home from school at 12:30 yesterday, so at least we don't have that day to make up.  We do have 4 to make up now after today's cancellation.  The best thing about today's cancellation is that the decision to close was made last night, so all the calls were done then.  We were able to sleep this morning, and boy, did I.  I woke up briefly at my usual 4:46 am, but rolled over and went right back to sleep, all the way till 8:03.  That seemed like the middle of the day.
I spent today making pea soup and corn bread, and I watched another episode of Bones, Season 1, streamed from my Netflix account.  I didn't start watching this show until last season, and I decided to catch up by starting at the beginning.  It's really fun to to see where the characters started, and I'm interested to see what happened to some of the originals who are no longer on the show.  I also tried a new recipe - for white chocolate fudge.  One of my husband's employees gave us some for Christmas, and also gave us the recipe.  It tastes delicious, but apparently my candy thermometer is no longer accurate, because the fudge didn't harden the way it should.  It holds together, and it isn't sticky, but it's more like the texture of the marshmallow fluff that is used in its creation.  I'll just have to try it again sometime.

My husband is having trouble with arthritis in his right wrist.  For the past day or so he hasn't been able to bend it, and it's really swollen.  He wasn't able to do the snowblowing around the yard or the shoveling.  In fact, he's had trouble using the hand at all.  Our neighbor plows the driveway for us, so I asked him if he'd do the blowing for us (and of course we'd pay him extra!).  And I also explained that my husband has been snowblowing our across the street neighbor since she's newly single and works nights as a critical care nurse.  Not only did our neighbor snowblow us, but he did her yard too, and refused any payment.  He said he was just glad that I asked him for help.  We'll do something nice for him later on in the season -- maybe I'll knit him a new hat!

So here are some pictures ---  the plow drifts are now so high that I can't see the road from my kitchen. I took them standing in my driveway  at the roadside.  I think there's about 2 ft of snow on the level, but it's been hard to measure!

A New World - Or, I Had No Idea What We Were Missing

It's been just a week since we were able to connect to high speed internet service.  I am still getting used to the idea that when I click on a link, I'm there instantly.  I have to change my morning routines!  I used to log into my account, click on the dial connection tab and then feed my bird.  By the time I finished with that chore, I would go back to the computer and open Outlook.  While my email downloaded, I made my coffee. Finally, I'd sit down with my coffee and read my email and check in with a few website.  Now all I do is wake the computer, log into my screen and everything  is right there ready to go.  

Other wonders I'm getting used to:

• Clicking a video link on FB and actually watching it
• Accessing our local news station to check weather (and school closings for my husband who runs a school bus company!)
• Listening to Pandora 
• Using Itunes to download music and podcasts
• Uploading pictures to Ravelry or this blog
• Watching the first season of Bones instantly from Netflix on my computer. (Guess how I spent our early dismissal from school due to snow afternoon!)
• Using my laptop wirelessly in another room
• Watching a knitting technique video
• Accessing my bank and my credit card accounts and not getting timed out!

I knew we were deprived by the limitations of dial up, but I just didn't understand how much.  I realize that I'm sounding a lot like a kid in the candy store, but that's how I feel right now. 

A Vintage Vest --- Three Years in the Making

I started knitting this almost 3 years ago.  It went in fits and starts. By August 2009, I'd finished it  - except that the edging bands were too puckery and tight.  It sat in my bag until I contracted the "Finishitupitis" that the Yarn Harlot talked about in a recent post.   I unpicked the bands, and cast off again on much larger needles.  Now the bands are flat.  I've worn this several times already. It's very lightweight, but oh-so-warm!  Unfortunately I've had a hard time getting good pictures of it.  I tried some pictures with me wearing it, but they kept on coming out too dark.  The pattern is Valley Yarns Vintage Vest available at Webs, and the yarn is Valley Yarns Alpaca Silk.  You can also get the pattern for free on Ravelry. I used perhaps a little more than half of the cone.  (I think the pattern is also in one of the

Beautiful, but Dangerous!

My house is festooned with ice.  When the sun comes out, we are frequently startled by thuds as larger chunks of ice fall from the upper rooflines.