Not sure I recall how to use this gadget to blog, but this is just your standard issue

NOTICE

I found my password, I'm back to my old home. Blogging continues more or less continuously at
My OLD address (http://www.dloye.com/myblog/wordpress/ if you don't care to just click the link.)

WHUP! WHUP!

There are two blogs, which read in close proximity brought up parallels. Almost like the tree falling in the forest, is there a sound if no ear is there to hear it? In Richard Ferandez's blog, a commenter told this evocative story.

Oct 10, 2008 - 1:53 pm RWE:

Back in the mid-70’s scientists made an exciting discovery: a tribe of people in New Guinea that had no previous contact with the modern world. The team that discovered the tribe promptly radioed for more supplies to support an extended stay. A helicopter was dispatched to the location.

The tribe’s reaction was interesting. They had no knowledge of flying machines and inspects of that size could not possibly exist (proof of their isolation, since they had obviously missed all those 1950’s monster movies about giant ants and tarantulas and so forth). So they refused to look at the helicopter. It did not fit their view of the world and thus could not be acknowledged to exist even as it was going “Whup Whup” right in front of them.

In a totally different context, Gagdad Bob of One Cosmos fame speaking of his first encounter with Meditations on the Tarot

I mentioned in a comment the other day, the first time I tried to tackle it, I got nowhere. It was just too difficult; we were both too dense. But by the time of my second attempt a year or two later, a transformation had taken place within me that allowed me to understand it. Indeed, it was like entering a vast cathedral, only this time with the lights on. In other words, without the Light, an infinite space can appear as a black wall, which is essentially the predicament in which the atheist finds himself. He imagines he's describing an objective wall, when he's really just disclosing his subjective darkness.

My picture of the government trying to fix the ongoing debacle is of the policy wonks throwing money at a disaster with no knowledge of what is what's truly going on, but tinkering with the symptoms of the meltdown, as their underlying assumptions fall away under their feet. There were signs that things were not good. People had been writing about a real estate bubble for years. The whup, whup was going on right in front of us. But this isn't supposed to happen in our world. They're in the darkened cathedral throwin the tax proceeds from my work, my childrens work, and my grandchildren's work at a huge problem.

Oh well. A wedding is happening here. God would have us to be joyful. To Life!

Proverbs 6:1 - 5
Dangerous Promises

My son, if you become surety for your friend,
If you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
You are snared by the words of your mouth;
You are taken by the words of your mouth.
So do this, my son, and deliver yourself;
For you have come into the hand of your friend:
Go and humble yourself;
Plead with your friend.
Give no sleep to your eyes,
Nor slumber to your eyelids.
Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter,
And like a bird from the hand of the fowler.[a]

I've gotten going on making good on a few promises myself this week. It's midterm week at Nunez, and I'm enjoying my teaching, though the old frustrations are creeping in. Why do I have to teach all these unrelated concepts in algebra classes? They are like a jumble of jig saw pieces with no rhyme nor reason. But the catalog prescribes...

A semester of math can be very much like a story. It's got the preamble, introductory remarks, and then building the story. But we teach it like fifteen unrelated plot pieces. I've searched out several different narrative approaches to the course over the years, but every time the text changes and the master syllabus changes, I have to rethink the thing, and it seems to take a full semester to pull it together. I'm not thinking I want to do this again next semester. Which is probably a good thing, because Nunez's growth is likely to die on the vine after the financial melt down.

H-- was talking at bridge today. She's well into her nineties, and was trying to play through the fog of pain medications. She'd taken a fall.. tossed her cane into the air on the way up, and it came down on her ribs, paining her a great deal. Anyway it was nice to play bridge and leave the midterms behind, leave the wedding behind.

The bride is due in town Saturday, and her father Saturday night. Tomorrow I need to pick up my dress. I'm gaining on the foo foo'ing of the mother of the bride. Got a hair cut today. So a random photo before I head to bed...



Ain't there no mo'. The gardens I used to visit every spring. Zemmurray Gardens in Folsom, La.

Another quick blog

Another presidential debate tonight. The snippets of sniping that the presidential race has come to doesn't include a lot of background information. Most of "my readers" (which sounds way self aggrandizing) are already decided voters. The mythical undecideds are the folks who decide at the last minuted based on who "looks like a president" or some such. Close races are decided on such irrelevancies. It's a democracy, and that's one of the not so great aspects. I'd guess more than half of my readers have decided to vote with the democrats, and I've tried to lay off of political themes. This article in City Journal about Bill Ayers, the 'acquaintance' of the candidate, is pretty clear about who Bill Ayers is and what he represents. I guess you have to decide how much associating BO has done with Ayers. More than he admits to, that's for sure. Also need to decide how much guilt there is in association. We're all known by the company we keep. Sol Stern writes about "The bomber as a School Reformer"

Calling Bill Ayers a school reformer is a bit like calling Joseph Stalin an agricultural reformer. (If you find the metaphor strained, consider that Walter Duranty, the infamous New York Times reporter covering the Soviet Union in the 1930s, did, in fact, depict Stalin as a great land reformer who created happy, productive collective farms.) For instance, at a November 2006 education forum in Caracas, Venezuela, with President Hugo Chávez at his side, Ayers proclaimed his support for “the profound educational reforms under way here in Venezuela under the leadership of President Chávez. We share the belief that education is the motor-force of revolution. . . . I look forward to seeing how you continue to overcome the failings of capitalist education as you seek to create something truly new and deeply humane.” Ayers concluded his speech by declaring that “Venezuela is poised to offer the world a new model of education—a humanizing and revolutionary model whose twin missions are enlightenment and liberation,” and then, as in days of old, raised his fist and chanted: “Viva Presidente Chávez! Viva la Revolucion Bolivariana! Hasta la Victoria Siempre!”

Do yourself a favor. Read the whole thing.

Quick Post

I've graded some half-hearted homework attempts, and gotten a mid term type exam written for College algebra. It should never have taken so long, but I've put hours and hours into the effort. The class you see is this odd hybrid. High school, community college. There are amazing possibilities here, and I want to get as much of it as I possibly can right. The problems will have to be worked out by others later... I'm most likely a one semester marvel, though I'd really like to teach trig in the spring if the opportunity presents.

On a personal level, I was always dismayed at the number of students who really just couldn't get it. Sincere effort, but went about as far as my professional basketball career. This group of 21 really can do the math, though they're young, easily distracted and ready to "play me" when they think they can get out of something. I never bothered with a midterm exam, because I always had plenty of grades for students, and didn't feel like I needed a midway cumulative exam. But high school is hitting the end of the nine weeks, and they have exams scheduled. I'm trying to play along.

Somewhere there is a photo to post... I spent a great deal of time trying to fix up a photo. Now it's stuck in the drive and I'm wondering if I've broken both the drive and the CD. Bother. Took a lot of photos around New Orleans in 2001, and the houses have changed since then. Tonight I'm not trying to retrieve a cd!

Nearly 11.. I'll get that done another day. Wedding just around the corner. Yikes. Make up lady calling on me tomorrow to get a base figured. I don't wear this stuff. Tried to get a dress on for church Sunday and just couldn't do it. The wedding will be a night mare in that respect. Manicure? Sigh.. I guess.

Search for the Punch Ladle Continued

"It's not like it's the Yetti!" Ok, I let Tara hang around and work on her quilt today in spite of that crack. Tania wants a glass punch ladle. Someone told me a horror story at Trundle, Toilette, and To Infinity.... about someone's glass ladle breaking in the punch bowl, and the punch had to be tossed an there was no more to be fixed. No one agrees with me that a nice coffee cup will serve as a dipper. I mean, I have a couple of them with no cracks. We'd bring out the best!

When I picked up Cameron at MDO on Thursday, I pilfered through the drawers in the kitchen at church. I couldn't find the ladles. I know they are there, but I didn't want to hang in the kitchen too long looking suspicious. They don't want me taking Cameron home with me unless I show three forms of ID and fingerprints as it is.

After Cameron came home, he wanted his mommy to nurse his earache. Do all nearly three year-olds have moments when it looks like in all probability the family has just spawned another sociopath? Anyway, he screamed a solid hour at my house, and finally agreed to take medicine. That's a half aspirin dissolved in a teaspoon of water, with ample warning that it tastes disgusting. He finally stopped crying long enough to tell me that was nasty! Then he asked for a band aid. So I got a band aid for his ear, tricky to apply... but the kid wants a band aid, I'll waste one. That was the end of the tears. Why didn't I look in the kid manual and discover that a band aid was the cure for any and all physical distress. I'm told by his aunt Mimi that he was showing off the band aid that evening, but didn't complain about his ear ache.

Tania, aka Bridezilly, had her gown on for the final fitting today. She also is in negotiations for a one year job producing thirteen pieces of a series for Discovery Health. She allows as how the pay for producers instead of co-producers is up in a range that makes her rather happy. So maybe she'll be able to pay off all the cost overruns on the wedding?

Proverbs 5:20 - 23

Why be captivated, my son, by an adulteress?
Why embrace the bosom of another man's wife?
For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all his paths.
The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the cords of his sin hold him fast.
He will die for lack of discipline,
led astray by his own great folly.

And that's the end of Proverbs 5, and injunction against adultery. Since the Hebrew scriptures were studied mostly by men they're written in a man's language. But all of us have the chance to reach out and take something that attracts us, and tangle ourselves in cords of sin, the fruit of undiscipline and folly.

As for me, I'll go play bridge, always an activity with a bit more opportunity cost than I really want to pay, but always something interesting in there. I lose all day tomorrow to working the polls. But I'll have the $$ I needed for the wedding. It's all good.



I remember reading that mushrooms "spring up" from a circular formation in the ground. Is that the explanation for this?

I was glad when they said unto me...

Have you been trying to figure out what is "bailout" and why we need one? John Fortune and John Bird bring you the British humorous edition. I've wondered and worried about things political and econonmic, and so far have come to no understanding. Pete's axiom of organizations, "Organizations are run for the benefit of those who control them." Banks, Senate, Congress, Wall Street, all of them. And the corollary in these peculiar times? Beats me. So let the sun keep shining, and I'll try to be merry.

I'm having a wonderful time, still. I crashed and burned in the high school class on Tuesday because I wasn't prepared, and couldn't focus on where we were going. Part of the distraction was wondering if the sky was falling. But the sky didn't fall. We're in a slow motion lowering of the skies, maybe but not a fall.

Photo of the day is from before Gustav, before Ike, there was Hannah. She rained and rained rained upon us. And the mushrooms mushed. This yellow beauty was in my back yard.



Three things that made me smile today.

1. Almost all my students were present in the College Algebra Class and I'm getting to know them more and more.

2. Tania's to do list included some things I can do. I made a couple more stabs at the punch ladle.

3. The outer border of the Round Robin is going together and I'll have it ready for Houston I think.

Tag you're it. What are three things that made you smile today?

Ok, It's Monday again... past time to post, right Gail?

Here's the deal... A person just isn't allowed to have this much fun AND get paid for it. I taught my intermediate level algebra class today, and really had a great time. I amuse myself and I have an audience. What's not to like about that?

Bring out the crackers, here comes the whine. Intermediate algebra is a very scattershot course, a skill builder, but one skill that never gets built is abstraction, application of concepts in new and novel settings. The course is all over the place. I was teaching 3 x 3 linear systems last week and today having a go at synthetic substitution and synthetic division. After class I leaned into Chilly's door and complained. Of course he wrote all the master syllabi (syllabuses?) but he's been kicked into administration, so he's not as married to it as he was. "Go talk to J and C... they're revising." Hmmm... do I want to try and get some of my ideas implemented? Should I go there? I have so many interests, time killers of various sorts.

I may have a source of help for finding my password...for the old site. Pete came and went, said he never learned anything about mySQL, and felt no interest in learning it. Nevermind that there was clean up from IKE going on in Houston, he suffered nearly continuous sinus distress the whole time he was here, and just doing enough cooking and eating and getting out for the added entertainment value of a guest; well didn't get the password issue solved there. BUT I'm still looking at this bullet item on THE LIST. Mowing again is there too, on the list. I bet the yard gets chopped before I get this password found.

I've also been wanting to figure out what the method is to stop the madness in bloggers comments.. and allow someone to comment after they passed the "are you a human" stuff at least once. Figuring out those letters is no fun, and Linda can't seem to prove she's a human. I can't either on some blogs...anyway, I want comments. But I've not found how to bypass the drill.

Also trying to figure out what is going on in congress/Wall St. I found an explanation that I'll hope to post later. There's the Republican version, the Democratic version and the truth which may be somewhere between the other two, or more likely is off somewhere else entirely. We all live in "interesting times."

I'm heading for home. Quilting to be done today.

Full Scattershot

One of the persistent whines about the internet is the amount of trash available online. I'm guilty. I post stuff that is of limited interest. But I am heartily glad for the chance to blow smoke or whine or just reach out as we can only do on the internet.

On the other hand, there are some writers who are truly writing well and growing as they go. I've found Richard Fernandez's work out of the Philippines/Australia to be amazing reading. On the internet, if you find someone whose writing you enjoy, you can get your fill of it pretty quickly, or savor the good writers over years. A new find of mine is Bill Whittle, whose blog site Eject!Eject!Eject! had been pointed out to me before. But one day someone linked to his writings, and I was dazzled. Today he's got a winner posted in National Review. The Undefended City comes with my highest recommendation. Included is a little riff on the political indoctrination that goes on under the guise of education. This is a small part of the article, but worth clipping.

I live a few miles from Santa Monica High School, in California. There, young men and women are taught that America is “a terrorist nation,” “one of the worst regimes in history,” that it’s twice-elected leader is “the son of the devil,” and dictator of this “fascist” country. Further, “patriotism” is taught by dragging an American flag across the classroom floor, because the nation’s truest patriots, as we should know by now, are those who are most able to despise it.

This is only high school, remember: in college things get much, much worse.

Two generations, now, are being raised on this poison, and the reason for that is this: the enemies of this (country) cannot come out and simply say, “Do not defend the (country).” Even the smartest among us can see that is simple treason. But they can say, “The (Country) is not worth defending.” So they say that, and they say that all the time and in as many different ways as they are able.

Read his essay on how civilizations fall, and what must be done.

Proverbs 5:15 - 19

Continuing Proverbs 5, an injunction against adultery:

Drink water from your own cistern,
running water from your own well.
Should your springs overflow in the streets,
your streams of water in the public squares?
Let them be yours alone,
never to be shared with strangers.
May your fountain be blessed,
and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.
A loving doe, a graceful deer—
may her breasts satisfy you always,
may you ever be captivated by her love.

What a blessing when you manage to get that right. Too often we fail....

And last from the internet, a clip from Fox News. I realize it's a source that most democratically leaning folk would shun, but this is the best three minute distillation of what's happened on Wall Street, and may yet dog Main Street.

It's worth a watch unless anything with the Fox label is just too offensive to listen to and think about.

Photo is of Gail's quilt top as it left here, sort of. I tried to take the photo out doors, and it almost worked. Next time I'll take the time to get it right.

Ok, ok, I have lost the templates to work on my quilt, I've started and it looks great and the templates have been mislaid.

The fight to find the password so I can use my workpress blog is still active, can't find my way through that maze.

BUT Tania just called. She won an Emmy! I'm not sure.. I suspect she doesn't actually get to keep the award, but they're off to the after party. It was her documentary on the heart that won the award. She's just walking on air. Texted me, then called after.

I was playing some online bridge... can you imagine the bridge train wrecks that caused!

Thanks Gail and Linda for reminding me to post!

Notes on the Week that Was

On the personal front, as we say in Sunday School, I have a praise. I've finally spent the money...and a bit more to come. But I own a dress, shoes, purse for a wedding in October. The dress will be altered, the shoes and purse dyed so the color is at least close to the dress, and I'll be dress up like a matronly woman in a formal gown. I got a gown big enough to go around my ample derriere, and it was nice to see the amount the seamstress had to take out of the bodice.

I need to get the eating back under control. I am an emotional eater, and I've had lots of ups and downs and over and outs... I would really wish to hear from Houston that Deb and her family, Pete and his family are all going to rejoin the world. I'll go buy gasoline tomorrow, and I guess that will be some expensive procrastination. A tank of gas for my small car is going to cost me a full day's living allotment!

I've cut and pieced and put together some of the latest border for Deb's round robin quilt top. Looks like I'll be ready for the wedding when it happens, and I'll be ready with the round robin and supplies for Houston. But there's a class this next Saturday on "Cotton Theory" which I'm a bit concerned about being ready for. Ms. Cotton has a technique for putting together quilts like Ina May is doing the large sampler... quilting small pieces and joining them already quilted. So there's a table runner we're doing using that technique next Saturday.

Tomorrow I'll teach a class at 10 am, and I'll hope to exercise and get some prep done for that class. I have papers to grade for the high school class Tuesday, so after I get done teaching Monday, I'll need to get into papers, but I'll likely not do it. Nah, I'll do it.

Yup, I did some of it already. Last week was the first full M - F week in a long time. This will be the same with some testing thrown in for good measure. Just home from a good long bike ride, and will toss myself into the tub pretty shortly. In fact it's time to be getting ready to go to Chalmette.

So the photo is of a wonderful red headed woodpecker... still not in focus, still trying on that front. But the bird is a beauty. Saw a little blue bird this morning while writing in my journal, feeding quickly on my window ledge.



Hope to be back at my old site soon. C--'s husband gave me a password finder ulitity. If I were computer competent, I'd be dangerous!

Tara and Cameron are here!

That Was the Week that Was

This past week we marked yet again the anniversary of 9/11. Seven is not such an impressive number in the decimal system, but in the psyche of man, it has some important connotations. The seven year itch is when we need to renew or refresh our marriages, on peril of losing something that is too valuable to toss aside. After seven years living with something, it's pretty old hat, it changes from jarring, to just background noise. So seven years ago, our worlds shifted. Now we read reminisces of 9/11 like it had been some sort of natural disaster, a Katrina. It was nothing of the sort. Three thousand people died, and they were killed with malicious intent. The white hot anger of that realization is no longer with us, but that day we knew we were targets. All of us, and all of our loved ones. Now seven years later without a reprise on American shores and it seems like something of an anomaly. Thank God we've not had repeated wake up calls. They've happened, but not on American soil, so we can let out attention drift. Beware. Lack of caution is what leads to a lot of car wrecks... so put down your cell phone and remember, reconnect with that trauma.

This was also the Week of the Palin Impaling. I've read much, much, much of the writing about Sarah Palin. I'd be very surprised if you hadn't as well. The dems and their candidate felt the earth shift under their feet. Peggy Noonan puts some perspective on the whole howling week, and seems to be seeing it much as I do, and better, she takes it in directions I would not have found, but they feel right. A two non consecutive paragraph snip:

Democrats, hit reset. Accept the fact that the race has changed utterly, that you're up against a ticket that has captured the public imagination. Now you must go out and recapture it.

This race is not over. Everyone I know thinks it is, but I don't buy it. Mr. Obama just suffered a catastrophe, his first. Mr. McCain just enjoyed a triumph, maybe not his last. GOP strategists are experiencing premature triumphalism; they're puffing up like blowfish, emitting great bubbles of self-regard. Democrats, be encouraged by this! They make mistakes when they're winning. They always start to think they're the reason.

Fitting here is the clip from Proverbs 5, still reminding against the peril of adultery.

Proverbs 5:11-14

At the end of your life you will groan,
when your flesh and body are spent.

You will say, "How I hated discipline!
How my heart spurned correction!

I would not obey my teachers
or turn my ear to my instructors.

And I was soon in serious trouble
in the assembly of God's people."

Marianne informs me that she is terribly nervous about Sarah Palin's conservative Christian roots. That really doesn't worry me. Christianity comes in a great many flavors, appealing to people at different places on their spiritual journey. But the way to keep on the road is to stay in a church. As a nearly wholly committed atheist, Marianne finds the Pentecostal background too offputting. Our national press organs reflect the same feeling. But I suspect there are still a lot of good Christian people who are not afraid of a good woman of faith. The ground shifted in the presidential race. It just got a lot more interesting. The lunatic fringe is very entertaining!

Now for a picture, from the end of July, the miracle Bible School at First Presbyterian. If you recall the story of our church with no children, no youth, we ended up with a bible school for twelve children. They were welcomed by the puppets, and most were totally enchanted from start to finish. It was a magical undertaking. But I think God loves a good fairy tale. That VBS was a small local fairy tale!



On the personal front, the week past was the longest stretch of work in this semester. My days are much fuller with the teaching, but goodness sakes, the class at the High School was just what the doctor ordered. The teacher of the higher level math classes at Pearl River High School is a retired PhD. Engineer, a tiny wiry guy, who went into financial advising after retiring. Post Katrina, no one was wanting to invest, so he took the job at Pearl River High, with no education experience. They thus have a teacher who knows where math is actually used, and what it's for that they're learning this field. With me teaching this section two or three days a week, he gets to see a more experienced teacher in action, and he may not feel like it's a great experience for him, but he does know it's a bit of time he can actually catch up on paper work. This last week during the evacuation for Gustav he came down with a monster cold, and is sick as a dog, but still hanging in, teaching. So today he was reasonably glad to see me coming!

Quilting this weekend. Katie sent me a bunch of fabrics from her stash, and I'll have to get her a thank you note out... and at bridge the Mosses loaned me a book, The History of the World in Six Glasses. It appears to be a winner! Life is good, life is very good. I even got one of those instructional lessons like the Proverbs refers to, not relating to adultery, but still an important one. I will be working to put it in action in my daily days.

What was the highlight of your week? Good news? Memories of 7 years ago?

Another Aunt Nita

What power, what mysterious connection does Nita have to the cosmos at large? I'm just wondering, because I seem to recall some truly odd stories. She can correct me if she sees this, and I'll send her a link so she does.

Nita bought her "fancy sewing machine" sometime after her husband died. "He would never have brooked so much money on equipment for a hobby," she told her sisters. Nita never did anything by halves and she learned to use all the fancy geegaws on that machine. Next thing we knew she was sewing a fancy gown for a baby, sort of like a baptismal gown, but not so fancy. It was a burial dress for a still born or for a baby that didn't survive the stay in the neo natal intensive care. It was through some volunteer program, and she made her first gown. The tragedy in that story was that she only made one gown for the program and it was her grandchild that was buried in it. How did she know to get moving ahead to be ready?

Another program Nita voluteered for was playing her autoharp and leading singing at the local rehabilitation home. When they needed a contestant at the last minute at an autoharp contest, Nita was ready. She competed, fully expecting to come in dead last, but they had enough entries to hold the contest.

At some point she got involved in hospice, and helping families dealing with family members who were terminally ill. The training served her well when her husband was diagnosed with prostrate cancer.

All of this would just be coincidence, but she also tells of driving home as her mother died, trying to get home in time to say goodbye, and feeling her mother pass her as a shade or a shadow as she drove down the road. She knew at that point that she'd no need to hurry, and that her mother had already said goodbye. I don't think she has particularly worked for this "gift" or tried to develop it. But the woman has an sense, some power most of us do not.

Bits and Pieces

A quip from the comments in BuzzMachine

Someone needs to take away the Government’s right to employ the terminology of economics when they clearly have never understood it.

And finally an explanation for the Palin explosion. The Spectator:

For months, conservatives have mocked the celebrity appeal of Barack Obama, but now they are flocking to Palin in a similar manner. Just as liberals swooned for Obama because his biography appealed to their cultural sensibilities, conservatives instinctively identify with Palin, because, as Cindy McCain put it, she is a "reform-minded, hockey-mommin', basketball shootin', moose huntin', fly-fishin', pistol-packing, mother of five."

Lileks cuts through an article by a Canuck on the Palin Phenom. Not recomended for those with Democratic leanings.

The photo of the day is.... problematic! My own rules, and I can break them but I don't On picture in 10 goes in the blog. The choices today were birds out of focus and about 4 shots of the early morning light on my street. I like low light photography, I pulled out the tripod and then because there was intermittent lighting behind the houses I took a LOT of attemps to get some of the fireworks. No go. But the tripod is needed for these low light shots. My attempts to skip it are pathetic.

Mixed Bag. Tuesday

1955

My cousin Diana, the dark headed of the older two girls, requested some memories of her mother for the celebration of Nita's 80th birthday last July. I just pulled out the photo albums and cruised around till I found something and took a photo to go in the memories. Then I emailed a photo of the photo. Pretty slick, eh?

This was taken at Granny and G'pa Swift's farm, I think about the time Nita's husband George was coming home from serving in the army in Korea. Nita's sure dressed up for a chigger infested hot day in the yard! Shirley holding cousin Kelly (now a grandfather himself) is dressed for the day and time. I'm the chubbette of the very blonde hair, the oldest grandchild. I think at that point that may have been all the cousins of that generation. Now there are 3, 2, 4, 2, 5... at least 16 cousins in my generation. My parent's generation did their part in the "be fruitful and multiply" thing.

Proverbs 5: 6 - 10

She has missed the path that leads to life and doesn't even know it.
My son, listen to me and do everything I say.
Stay away from a bad woman! Don't even go near the door of her house.
You will lose your self-respect and end up in debt to some cruel person for the rest of your life.
Strangers will get your money and everything else you have worked for.

Guess I'll let that stand on its own. It's done fine without my comments for all these thousands of years. Solomon wants to warn against the strange woman, but if I recall he was not prone to spending lonely nights.

I've been absolutely swamped with school duties, hosting a writer's group, and babysitting grands. There is no relief in sight, but I'll just try to do what needs doing for a while and not worry about my "ME" time. This is it.. blogging a whine.

Are you a news junkie? I tried this 10 point quiz. I got 6 right. See how you do. BillOreily's Quiz If you try it, let me know in the comments. Ten questions on current events. How tough can it be? Brag in the comments.

Quieter day tomorrow. Maybe I'll actually do some quilting? Robert and Ann's is just short the label. I stitched on the one for the guild's show in October on Monday. Round Robin has a plan, but the execution is languishing.

Migrated, yet again

Passwords, passwords! The bane of my existence. Meanwhile I'll post what I put together yesterday here and on the server space I rent.

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Proverbs 5

The Peril of Adultery


My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
Lend your ear to my understanding,
That you may preserve discretion,
And your lips may keep knowledge.
For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey,
And her mouth is smoother than oil;
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
Sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death,
Her steps lay hold of hell. (or Sheol)



Just a quick comment on the Proverb. I read recently a commentary on the ten commandments, and the notes on adultery were not so much on the straightforward sinful act of taking a man or woman, not your mate, but on adulterating your "Chief End." In Proverbs 4, the Chief End of man would be to seek Wisdom. So in Proverb 5, in addition to the direct meaning, there is an undertone of not adulterating the search for Wisdom and her sister; Truth, Justice and Beauty.

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Sometimes as I cruise the internet, I see things that excite me and I want to share them. Today I found a couple essays that have taken me several hours and phone calls to read through. They excite me so that I cannot sit still but must walk about a bit and let the ideas slip slowly into my consciousness, savoring every morsel as they go.

The first is an Essay that appeared in The Atlantic in the 1930's. Albert Nock, the author is long gone, but the essay, Isaiah's Job thankfully lives on. It's not a particularly hopeful essay, it looks to the seed that rebuild a civilization after it has fallen. Yet I found it wonderfully hopeful.

In the year of Uzziah's death, the Lord commissioned the prophet to go out and warn the people of the wrath to come. "Tell them what a worthless lot they are." He said, "Tell them what is wrong, and why and what is going to happen unless they have a change of heart and straighten up. Don't mince matters. Make it clear that they are positively down to their last chance. Give it to them good and strong and keep on giving it to them. I suppose perhaps I ought to tell you," He added, "that it won't do any good. The official class and their intelligentsia will turn up their noses at you and the masses will not even listen. They will all keep on in their own ways until they carry everything down to destruction, and you will probably be lucky if you get out with your life."

Isaiah had been very willing to take on the job – in fact, he had asked for it – but the prospect put a new face on the situation. It raised the obvious question: Why, if all that were so – if the enterprise were to be a failure from the start – was there any sense in starting it? "Ah," the Lord said, "you do not get the point. There is a Remnant there that you know nothing about. They are obscure, unorganized, inarticulate, each one rubbing along as best he can. They need to be encouraged and braced up because when everything has gone completely to the dogs, they are the ones who will come back and build up a new society; and meanwhile, your preaching will reassure them and keep them hanging on. Your job is to take care of the Remnant, so be off now and set about it."

This is toward the end of the first of four sections, and the essay is a discussion of the Remnant, a powerful concept. I found the essay however by following a link in another essay. From Bill Whittle who is an amateur writer who has made it to the house of Buckley now, an essay that just makes me glad to be alive in this day and time. You Are Not Alone (Part 1). He begins,

"Folks, you are about to be hit with a BIG IDEA.

It’s not entirely my big idea, but I’m willing to hang some tinsel on it and take credit for it."

A photo of the day... birds... trying always trying to get a decent bird shot.


And a quick video for a grin... JibJab do it again.