Camping and Relaxing

It was great to get out of town for the weekend. If you're interested in see camping photos, you can check out my family blog.

If not, you can still admire these two new wildflower photos I've added to my collection.

purple aster (a late season bloomer, and lots of them around)

This is a new one for me, I think in the water plantain family. They grow in the mud at the lake edges, and it was hard to get really close for a good shot because of the mud.

Ugly

I have no idea what the point of this is, but I drove up behind this giant trailer today. (Just happened to have my camera handy.) Scary! (the side of the trailer said something about motorcycles).

Staying Home

Can you believe that this kept us from going to church today?

Well, it wasn't quite that cut and dried. The event did prevent my family members from getting to early choir practice and then we decided that we'd make alternate plans because today was youth Sunday. Not that we don't like the youth--we do! There are a great bunch of kids at our church. It is just that a certain member of our family can't handle the music on youth Sunday!

Anyway, the route for this national event was right in our neighborhood, and followed or intersected all of several routes that we normally drive to church. They were blocking off intersections and letting cars only go one way. But I must honestly admit that it would actually have been possible to get there by going all the way around on the freeway.

And we'll be skipping church next Sunday too--going camping. Wow, two misses in a row? That might be a new record. :-)

Talk to the Hands

Will I sound like a philistine if I say that this art is just a wee bit creepy?

(detail from a large tree-like sculpture in Terminal D of DFW airport)

Suitcase Emergency

While putting his suitcase in the van for the trip to the airport, the metal connector piece broke on the handle.

I told Andrew to drive, and I ran back in the house and grabbed my supplies. As we drove to the airport I repaired the handle with nylon rope, and sealed the tie with a match flame so it wouldn't come untied.

It looks pretty oafy, but I hope it will make it to Addis Ababa.

Hater

I hate politics. Really, I do.

But tonight I picked up the latest issue of Newsweek magazine and started reading an article about Sarah Palin. I was typically disinterested until I got to the point where the author went into very specific theological ripping at Ms. Palin's religious views. At that point, I looked at who the author was, and then heaved a "Oh, that explains it." At least the article was labeled "opinion," but wow, is that guy hateful of Christians.

Unintended Consequences

I read a mission magazine yesterday that mentioned--this was probably a politically incorrect thing to say--that one of the effects of China's one-child-only policy is that now many young adults are spoiled brats, having been doted upon by parents and grandparents all through their young lives. The implication was that the divorce rate was skyrocketing because they don't know how to get along with their peers and are used to being the center of the universe.

A Trip to the Big City

No, not Dallas. This time it was Ft. Worth. I drove Rachel for some PD in north Ft. Worth (no, friends, PD does not stand for Partnership Development; it stands for Professional Development). I passed some of the three hours at a park reading a book, the weather was just lovely. At one point I tried to find a fast-food place to get something to drink and found myself with only pawn shops, cash stores, and tattoo parlors around. Finally, I found a Jack-in-the-box. And while I don't especially like being the taxi, at least I get reimbursed for my trouble!

These PD sessions are required by R's new job, and they will enable her to renew her teaching certificate, at their expense, not hers. Today she deposited her first paycheck and declared, "Now I have money, but no time to spend it." Such is life. :-)

Multitasking

I haven't been posting so much lately. Well, I have been posting on my family blog some, but I haven't had much inspiration to blog here since the summer has been mostly busy with family things.

But change is coming--my empty nest is actually going to be empty soon. But before that, I need to babysit to baby's parents can get ready to leave.

And who wouldn't want to babysit the world's cutest baby??

Only at My Place of Work

...would you see a hippie wearing a headband walking across campus playing hymns on a harmonica.

More Somethings

...out of nothing.



It really doesn't take much talent to make a burp rag, but it is a good way to recycle those receiving blankets baby got at the hospital.

I've enjoyed doing a bit of sewing this past year after buying myself a new sewing machine at Walmart--cheap, but works great! I've made a couple things to wear, but mostly I use it for mending and making household things.

Brownies

Did you know that the brownies won't stick to the knife if the knife is plastic?

We had a nice little party this afternoon for the start of the new choir season, and we brought brownies and black bean salad. I swam in the pool by myself for 30 minutes while others were watching football or helping Anita cut out stuff for her classroom. I give Anita kudos for thinking to ask all her choir friends for help--smart lady!

Whoops!

You know you're having a bad day when the butter falls butter side down!

Something Out of Nothing

I like to make useful things out of things that are no longer useful. Laura asked me to make a new pillow cover for her Boppy nursing pillow, so that's what I did. I used two flannel receiving blankets which were given to them at the hospital, and saved at least $10.

I need to tag this post and find all the others like it, because I know I've done this sort of thing before.

Another Rangers' Game

Andrew had no other takers, so I went to the game with him tonight. The weather was warm but not unbearable, and the game was good until the later innings when the Rangers got creamed.

We tried some stadium food, and I think it provided my daily requirement of grease for the next several days! But, hey, it was shrimp!

Reboot

I stopped to get some money out of the ATM machine the other day and, could you believe it, it was displaying the Windows logo and singing that Windows jingle just like my computer does! I had no idea. And just like my computer, it took too long to reboot, so I went to my friend's house and came back later.

Recyling Knowledge

It wasn't easy for him (read that: I forced him), but this morning Gary dumped 6-7 boxes of old journals into the paper recycling dumpster. This represents about half of what I wanted him to toss, but we've compromised at this amount and I'm glad for at least that. And since I'm so gracious in defeat, I won't mention that these journals go back 25 years in a field that updates itself very rapidly, nor will I mention the silverfish, and I certainly won't mention that the owner's eyesight is such that reading anything on paper is a chore. But I will mention that the Center will be very happy for his donation since they were just a ton short of having enough recycling paper to meet the double-pay bonus!

Forgetfulness

I got up early on Sunday morning and made a dozen of these blank cards to take to church to donate to the local crisis pregnancy center which our church supports. Blank cards was one of the things on their wish list. Then I forgot to take them. Maybe next week, if I haven't lost them by then.

Women's Work

Did you ever notice that when you finally get the kitchen cleaned up, somebody's hungry again?

No, I'm not the first woman in the world to notice that, nor the first or last to complain about it. And really, I'm not actually complaining, since I know we all need to eat to stay alive. Maybe I'm just feeling a little grouchy about it since I have a cold. Maybe I should live in one of those countries where the maids have maids. But, never fear, there is some good news about housework too--click here.

Men work from dawn
'til setting sun,
But women's work
is never done.

Again

I'm going to have to start adding tags to my blogs. (Tags are words that the software uses to index or label the topic of the post.) The reason I need to do this is because I'm getting so forgetful and tags would help me to know if I've already posted on a given topic or not.

Like tonight. I'm thinking about hope and disappointment. I half think I've already written on this topic. Not that it matters--after all, if I'm just talking to myself, I'll forgive myself for repeating myself, won't I? Again.

Anyway, I'm wondering if it is better to have high expectations and high hopes and suffer from repeated disappointments, or is it better to have no, low or modest hopes in order to protect oneself from disappointment?

The good thing about low expectations is that seldom are you hurt and sometimes you're even pleasantly surprised. The bad thing about low expectations is the nagging shadow that you've sold yourself short.

The good thing about high expectations is that when they are met there is great satisfaction and joy. The bad thing about high expectations is the huge risk that the answer will be no.

Today I told someone, "Don't get your hopes up--what if you're disappointed again?" They replied, "Don't tell me not to have hope!"

Is persistence a good thing? Or is it insane?