From My Perspective Anyway

"Life without God is like an unsharpened pencil - it has no point." ~ author unknown

Your Turn

 
competitive ~ (adj) ~ determined by competition

After nay saying the hype around the iphone, I finally succumbed and bought one about a month ago.  Can we say fun?  It does a zillion different things I have yet to figure out, and oh yeah, it's a phone, too.  

Fellow Groovy, Peppermint Patty, also bought one and we have discovered the Words With Friends application.  If you're not familiar, this app is Scrabble played via our smart phones.  It's funny how you think you know someone until you engage in a bit of friendly competition.  Sweet Miss Peppermint, whom I've known for years, has a real competitive streak in her.  Yikes!  We have five games going simultaneously and she is ruthless and relentless ~ in a nice way, of course.  She's keeping me on my toes, which is good for my brain.  Old words are resurfacing and new words are being discovered.  And in a way that only social networking can do, I am connecting daily with my friend, which is something we didn't do before.

Thank you, Miss Peppermint.  Your turn!

 

Celebrating Food, Friendship and Love

The long Thanksgiving weekend has come and gone, and Christmas is upon us.  The pre-Thanksgiving hype about Christmas turns me off, but oh, how I love celebrating Thanksgiving itself by welcoming Christmas.  It just seems a natural fit.  I spend a wonderful day sharing food, friendship and love, then spend the day after decorating and preparing for the most life-giving food, the most intimate friendship, and the most powerful, unconditional love that is Christ.  It's a magical time of year ~ the music, the decorations, and the spirit of brotherhood and peace in the air, all wrapped around the promise that is Christ.

The kid in me relishes the surprises of Christmas present; the adult in me bathes in the memories of Christmas past.  It really is amazing how powerful those memories are and how I am drawn to recreating those sights, smells and sounds.  Yesterday I made a beef stew that simmered in brandy and cranberries for over 3 hours.  The smell was positively divine but the taste even more so.  Add my family around the table, which has been set in the first of many festive displays, music of the season, a house lit only by candlelight and the Christmas tree, and I simultaneously breathed it all in as an adult and a child.  I was overwhelmed with gratitude.

This Christmas season, however you celebrate, with whomever you celebrate, and even if your celebration is tainted by loss, my prayer for you is that you, too, are filled to the brim with gratitude for the gifts of life, love and peace that is only Christ's to give. 


 

I Am Me

I met an elderly woman this week who in my mind is beautiful and worthy of being accepted for who she is ~ despite a recent stroke and heart attack ~ rather than being branded as someone who used to keep a perfect house, made prize-worthy meals and dressed impeccably.  I found her witty and charming.  Granted, I didn't know her then so I have nothing to compare her to now but maybe that's how it should be.

Why is it we often refer to an aging or chronically ill or newly disabled person as the person they used to be?  Why is it we can't allow this person the dignity of being who they are now?  It seems to me that he or she then becomes frozen in what was rather than rejoicing in what is.

Rethinking Black

 Black Friday.  I always used to think that was a very weird name for the biggest shopping day of the year.  I know it refers to the theoretical day when many retailing businesses enter the four short weeks when they earn most of their entire year's profits, but it still sounds so morbid.  There once was a time when I eagerly anticipated this shopping day.  While the men watched after-Turkey-dinner football, the women would be at the kitchen table plotting out our Friday shopping route.  That was back in the day when Black Friday offered the absolute best deals of the season, after which prices would be at their highest until Christmas Eve.

Lots of things have conspired to take away the magic of Black Friday and make this crazy shopping day much less appealing.  I spent 5 years in the corporate buying offices of a large company.  That will take away your enthusiasm for Black Friday.  Instead, it starts the highly angst ridden days of praying that your business plan works and you end up a hero instead of a bum at the end of the Christmas season.

For the past 5 years years or more, it seems that retailers have gotten more anxious and nervous, and began offering ridiculous deals all throughout the Christmas shopping season.  I mean why drag yourself out of bed when you can get almost the same deal two weeks later when the corporate bigwigs start to panic and demand greater sales volume?  So it just didn't make sense to me to shop in the Black Friday mayhem.

On-line shopping became more appealing.  Nothing like sitting in my jammies with a hot cup of tea and let my fingers do the walking, and my credit card do the shopping.  Besides, I love it when the UPS truck stops in front of my house with packages to open and re-discover what I purchased.

The biggest determent to Black Friday is that we sort of stopped giving gifts because we sort of don't need anything.  Not that we don't want anything, but we no longer wrap Christmas up in a pretty, bow-covered box.  It has become more about the gift that was given to us 2,000 years ago that still remains fresh and vibrant and meaningful, long after the last sale has ended.


 

Giving Thanks by Word and Deed

"And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."  ~ Colossians 3:17

Happy Thanksgiving!

Appetizers Before Turkey

Road Trip ~ Quickie

Today and tomorrow.  Tahoe.  Snow.  Mountains.  Skiing.  Then home again, home again, jiggety jig.  In time for Thanksgiving with the family.  

Thank You, Lord, for husbands who are willing to take a 48 hour side trip, for daughters who are willing to cook the turkey, for sons who are willing to drive grandmothers and meet us at the family gathering. 

Gimme a Break

Lesson from the Garden ~ Backyard Remodel

As you know, the backyard remodel is on hold while a new roof was being installed and subsequent interior patching and painting was tackled.  All done. Bravo!  But as you also know from this continuing saga, when it rains it pours.  So, our hot water heater decided it wanted to be part of the fun.  Fortunately, we still have hot water but unfortunately, the tank is leaking enough that it needs to be replaced.  And yes, we are now in the process of buying and installing a new one.  (Ironically, the hot water heater went out the last time we installed a new roof 15 years ago.  I see a pattern here!)  

 My husband's response to this latest addition to our unintended detour from the outside in, "Gimme a break!" 

And that's how we went into the weekend.  But we did get a break!  After two previous cloudy and rainy days, the sun came out on Saturday, the day that my girlfriends and I took a ferry adventure to a lovely little, artsy town on the bay where we enjoyed laughter, good food, sunshine and each other's company.  We were doing an early birthday celebration for two of us since the holidays make it difficult to do otherwise.

On Sunday, my husband and I tackled the house to complete the small finishing details that previously felt too overwhelming to even think about.  I think we are ready to refocus our time, energy and money back outside to the backyard where it all began.

Thank You, Lord, for this sweet and much-needed restorative and fruitful weekend.

   

Even Tony Gets It

Warning:  I'm about to go off on another rant about the media/fashion industry's distorted message that being  poverty thin makes a woman desirable, successful, and beautiful.  They would coil at my positioning of the words "poverty" and "thin," but that's the level of mockery in which they regard real, every day women.  This attitude is so pervasive that even our elementary school daughters are being teased and mocked for their normal, pre-puberty bodies.

So I was intrigued when a columnist in our local newspaper took up my flag.  Actually, he doesn't even know me, but he is the father of four daughters, and he does write a seriously funny and often irreverent column on modern culture as he sees it.  And even he sees this obsession with extreme thinness as perverted and downright unattractive, so much so that he was surprised over his alignment with Miley Cyrus on this subject since he's not a big fan of hers.  And I quote his reaction to Miley's comment that she's tired of people calling her fat just because she has curves rather than a broomstick for a figure.

"It's the definition of 'attractive' that's changing.  Only the fashion industry ~ with its hold on the hearts and minds of so many females ~ hasn't gotten that through its collective, well-coiffed head.  Despite years of criticism from medical professionals and otherwise incredibly sensible people like Miley Cyrus and me, the fashion industry still exhibits its wares mostly on the frames of women who weigh as much as my left leg, telling us 'this is what women should aspire to look like.'

I'm not sure why, because expressionless women who get carried away by a moderate breeze aren't that physically attractive.  And it's not just me...Healthy women who are physically and mentally strong are the new black...The fashion industry is woefully behind on what constitutes 'attractive' in the 21st century.  No longer do men want someone who looks like she's spending too much time giving blood.  At least Miley says so.  And,odd as it feels, I couldn't agree more."

(Blogmeister's note:  Tony Hick's article published in the 11/18/11 issue of Tri-Valley Times)

 

Yoga Lesson

(photo from Yoga From the Heart)

 
Do you ever have the feeling that you've missed the boat?  I had that eerie feeling yesterday morning as I pulled into the parking lot for yoga class.  Too many parked cars, no one walking toward the door.  Granted, there are other businesses in the vicinity and those car could belong to them, but the 15 minutes before class typically brings a flood of people ready to stake their claim on the yoga mat.  Bikrim (hot) yoga has become very popular but not many studios offer it, so this studio is always jam packed, with late comers looking for the few leftover inches that haven't already been claimed.

At first I thought I was one of the unfortunate stragglers, but as I got closer to the door I had this sinking feeling that the class had already begun.  Trust me, you don't want to miss a second of this class because it starts fast and picks up speed from there.  As I put my hand on the door, my heart sank.  Sure enough, right there on the posted sign, 9:00 a.m. not 9:30.  I was not only not early, as I had originally thought, but I was very late.   As I walked dejected back to my car, my spirits lifted at the thought of coming back at night and taking the class then.  It will be harder as I am a morning person and don't thrill at the idea of exercising at night, but the thought gave me hope.

That's the cool thing about second chances.  I may have the nauseating feeling that I've blown it or missed out, but there often comes another opportunity to do or try again ~ like my walk with Christ.  I try to follow in His footsteps but sometimes I lose sight of them, or willingly step off to the side.  In His grace and mercy, I can acknowledge my error and be encouraged to get back on His path.  This thought gives me hope.

Barnabas aka Rainmaker

I attended a very interesting networking group this morning.  It wasn't a typical business group where people are looking to make connections and make a buck. It had a philanthropic focus and the attendees were there to see if they could help someone else make connections, raise funds and be successful in their nonprofit venue. 

The idea is that once a quarter, three speakers present their organization's vision, goals and needs.  Then, during the breakout sessions, we, the audience, participate in small group discussions in ways to best fulfill those needs.  It was interesting, exciting, challenging and fulfilling.  I hope to make this a regular habit.  It's right up my Barnabas alley. I really get a kick out of making connections to help others succeed..  Just call me Rainmaker.

Nature's Palette

I don't think that I shall ever see a beauty as lovely as an autumn tree ~ my view this morning as I walked.

Put Out

There's a reason God has me "put out" ~ as in put out of my work room so my son could have a safe landing from joblessness ~ as in put out of my subsequent work corner so the ceiling could be repaired and the walls painted ~ as in put out over the chaotic disruption of the temporarily unusable back yard.  He's teaching me something.  I guess I have to stop feeling "put out" about it and wait to be "poured in."

Conversion

It took the entire day but I scored my bi-annual conversion.  No, not the 3-point kind in football.  It's the glorious change over of my house from one seasonal look to another ~ kind of like a new beginning twice a year.  The area rugs and pillows get traded out.  The bed covers get heavier and more opulent, or less, depending upon the temps.   Even the decorative glassware gets swapped according to season.  I do it because it gets me in the mood for the changing weather, and because honestly, I get bored.  Warm weather gets more cool blues and greens.  Cool weather gets more warm reds and golds.


I must admit I used to even move the pictures onto different walls and re-arrange everything in my display cabinets, but I'm over that.  I did get my husband to repaint the living room walls since the newly repaired ceiling had to be painted.  So now my house is fresh and ready for the months ahead, and it feels good.

The Reason Is...

"What exactly is God's motivation toward humanity?...love...If the message that God wants to get across to us is just about getting our beliefs right, then He didn't need to come Himself.  If God's entire intent was to simply overwhelm us with the miraculous so that we could finally believe, no personal visitation is necessary.  There is only one reason to come Himself, because in issues of love, you just can't have someone else stand in for you."  - (Erwin McMannus, Soul Cravings)  

So I'm sitting here in a coffee shop looking out at the humans running through the rain-soaked parking lot and I ask, "Really? Really?  He desires us car-driving, shopping-obsessed, self-absorbed suburbanites?"  Yet in the hills just  beyond, it is still, and I see Him waiting patiently indeed, His passion fully kindled and His desire undeterred ~ a passion and desire for which I am fully grateful.

Nebulizer to the Moon

My 95-year-old mother lives with cancer and heart disease.  She takes a handful of meds daily, which she has been doing for years.  She's a fighter, a trooper, a lover of life but a horrible patient.  So her current battle with a stubborn cough/cold has her under the weather mentally and emotionally,not just physically.  The cough is yucky and she's not thrilled with the meds designed to make her cough more so the gunk doesn't settle in her lungs.  But the symptoms aren't getting her down as much as her inability to remember when to take what of the new drugs on top of the drugs she has already been taking. Add to that her lack of mechanical and technical acuity, and you would think that asking her to use a motorized nebulizer to deliver meds directly to her lungs, was asking her to build a space ship and fly it to the moon

I get it.  I really do.  Being unhealthy sucks.  Being sick on top of unhealthy is even suckier.  Keeping track of meds throughout the day is a complete distraction, particularly at her age.  But honestly, I was caught off guard by her tears over an inability to figure out the nebulizer.  It wasn't the nebulizer, per se.  It was her feeling helpless and frustrated over having to deal with all of this ~ added to her difficulty remembering what to take when, which makes her feel dumb.

She has always been hard on herself when it comes to matters of the mind, and she hates it when she feels "stupid."  I don't know if she heard those words growing up, or if she decided for herself that the intellect was everything.  It's too bad she doesn't get that in her Maker's eyes, she is valued just because she is His.

 

Outside In

Lessons from the Garden ~ Backyard Remodel

Today is the day my backyard remodel completely disrupted the inside of my house.

If you remember the sequence ~ for the want of a repaired outdoor wall, the waterfall had to come down ~ for the want of replacing the facia boards, the overhanging shade shelter had to come down ~ for the want of a replacing our leaking roof, 5 men camped on my roof for 4 days ~ for the want of a more eco-efficient roof, the skylights had to be raised ~ for the want of raised skylights, the interior ceiling wells had to be reinforced ~ for the want of refinishing the interior ceiling wells, new plaster had to be laid down ~ for the want of new plastering, the prior leak damage in the living room and master bedroom had to be included ~ for the want of including these rooms, the furniture had to be moved to the garage ~ for the want of painting the repaired ceilings, new paint had to be purchased.

So today I'm hiding out in my kitchen, because it's about the only room in the house that is "safe."

This backyard remodel is totally upside down and outside in!

Season of Thanks

thankful ~ grateful
grateful ~ appreciative of benefits received

It's November.  In light of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, it's so cliche` to expound on the things for which I'm grateful ~ and I wasn't going to do it just because it's the season to do so ~ but I've been thinking and I really do have much to be thankful for.  And so, while I do express appreciation throughout the year, I will also participate in this annual ritual of giving thanks.  

I begin with a deep gratitude for life.  My life.  Living things around me.  God's creation.  Thank You, Lord, for breathing life into me, into this world.

In the beginning, God created .... (Genesis 1:1)
 

Thankful for My Friend

I have never really thought of God as my friend.  Lord. You bet.  Creator.  Check.  Father.  Yes.   He's my designer and creator, and I am privileged to be called His daughter, but friend?  For someone to be a friend means I have to know him or her.  And the more I know this person favorably, the more I choose to be in relationship.

In this Thanksgiving season, I am grateful for my friendship with God.  I am thankful that in His Son, I have not only salvation but an approachable role model on how to live a fulfilling and loving life.  Christ chooses to walk in relationship with me, as I Him.  Our friendship is sweet and while I sometimes balk, I am thankful for His loving willingness and ability to hold me accountable for the actions I say I want to live by daily.  Thank You, sweet Friend.

Puppets

One of the bloggers I follow on a fairly regular basis has decided to sign off for the entire month of November.  She's neither writing blogs nor reading them, tweeting or re-tweeting, not even Facebooking.  She's gone AWOL not for any other reason than she feels she needs a break from virtual life to focus on her real one.  Some people might argue that her on-line community is merely an extension of her local one, but I get where she's coming from.  I really do.

I've been wrestling with some of this social media stuff myself ~ more specifically with Facebook.  For a venue that captures so much of our lives, which we willingly post, I might add ~ we have so little control over how the Facebook Masters manipulate us Facebook puppets.  They have our information in their hands to be dispensed, disposed of and/or archived to their liking.  That's the part that bothers me.  So lately I've been deleting photos (although I know Facebook keeps them in their basement) and been more selective on my personal posts, saying less.  That's not so hard.

The tough thing is I'm a commentator ~ I like to comment on other people's posts.  I guess that makes me feel like I'm part of the dialogue, but maybe it's more just about expressing my opinion simply because I have one. And I'm beginning to ask myself if that's really necessary; do people really care about my two cents' worth?  Do I really care?  And it's about at this point that I have to stop getting all philosophical about social media and just accept it at face value for what it is.  I'm just to be more careful about which media I attach my puppet strings to and how frequently I dance their dance.





 

Groove On

My husband and I spent the afternoon listening to rock classics on Pandora radio, and breaking into impromptu, spontaneous dancing.  Boy, it sure brought back many, many memories and it was fun to get a groove going in our living room.  Not that it was planned, but it sure was appropriate to take a blast to the past since he is celebrating his birthday today.  So honey, you're only as old as you want to be today.  I suggest you shake them hips and keep the groove on!

Happy Birthday to my Main Squeeze and Life Dance Partner!  Love you!!!

(groovin' at Halloween)

How Did Our Back Yard Remodel End Up Inside?

Lessons from the Garden ~ Back Yard Remodel

The back yard remodel has moved indoors.  I swear some day we will get back to actually reworking the back yard, but right now the "side" job of replacing our roof has taken us back inside.  It seems that the foam installation is upwards to 3 inches thick and so the skylights had to be raised from their original height.  That means the inside "well" that transitions from the bathroom ceilings to the skylights had to have new drywall  in order to cover the extra wood that was installed to raise the skylights.  Are you still with me?  Of course, that means the entire "well" has to be re-textured and we all know what that means ~ it's gotta be re-painted!

In the meantime, autumn is advancing, even here in our mild climate, so that means cooler weather and rain.  So the actual back yard remodel will have to be executed intermittently as the weather (and at this point, our finances) allow.

It's never dull around here. that's for sure.  Thank You, Lord, for a husband who is handy with tools, that's all I have to say.  Well, I could really say more about these unexpected delays but I might cry and after all, my "word" for this year is joy (despite circumstances).  And so, this blog post comes to an end while I can still crack a smile.

Change, Change Go Away, Don't Come Back Another Day

Can we talk?  What is it with these techie guys who make changes that are illogical in the real world?  I get that innovation brings change, and change is often awkward and difficult.  But really, if techies want us to embrace a new idea, it has to at least function in a real person's world.  And that's how I feel about the design changes proposed by Blogger.  Nuff said. 

Allure of the Apple

So yesterday afternoon three of us Groovies went smart phone shopping.  One already had her newer Droid and went as our advisor.  One had a phone from the dark ages and was thrilled to be coming into the 21st century.  And me, hating my current smart phone for 2 years and happy to finally be eligible for an upgrade.

What did we buy?  The dark ages Groovy bought a bright white iphone that gleams with the possibilities of total connectedness.  Me?  I haven't made up my mind yet.  Part of me thinks all this obsession over technical "connectedness" is really not being connected at all, and part of me wants "in."  I just don't see me walking around with a phone attached to the palm of my hand. It really is offensive to be with someone, even in a group setting, who is constantly checking her phone, as if the phone was better company than the "live" people around her.  Real life slips by while virtual life becomes a poor substitute for reality.

A blogger I follow said she's signing off all social media for the entire month of November.  It's not that she's inherently against such connections, but she feels a need to go deeper into areas of her life that require more reflection and contemplation.  I know what she's talking about.  And yet, here I am wrestling over my next phone.  Go figure.

P.S. It will probably be a 16g white iphone 4S.  Yep, I'm thinking of crossing over and leaving OS land.  It shouldn't really matter since aren't all smart phones "smart?"  But the allure of Apple is hard to resist.  Even Eve didn't do a very good job of it in the Garden of Eden.







 

24 Hour Beauty

Night shots at the beach ~ priceless.