Is everyone being able to post without using the captcha? I turned it off on the proper page, and saved the setting, but this seems to be one of the google you-are-going-to-take-it so quit complaining features. . . .
Tried to ignore it...and nothing posted about two days ago. Then posted another time and did their flaky thing and it posted. To be safe Iwill do the number thing now.
As long as I'm signed in, no captcha needed. however, once in a while I get signed out. have no clue how?????
Yes, I'm a little ticked at Howard right now as well. However, he did say some good things about Elizabeth. Some folks on FB pointed out that while she is strong on economics, in some other areas she really needs to grow and she is strongest in the Senate.
Choose an identity Google Account You will be asked to sign in after submitting your comment.
Shirlee, just below the comment box and the captcha junk, there's a list of ways you can sign in. Pick google account, and it'll take you to your sign in.
good morning ladies! I am heading out to hospital for my cataract surgery - please pray that it doesn't cause complications to my corneal dystrophy. I'm not ready for a transplant just yet...!! xo
Thoughts and a prayer for you,Jo. The surgery takes only a few minutes, is painless, and the results can be wonderful with renewed clarity and brightness.
Thanks, Puddle. I've never seen a meerkat. I did think it was a somewhat skinny raccoon. A grin here.
thank you puddle! things could not have gone much better - the doc did not need to do a couple of procedures he expected to do and the care there was top notch! my doc was pleased, now we just wait to see what the outcome will be. I have a follow-up appt tomorrow and one on Friday. I'm having no pain, it just feels like I have something in my eye, which I do! my niece stayed with me, she's a doll. she brought me some groceries when she picked me up this morning, bought me a hot cup of coffee when we left the hospital and made sure to feed me when I got home. it was a great experience, the only trouble was getting an IV going in my damn veins - I always have a problem with IV or blood draws. it took 3 tries to get it, first she hit a valve which was pretty painful and bled like hell, then she came too close to one on the next try so it wouldn't flow but #3 was the charm. I hate my veins, the nurse felt so bad but it wasn't her fault! the anesthesia dude used to live on my street so there was plenty of conversation to keep me occupied while they prepped me. I love my doc, he explained everything that he was doing and he is so gentle, so glad that I found him, when it's time for the transplants he is definitely my guy for it!!
Ah, Jo! Sounds sooooooooo good!! Excellent. Sympathize about the veins. I always thought that maybe my weight contributed, but at the height of the Achalasia, I was a bit of a thing, and they had no easier time of it than when I weighed more, so got to put that one to rest. Mine seem to *hide*. . . .
(¯`v´¯) `*.¸.*´ ¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨) (¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´¸¸.•¨¯`•. ♥ JO! ♥ It is so good to hear it all went so well for you!! I will be wanting to know the name of your doctor for when my turn comes, and it's such a comfort to know it's done gently and well here!!! May you soon have great news on prognosis!
Congratulations Jo! It gets easier every year I think for cataract surgery. It is a wonder. Rest up,Listener---hoping your bug passes soon. Understand about the barfing-- it is the nastiest thing.
Love to all, and here goes another try with the Gmail link.11
so sorry listener! I missed that you were ill - I get email notifications that others have posted but for some reason haven't been getting yours for a while now - some gmail glitch maybe. hope that you feel better soon! Doc is Stephen Pecsenyicki at UVM Med Ctr. they call him Dr P - he's fantastic.
Just came from the forums of my dating site (no, not even dreaming of dating, lol!).
Very scary and disturbing experience. There's a lot of political blogging going on just now--Ferguson, Keystone, torture. One of the ladies put on her ranty panties this morning, and Jebus! Feinstein should die, the CIA are angels protecting us from evil evil evil, and anyone that doesn't praise them to high heaven deserves to die in the most awful manner imaginable. . . .
Woman, 65, former accountant, Catholic. Felt like I'd tripped over Cthulhu in the dark. Yes. A self-proclaimed teabagger.
I ache for those standing in their broken bones; ache too for those who broke the bones. And for the one who counts the minutes till release. And for the one with pen in hand, recording it all. All.
We are animals, and not wise. What we have is our likenesses-- two arms, two legs, two eyes, one heart. And if that heart is gone who are we, what are we, and how do we breathe?
Turns out this is a 24 hour flu. Could have been so much worse. However, we are now up to 8 family members who became ill following our weekend, including our little grandson who had his tonsils and adenoids out two weeks ago today! :-(
listener, thanks. Have been haunted for several days by that "forced to stand in their broken bones for up to 48 hours. . . . " from the report. Trying to grok that, and what it means, all around. When it came, it almost didn't come from me. I think Cthulhu this morning kicked it over.
Jo, YES!!! I'm so glad the silliness over Cuba is ending. Finally. But now my kid won't have as much fun sneaking over to work on church projects, lol!
O fie. Bill and I are both home sick from work today. I was doing better yesterday, no longer barfing, but today things are going the other way. Lucky me. To make things more interesting, Bill has a very bad cold with sometimes deep cough. I think his cold has somehow kept him from getting this illness I have, but I may be very susceptible to what he has.
I contacted the Innkeeper again and it turns out she and her s.o. got sick early this week with fever and chills (entirely different symptoms than the rest of us got!). Some strange season, this! It makes me want to become a hermit!
Hmmm, what would the job description look like for: Professional Hermit ~ ?
Recovering here from two weeks of multiple medical--routine appointments. Now I am free of them for the month of January!
We just had some unexpected snowflakes here in northern NC. Didn't stay long thank goodness. ??? Why is snow expected/welcome for Christmas? Sure didn't happen at the Nativity.
Has no one really posted this morning or is Google swallowing posts? :)
We are having our most real and raw Christmas ever. I do now have shingles, plus we have colds and I'm losing my voice. We have no tree or even a kissing ball and we don't mind. Mary apparently rode a long way on a donkey while very pregnant and gave birth in a barn. So our set up seems rather appropriate as opposed to shopping and decorating.
That said, by shopping at only the local gift shop and Snowflake Chocolates (both within a 1.5 mile radius of home), plus one foray online, we managed to procure all the rest of the gifts for our children and others. Our gift to each other is that we decided instead of gifts under our non-existent tree, we bought gifts for the kids/grandkids of my dearest friend of 30+ years, whose mother is near death, as she is unable to think about it much less carry it out. Last night we wrapped and labeled everything and today we sent 30 gifts everywhere from local to New Zealand (her family's gifts all labelled from HER). We sent her a gift too, of course. Not bad given how housebound we are!
Ah, puddle, I think they have the term "hermit" confused with "cruise director."
I appreciated the comment: "Many monastics fled farther and farther into the wilderness in order to avoid throngs of religious tourists."
It's true. They left the community to find inner peace [finally, an on topic post! LOL!] and people would seek them out for guidance. People became so enamored of them that they began to set up camp around them and before long you had a little monastery with a town around it. Then some poor soul would venture out of that for some inner peace and the cycle would start again. Our version of this today is the deep, bright author who writes from the depth of prayer, then gets called upon to lead retreats and do a tour of the country promoting their book or giving conferences.
Listener, thinking of you, hoping you will feel better. I have a friend who had shingles, and yes, it's very painful. As we get older, the body seems to need more intervention. It makes me aware of what an amazing thing life is, how we've been able to do so much, experience so much. Good wishes for you.
Shirlee, glad that you will get a respite.
About monastics. I was just thinking of this today, how peaceful and illuminating it was to go on retreat, but the monastics were working every day with people. If I were to become a monastic, instead of solitude, I'd have the same immersion in people I did as a teacher. It's a paradox really.
December has been way too busy. I've had to turn down meeting with a friend because so many things were going on.
We don't have a tree or decorate. I send cards and notes via snail mail and email, enjoy Christmas at my daughter-in-law's parents' home, and then it's peace and quiet. I wonder how I was able to think at all with so much busyness and being with people most of my waking hours.
A quiet, peaceful Christmas with grace and joy is my wish for you.
Blessings on your Christmas, whatever's going on outside. Take heart. Actually, it does snow in Israel, including Bethlehem on occasion. Jerusalem got 8 inches of snow in January 2013. Desert means dry, not necessarily hot. :-)
Thomas Merton was very challenged to get the solitude he felt called to. He was put off again and again by those in authority over him. In addition to having to be in community as a monk, he was a famous author. Toward the end of his all-too-short life, he did receive permission to be all alone in a hermitage. I love his writing that came from that space. It calls to me. But I was especially intrigued by his letters to and from activist Rosemary Radford Reuther! She challenged him to come out of the cloister and do something and he clarified how he believed that being in silence was the deepest sort of activism.
That's what I need more of in my life.
I need that more than a Christmas tree, especially as even if they are a "renewable resource" here in Vermont, I dislike cutting them down. We tried having a life indoor tree one year, but up here it messes with their cycle, and they put out new growth in early February. But we both love the look and feel of a Christmas tree. It's one of the only consistent traditions from both our childhoods that we share and appreciate. But as we both dislike chopping down living trees, we are thinking of buying a really good manufactured one next year (see the ones at Hammacher Schlemmer) … even though that sounds like an insane thing to do in Vermont. Nutty, huh? Our first date was Christmas Eve (Midnight Mass, actually), and we had such a good time decorating our first tree after we were married. :-) I haven't thought about that it a long time, as we didn't even have a tree the last two years, now three, because our kitties were little and would have climbed it.
Okay, it's time I took a rest. My shoulder is still all pins and needles, and my voice is down to almost a whisper. But even with all that, we are having a really sweet time together, just the two of us this weekend. ♥
I slept last night for 5-6 hours in a row for the first time all week. And today I have less pain. I am so relieved!! Tomorrow I have the job of calling my doctor and basically telling her that (as her office was closed) I took my diagnosis and treatment into my own hands. I don't yet know if she'll applaud or hit the roof.
First year after Josh and I got home from China, went hunting for a Christmas tree, and I went into sticker shock! When I left, a nice balsam fir was about $4 or $5 -- when I got back, that same tree was going for $30. I swallowed, hard, and we got our tree.
Same time, there was a department store I often used to get into the mall, and you had to go by the Christmas tree display. Every time I'd pass, I'd wonder why they this one real tree amongst all the fake ones? And I'd go over, and it would turn out to be a *very good* fake. Must have done that at least a dozen times. When Christmas was over, and the trees were on sale, we went out an bought one. It was a hundred dollar tree, and we go it for thirty. And then we went back and got another one, lol! For years, we had one upstairs in our bedroom, and one downstairs in the living room!
Later, discovered a *really good* fragrance spray, which seems to have morphed into THIS!
The old "Oh Christmas Tree" was hands down the best air spray I've ever used. I used to spray my booth at craft fairs with it, and people would comment how lovely it smelled. You need something when you're selling Santa Clauses in August, lol!
Funny, I was just thinking about scents that I've loved . . . Not a hundred percent, but by a huge fraction the thing they have in common is only what I can call "cold air" or "fresh air"--I don't know what in perfume/scent making does that, I just know I need it.
Hint, my favorite perfume of all time is Lauren's Lauren.
I'm excited about it, and will definitely let you know, puddle. There's a chance it will arrive on Christmas Eve, which would be cool because that's when our son arrives. [No pun intended, but that's one of my better unplanned puns! Ha!]
We managed to put some (really nice, artificial) greens up around the big window in the living room, and even hung some ornaments among them. We added blue stars on the mantel and set up the Creche. It helps.
Say a prayer that my doctor doesn't disown me for altering my prescription for the weekend. I really like her and need her to write a fresh script for the antiviral. We'll know once I call the office in the morning…assuming I can even be heard over the phone. Ha!
UPDATE! I just spoke with my doc's wonderful nurse and she was super nice about it all and is going to call in the prescription and not even ask me to come in to be seen. Bill is dropping off my write-up of what happened enroute to work, meanwhile. It is such a relief to me to not get in trouble for doing what was needed. And I am still slowly improving!! In fact, my congestion and faded voice are more the issue than the shingles at the moment. Victory!
Smiles for you Listener, so glad things worked out and you are feeling better.
Hi Puddle. When we spent our first Christmas in Nederland in 1971, we went into the forest and cut down a pine tree. When we realized that five foot tree probably took 20 years to grow, we were sad, and then didn't cut down trees again. I think we may have had an artificial tree.
An old friend from Samoa called last night. What a joy to talk and share the present and the past. What follows is a thank you poem.
Sometimes I’m Overwhelmed in What My Culture Calls Clutter
For Joanne and Bert
I want to gather up my life the piles of papers, stacks of magazines and books, the artifacts I have saved. When I touch them memory unveils itself like Alpenglow on the mountain in the window of my living room, and then my life is suddenly whole, never ending as I see the past, see those whom I have loved and who loved me. The thrill of living on an island in Samoa, to be part of a village, to know the children and the families, new friends initiated in need and generosity, all the places, people, knowledge of my one small life, to gather it into a book, a painting, maybe a library and give it to you unknown friend from the future who may even understand what I cannot and make something new, enlightening, and beautiful.
Good work, Listeners! Always good to keep your health care decisions under your control. I am enjoying the Christmas tree discussion. I have a large Mexican vase/urn which has a gathering of large woody twigs found at a florists shop at least seven years ago. It stays in my living room all year. Non-Christmas items Small carved birds, other small family items stay on all year. At Christmas time Mexican tin Christmas ornaments come out and get added. A permanent part of my living room. The years of contact and living on the southern Gulf coast of Texas was wonderful for getting to know and enjoy the Mexican culture.
The first year after my divorce, the boys were spending Christmas with their dad, so I opted out of a tree. Ended up instead putting tiny ornies on my rubber tree plant. I then decided that the tree was for me, not the kids, lol!
Lovely, Pat! Thank you!
listener, sounds like it's finally beginning to come round right. . . .
UPDATE! I just spoke with my doc's wonderful nurse and she was super nice about it all and is going to call in the prescription and not even ask me to come in to be seen. Bill is dropping off my write-up of what happened enroute to work, meanwhile. It is such a relief to me to not get in trouble for doing what was needed. And I am still slowly improving!! In fact, my congestion and faded voice are more the issue than the shingles at the moment. Victory!
I imagined I'd said something recently like, "Remind me to tell you what happened on the way to work" but hadn't followed through. So I was wracking my brain to recall what happened on the way to work recently and nothing special was arising. I mean, it's only two miles! :-D
70 comments:
What a wonderful picture!
ha ha, I am loving the animal themes!!
I'm going to say that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are first for this thread. I'm a little ticked off at Howard right now.
I'm with you you, Jo!
Is everyone being able to post without using the captcha? I turned it off on the proper page, and saved the setting, but this seems to be one of the google you-are-going-to-take-it so quit complaining features. . . .
yes puddle, I just ignore it and it posts.
Good Morning,
Love the lotus position of the raccoon.
Weird hours, fall asleep at 7 PM and wake at 2 AM. More than ever I am aware of change.
Hope your day is good.
Thanks, Jo. I ignored it and it posted as well.
Tried to ignore it...and nothing posted about two days ago. Then posted another time and did their flaky thing
and it posted. To be safe Iwill do the number thing now.
----No number thing--no post. Number thing here.
Shirlee, may be that you need to be signed in (the letter of you name BLUE). I sure wish I could stop it!!
As long as I'm signed in, no captcha needed. however, once in a while I get signed out. have no clue how?????
Yes, I'm a little ticked at Howard right now as well. However, he did say some good things about Elizabeth. Some folks on FB pointed out that while she is strong on economics, in some other areas she really needs to grow and she is strongest in the Senate.
Good to see you all here. XOXOXOXO
Having a FABULOUS Family Weekend!
More when I can. ♥
How do I get signed in? Through Google Gmail?
Choose an identity
Google Account
You will be asked to sign in after submitting your comment.
Shirlee, just below the comment box and the captcha junk, there's a list of ways you can sign in. Pick google account, and it'll take you to your sign in.
Also, from the sign in page it looks like if you're signed in through gmail, you're signed into blogger.
Pat, our little friend out front meditating is a meerkat. I am really charmed by them!
good morning ladies! I am heading out to hospital for my cataract surgery - please pray that it doesn't cause complications to my corneal dystrophy. I'm not ready for a transplant just yet...!! xo
Good Morning,
Thoughts and a prayer for you,Jo. The surgery takes only a few minutes, is painless, and the results can be wonderful with renewed clarity and brightness.
Thanks, Puddle. I've never seen a meerkat. I did think it was a somewhat skinny raccoon. A grin here.
Overcast, cold, snow expected.
Have a good day, folks.
{{{ <3 JO!! <3 }}}
Prayers ensuing!!!
We had such a great time with 30 other close loved ones all weekend. Now I am coming down with something. Bleah.
listener, that is lovely! ('Cept for whatever you're coming down with.)
Jo, all ma crossables been crossed all day! Let us know! xox
thank you puddle! things could not have gone much better - the doc did not need to do a couple of procedures he expected to do and the care there was top notch! my doc was pleased, now we just wait to see what the outcome will be. I have a follow-up appt tomorrow and one on Friday. I'm having no pain, it just feels like I have something in my eye, which I do! my niece stayed with me, she's a doll. she brought me some groceries when she picked me up this morning, bought me a hot cup of coffee when we left the hospital and made sure to feed me when I got home. it was a great experience, the only trouble was getting an IV going in my damn veins - I always have a problem with IV or blood draws. it took 3 tries to get it, first she hit a valve which was pretty painful and bled like hell, then she came too close to one on the next try so it wouldn't flow but #3 was the charm. I hate my veins, the nurse felt so bad but it wasn't her fault! the anesthesia dude used to live on my street so there was plenty of conversation to keep me occupied while they prepped me. I love my doc, he explained everything that he was doing and he is so gentle, so glad that I found him, when it's time for the transplants he is definitely my guy for it!!
Ah, Jo! Sounds sooooooooo good!! Excellent. Sympathize about the veins. I always thought that maybe my weight contributed, but at the height of the Achalasia, I was a bit of a thing, and they had no easier time of it than when I weighed more, so got to put that one to rest. Mine seem to *hide*. . . .
(¯`v´¯)
`*.¸.*´
¸.•´¸.•*¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´¸¸.•¨¯`•. ♥ JO! ♥
It is so good to hear it all went so well for you!! I will be wanting to know the name of your doctor for when my turn comes, and it's such a comfort to know it's done gently and well here!!! May you soon have great news on prognosis!
Yep, I am definitely sick. No fever, but heavy headedness and powerful barfing. I do NOT do nausea well. Argh!
Turns out my brother came down with it about 4 hours before I did. Yet no one at the gathering had these symptoms. Strange!
Good Morning,
Sunny but chilly here.
Jo, I'm delighted to hear that your surgery went well and your physician is someone you like and trust.
Listener, good wishes for your recovery. I can't think of anything I'd rather not do than throw up, but it gets rid of what made you ill.
All is well here, working on cleaning up paper clutter.
Take good care of yourselves.
Congratulations Jo! It gets easier every year I think for
cataract surgery. It is a wonder. Rest up,Listener---hoping your bug passes soon. Understand about the barfing-- it is the nastiest thing.
Love to all, and here goes another try with the Gmail link.11
What is the trash can doing at the end of my post?
Subject matter of post :)?
Thank you, Puddle for reminding me about the gmail.
so sorry listener! I missed that you were ill - I get email notifications that others have posted but for some reason haven't been getting yours for a while now - some gmail glitch maybe. hope that you feel better soon! Doc is Stephen Pecsenyicki at UVM Med Ctr. they call him Dr P - he's fantastic.
Shirlee, the trash can means you can delete that post if you wish! You're a member now, lol!
Just came from the forums of my dating site (no, not even dreaming of dating, lol!).
Very scary and disturbing experience. There's a lot of political blogging going on just now--Ferguson, Keystone, torture. One of the ladies put on her ranty panties this morning, and Jebus! Feinstein should die, the CIA are angels protecting us from evil evil evil, and anyone that doesn't praise them to high heaven deserves to die in the most awful manner imaginable. . . .
Woman, 65, former accountant, Catholic. Felt like I'd tripped over Cthulhu in the dark. Yes. A self-proclaimed teabagger.
I ache for those
standing in their broken bones;
ache too for those who broke the bones.
And for the one who counts the minutes till release.
And for the one with pen in hand,
recording it all. All.
We are animals, and not wise.
What we have is our likenesses--
two arms, two legs, two eyes,
one heart. And if that heart is gone
who are we, what are we, and how do we breathe?
jjl
16 December 2014
Puddle, I know not how you found words today.
I only know I'm grateful that you did. ♥
I am on the mend!
Turns out this is a 24 hour flu. Could have been so much worse. However, we are now up to 8 family members who became ill following our weekend, including our little grandson who had his tonsils and adenoids out two weeks ago today! :-(
He's on the mend too. But SHEESH!!
listener, thanks. Have been haunted for several days by that "forced to stand in their broken bones for up to 48 hours. . . . " from the report. Trying to grok that, and what it means, all around. When it came, it almost didn't come from me. I think Cthulhu this morning kicked it over.
lots of interesting experiences going on here.
Congrats Jo! now that's behind you!
Glad you and your loved ones are on the mend, Listener.
Love the poem, Puddle.
Ok, I'm at work and I need to take off and get to the post office to mail our Christmas cards and they close at 5:15, so I'd better hustle.
much love and many hugs to all. ...And to all a good night! :o)
Fox paws knitting patterns are delightful!
a friend has been making these - adorable!!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154915220210253&set=a.10150874756460253.756111.509330252&type=1&theater
Jo, that is sooooooooo cute!! Do be sure to steer her to the fox paws page! If I were twenty years younger. . . .
Cartoon Christmas Tree
I tried to post a cute Christmas tree, but it doesn't look like it worked.
Just checking in, glad you are here.
Quiet warm and sunny day. Nancy found a reindeer horns headband and got Sam to wear them. Beau is now praying fervently. . . .
Jo, YES!!! I'm so glad the silliness over Cuba is ending. Finally. But now my kid won't have as much fun sneaking over to work on church projects, lol!
O fie. Bill and I are both home sick from work today. I was doing better yesterday, no longer barfing, but today things are going the other way. Lucky me. To make things more interesting, Bill has a very bad cold with sometimes deep cough. I think his cold has somehow kept him from getting this illness I have, but I may be very susceptible to what he has.
I contacted the Innkeeper again and it turns out she and her s.o. got sick early this week with fever and chills (entirely different symptoms than the rest of us got!). Some strange season, this! It makes me want to become a hermit!
Hmmm, what would the job description look like for: Professional Hermit ~ ?
While googling for a job description for a hermit, found this:
https://www.recruiter.com/i/emotions-for-hire-the-role-of-emotional-labor-in-the-workplace/
Absolutely fascinating!
listener, if you're job hunting, here ya go!
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2014/06/even-professional-swiss-hermits-must-have-good-people-skills.html
Recovering here from two weeks of multiple medical--routine appointments. Now I am free of them for the month of January!
We just had some unexpected snowflakes here in northern NC. Didn't stay long thank goodness.
??? Why is snow expected/welcome for Christmas?
Sure didn't happen at the Nativity.
Has no one really posted this morning or is Google swallowing posts? :)
We are having our most real and raw Christmas ever. I do now have shingles, plus we have colds and I'm losing my voice. We have no tree or even a kissing ball and we don't mind. Mary apparently rode a long way on a donkey while very pregnant and gave birth in a barn. So our set up seems rather appropriate as opposed to shopping and decorating.
That said, by shopping at only the local gift shop and Snowflake Chocolates (both within a 1.5 mile radius of home), plus one foray online, we managed to procure all the rest of the gifts for our children and others. Our gift to each other is that we decided instead of gifts under our non-existent tree, we bought gifts for the kids/grandkids of my dearest friend of 30+ years, whose mother is near death, as she is unable to think about it much less carry it out. Last night we wrapped and labeled everything and today we sent 30 gifts everywhere from local to New Zealand (her family's gifts all labelled from HER). We sent her a gift too, of course. Not bad given how housebound we are!
I commend to your Christmasing the book Winter's Gift by Jane Monroe Donovan!
http://www.amazon.com/Winters-Gift-Jane-Monroe-Donovan/dp/158536231X
Ah, puddle, I think they have the term "hermit" confused with "cruise director."
I appreciated the comment: "Many monastics fled farther and farther into the wilderness in order to avoid throngs of religious tourists."
It's true. They left the community to find inner peace [finally, an on topic post! LOL!] and people would seek them out for guidance. People became so enamored of them that they began to set up camp around them and before long you had a little monastery with a town around it. Then some poor soul would venture out of that for some inner peace and the cycle would start again. Our version of this today is the deep, bright author who writes from the depth of prayer, then gets called upon to lead retreats and do a tour of the country promoting their book or giving conferences.
I like your set up better.
Listener-- hoping your multiple illnesses clear up soon.
Very nice of you to take on the gifting for a family with problems. Thank You. Love to all!
Hello Friends,
Listener, thinking of you, hoping you will feel better. I have a friend who had shingles, and yes, it's very painful. As we get older, the body seems to need more intervention. It makes me aware of what an amazing thing life is, how we've been able to do so much, experience so much. Good wishes for you.
Shirlee, glad that you will get a respite.
About monastics. I was just thinking of this today, how peaceful and illuminating it was to go on retreat, but the monastics were working every day with people. If I were to become a monastic, instead of solitude, I'd have the same immersion in people I did as a teacher. It's a paradox really.
December has been way too busy. I've had to turn down meeting with a friend because so many things were going on.
We don't have a tree or decorate. I send cards and notes via snail mail and email, enjoy Christmas at my daughter-in-law's parents' home, and then it's peace and quiet. I wonder how I was able to think at all with so much busyness and being with people most of my waking hours.
A quiet, peaceful Christmas with grace and joy is my wish for you.
May we all get better and less busy in this coming week. May we get a bit of snow, but not too much, and no rain at all!!
Thank-you, Shirlee! Hurrah for no appointments!!
Blessings on your Christmas, whatever's going on outside. Take heart. Actually, it does snow in Israel, including Bethlehem on occasion. Jerusalem got 8 inches of snow in January 2013. Desert means dry, not necessarily hot. :-)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2260223/Jerusalem-hit-worst-snowstorm-TWENTY-YEARS-inches-falls-Holy-City-closing-roads-schools.html
Thank-you, Pat!
Thomas Merton was very challenged to get the solitude he felt called to. He was put off again and again by those in authority over him. In addition to having to be in community as a monk, he was a famous author. Toward the end of his all-too-short life, he did receive permission to be all alone in a hermitage. I love his writing that came from that space. It calls to me. But I was especially intrigued by his letters to and from activist Rosemary Radford Reuther! She challenged him to come out of the cloister and do something and he clarified how he believed that being in silence was the deepest sort of activism.
That's what I need more of in my life.
I need that more than a Christmas tree, especially as even if they are a "renewable resource" here in Vermont, I dislike cutting them down. We tried having a life indoor tree one year, but up here it messes with their cycle, and they put out new growth in early February. But we both love the look and feel of a Christmas tree. It's one of the only consistent traditions from both our childhoods that we share and appreciate. But as we both dislike chopping down living trees, we are thinking of buying a really good manufactured one next year (see the ones at Hammacher Schlemmer) … even though that sounds like an insane thing to do in Vermont. Nutty, huh? Our first date was Christmas Eve (Midnight Mass, actually), and we had such a good time decorating our first tree after we were married. :-) I haven't thought about that it a long time, as we didn't even have a tree the last two years, now three, because our kitties were little and would have climbed it.
Okay, it's time I took a rest. My shoulder is still all pins and needles, and my voice is down to almost a whisper. But even with all that, we are having a really sweet time together, just the two of us this weekend. ♥
Take care, everyone.
life tree = live tree
I do believe I have "got de turn"!!
I slept last night for 5-6 hours in a row for the first time all week. And today I have less pain. I am so relieved!! Tomorrow I have the job of calling my doctor and basically telling her that (as her office was closed) I took my diagnosis and treatment into my own hands. I don't yet know if she'll applaud or hit the roof.
First year after Josh and I got home from China, went hunting for a Christmas tree, and I went into sticker shock! When I left, a nice balsam fir was about $4 or $5 -- when I got back, that same tree was going for $30. I swallowed, hard, and we got our tree.
Same time, there was a department store I often used to get into the mall, and you had to go by the Christmas tree display. Every time I'd pass, I'd wonder why they this one real tree amongst all the fake ones? And I'd go over, and it would turn out to be a *very good* fake. Must have done that at least a dozen times. When Christmas was over, and the trees were on sale, we went out an bought one. It was a hundred dollar tree, and we go it for thirty. And then we went back and got another one, lol! For years, we had one upstairs in our bedroom, and one downstairs in the living room!
Later, discovered a *really good* fragrance spray, which seems to have morphed into THIS!
Thank YOU, puddle!
I just bought some!! :-D
The old "Oh Christmas Tree" was hands down the best air spray I've ever used. I used to spray my booth at craft fairs with it, and people would comment how lovely it smelled. You need something when you're selling Santa Clauses in August, lol!
Let me know how you like it!
Funny, I was just thinking about scents that I've loved . . . Not a hundred percent, but by a huge fraction the thing they have in common is only what I can call "cold air" or "fresh air"--I don't know what in perfume/scent making does that, I just know I need it.
Hint, my favorite perfume of all time is Lauren's Lauren.
I'm excited about it, and will definitely let you know, puddle. There's a chance it will arrive on Christmas Eve, which would be cool because that's when our son arrives. [No pun intended, but that's one of my better unplanned puns! Ha!]
We managed to put some (really nice, artificial) greens up around the big window in the living room, and even hung some ornaments among them. We added blue stars on the mantel and set up the Creche. It helps.
Say a prayer that my doctor doesn't disown me for altering my prescription for the weekend. I really like her and need her to write a fresh script for the antiviral. We'll know once I call the office in the morning…assuming I can even be heard over the phone. Ha!
UPDATE! I just spoke with my doc's wonderful nurse and she was super nice about it all and is going to call in the prescription and not even ask me to come in to be seen. Bill is dropping off my write-up of what happened enroute to work, meanwhile. It is such a relief to me to not get in trouble for doing what was needed. And I am still slowly improving!! In fact, my congestion and faded voice are more the issue than the shingles at the moment. Victory!
Good Morning,
Smiles for you Listener, so glad things worked out and you are feeling better.
Hi Puddle. When we spent our first Christmas in Nederland in 1971, we went into the forest and cut down a pine tree. When we realized that five foot tree probably took 20 years to grow, we were sad, and then didn't cut down trees again. I think we may have had an artificial tree.
An old friend from Samoa called last night. What a joy to talk and share the present and the past. What follows is a thank you poem.
Sometimes I’m Overwhelmed in What My Culture Calls Clutter
For Joanne and Bert
I want to gather up my life
the piles of papers, stacks
of magazines and books,
the artifacts I have saved.
When I touch them memory
unveils itself like Alpenglow
on the mountain in the window
of my living room, and then my life is
suddenly whole, never ending
as I see the past, see those whom
I have loved and who loved me.
The thrill of living on an island
in Samoa, to be part of a village,
to know the children and the families,
new friends initiated in need and
generosity, all the places, people,
knowledge of my one small life,
to gather it into a book, a painting,
maybe a library and give it to you
unknown friend from the future
who may even understand what
I cannot and make something
new, enlightening, and beautiful.
Good work, Listeners! Always good to keep your health
care decisions under your control. I am enjoying the
Christmas tree discussion. I have a large Mexican vase/urn which has a gathering of large woody twigs
found at a florists shop at least seven years ago.
It stays in my living room all year. Non-Christmas items
Small carved birds, other small family items stay on all
year. At Christmas time Mexican tin Christmas ornaments
come out and get added. A permanent part of my living room. The years of contact and living on the southern Gulf coast of Texas was wonderful for
getting to know and enjoy the Mexican culture.
The first year after my divorce, the boys were spending Christmas with their dad, so I opted out of a tree. Ended up instead putting tiny ornies on my rubber tree plant. I then decided that the tree was for me, not the kids, lol!
Lovely, Pat! Thank you!
listener, sounds like it's finally beginning to come round right. . . .
And what *did* happen on the way to work?
LOL! puddle, given that tomorrow marks two weeks since I was at work, I'll need you to remind when I last mentioned it, and in what context. :-D
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Blogger listener said...
UPDATE! I just spoke with my doc's wonderful nurse and she was super nice about it all and is going to call in the prescription and not even ask me to come in to be seen. Bill is dropping off my write-up of what happened enroute to work, meanwhile. It is such a relief to me to not get in trouble for doing what was needed. And I am still slowly improving!! In fact, my congestion and faded voice are more the issue than the shingles at the moment. Victory!
December 22, 2014 at 9:04 AM
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O. I. C. Lol!
ROFL!!
I imagined I'd said something recently like, "Remind me to tell you what happened on the way to work" but hadn't followed through. So I was wracking my brain to recall what happened on the way to work recently and nothing special was arising. I mean, it's only two miles! :-D
New thread!!!
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