Poetry

In a conversation the other day with Rachel, I told her that Gran Mitchells favorite poet was Walt Whitman and she was shocked because she had just read a very lengthy poem for her lit class by that self same author. She said it seemed a bit risque for my Grandmother to be reading. Gran was a renaissance woman and just loved good literature and poetry. Then I began looking at his works and trying to see what it was she would have loved. My, he wrote over 300 poems and many of them would suit her. Besides the obvious "O Captain, My Captain"
there is one Joey would like, called "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" and one I always enjoyed, "I Hear America Singing" and then of course his "Leaves of Grass" poems.
That set me looking for some of her other 'favorites' which included James Whitcomb Riley. I have her set of his works but I will say I seldom ever opened any but volume 5. That holds "Lil Orphan Annie", "The Raggedy Man" and others of his dialectical poems, that I grew up reading and reciting. Then I realized he wrote a whole host of other things using proper grammer and english words.
Then there is Ralph Waldo Emerson, Longfellow, and the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne who wrote "House of Seven Gables" and "The Scarlet Letter".
She also admired John Greenleaf Whittier, probably more for his abolitionist stance than for his works, but she read him, too.
Perhaps there is a literature gene at work in this family.
Anyway, I will be interested in the progress of the lit class Rachel is taking and seeing where it takes them. Gran would be smiling to know Rachel thought the poem a bit much for a woman of that time. And she would be pleased to know that the current generation enjoys some of the same literature she enjoyed. It sort of makes a connection spanning the years.
Yes, Gran was a learned woman and enjoyed learning throughout her life. Maybe that is an inherited gene, too.

Eight is TOO many

Why anyone would want to implant 8 eggs and run the risk of them all taking hold is more than I can imagine. Especially when they already had a houseful of children. That's what happens when you mess with Mother Nature. I am all for science and medicine and helping people have babies, but come on. 14 kids and your Dad has to go back to Iraq to help support them. Get a grip girls, babies are nice, but not that nice.
Some Dr needs to lose a license.
I wish the babies well and hope they are healthy and happy children and grow up to be wonderful people. I also wish the mother well. But the medical community needs to get in touch with ethical behaviour. I know the Drs say they shouldn't play god and baby police, but isn't that what they did?

Sunshine

It can quickly go from gloom to sun. Yesterday, snow, sleet and gray skies. Today, sun, sun, sun. I don't know how quick the melt will come because it is really cold, but it is beautiful with the sun glistening off the sneet. It is probably slicker and more dangerous today as the ice melts under the sun and then freezes in the cold air. But people think it is ok to be out and around. Probably lots of broken bones and wrecks today. Still, it is pretty to look at and makes one happy. Funny how a little sunshine in your life makes such a difference. But that is how it works. God's sun or the sunshine of a smile or a kindness...either kind of sunshine can make someones day brighter. So go be a little ray of sunshine. Or a ray of sonshine. Both are good.

Sneet

I woke up early this morning to the rat-a-tat-tatting on my window and knew we would be in trouble when the sun rose. Sure enough, we had piles of sneet. Oklahoma version of snow and sleet. We had freezing rain late yesterday so were expecting some more of that. But, my goodness...sneet can really freeze up a car..windows, doors...not just frozen shut but in a deep layer of stuff.
Doug took us to work and I dealt with the 3 customers that came in and the one on the phone and looked up after lunch to see it coming down pretty thick. I thought it was supposed to end this morning, but I think it just started. So....I left a sign on the door and a message on the phone and had Doug come pick us up and a good thing, because it was getting slick and deep.
Now I am home enjoying surfing the internet and reading and whatever. No...no laundry..no cleaning..none of that stuff. A snow day is supposed to be fun and since it doesn't seem reasonable to risk my bones playing in the snow, I can enjoy it from inside.

Toes and things

Friday I was taking some shirts from the display counter for a customer and when I slid the door open, it fell off and dropped straight down onto my foot. Well, toes actually. It landed square across my toes and I jumped around and danced a bit and whimpered some. I have had several broken toes in my life, so I pretty much know what to expect. The first thing is that Doctors laugh at you and tell you it will hurt for awhile and pat you on the head. So, don't bother them. By Sunday morning I knew which one was in peril..my next to little toe was black and the middle one was purple. But, since it was the next to little one, I can walk pretty good. However, yesterday as I was teaching Sunday School, I was standing up and when I shifted my weight (or changed leads) I sort of rose up on my toes and that set off a chain of whimpers and gasps. At least it garnered me some sympathy and gave me a couple of minutes to think about the particularly dicey question that had arisen. So where am I going with this ridiculous story? It makes me know that God uses everything in our life. Without that broken toe, I would surely have given a stupid answer to a difficult question. As it was, I had time to reflect and provide a more reasonable "I am not sure, let's talk about it" answer. And, we came up with what we think is the right answer.
So, I guess I should be thankful for my broken toe, but I am sure that He could have thought of another way to shut my mouth! Ah, the theologians will say, it is making use of the tools at hand.
I really must get to work and quit this babbling.

The World Is A Changin'

It seems when things become different around us, we become quite defensive and self absorbed. It takes a long time for us to adhere to the changes and we can be very resistant people. BUT, change is all around us.
Business changes every day and those who don't watch for those changes can be turned upside down before they know it. I have a hard time watching for those changes and sometimes I miss them and have to hurry to catch up.
Technology, which is difficult for old people, is so important. If we don't take advantage of it, we are writing ourselves out of the modern world. I wonder how prolific Shakespeare would have been if he had the advantage of a computer instead of a quill pen?
Religion is an area where it is really hard to execute change. We just like our old time religion and don't want it messed with. But, I think the children in the wilderness and the apostles, ages later, swam in a sea of change and went with it.
Politics we really don't like changing that. Once a democrat always a democrat or vice-versa. It is difficult to change perspectives on that part of our lives. But, we don't always have to make a dramatic switch in thinking, sometimes it is just a modification of a single thought that can bring us into the world as it is today.
Anyway, the world, she is a changin' and if we don't change with it, we will be doomed to the rubbish heap of mediocrity.

A New Beginning

Well, it is done. A new day has dawned and perhaps we are on the precipice of a new age of gentleness and kindness and understanding and grace. I hope people will give the new Pres a chance and wish him well. It is our country that will suffer if he fails. It is up to us to do our part and help him get us out of the mess we find ourselves in.
They are a beautiful family and I hope and pray they will have a happy life in DC.
We have become a nation of greedy impatient people looking for our own happiness and desires instead of the welfare of the world. Perhaps he will inspire us to turn around and think of others first. I pray God's grace on him and this nation.

New Start

It is always exciting to begin a new presidency. This one is exciting for several reasons and I look forward to Tuesday and the activities that come with it. I love the scene in DC during the event and the parties and fol de rol that accompany it all. It will be fun having two young girls in the White House again. Can't wait to see their dog!! It is a new beginning and I only pray that this man will be able to bring hope to the people and let them have a chance to make life better for us all, again. It will be a big challenge and those who lived through the depression in the '30s know that we must not go down that road again. Everyone must learn not to want everything right now. We have become a nation of stuff. People just have stuff...stuff they don't need, can't afford and don't even want. It is just natural to go out and get stuff. Must break that addiction for the country and find ways to bring pride in work, pride in family and pride in self back into the population. Self esteem is great, but national esteem is what will get us back on track, when we are more concerned with our country and our fellowman than with ourself.
Did not mean to sermonize, but am excited to see if he can pull it off. My prayers are with him as are my hopes.

Penney to the Well

J. C. Penney was an institution on Main Street until the early 2000's when the store was closed. As it sat across the street from our store, it was sad to see it sitting empty, a third of a block of Main Street sitting empty and lonely. We missed it a lot, shopping there as well as a partner in merchandising. After awhile, you get used to the void, but sometimes when you take a good look, it would be a reminder and you would be sad.
Now, it has a new life. The Christian Church (across the alley from it) bought the entire building and the members did a lot of work on it as they had funds. It opened this past fall and they continue to work and provide more programs. They began by having a contemporary service there every Sunday and had an evening event for all ages. Then they had friday night dances which harkens back to the last century. Then they began to prepare for Christmas and they did some special things. Now they are having free lunches each thursday for anyone who wants to eat. "Young or old, rich or poor, all are welcome" the sign reads and now I can see a TV in the front window that must measure a zillion inches. There are seats in front of it, but you can see it from the street. I know they will use it for study groups and classes as well as showing movies, but I am sure they will just have it on for special events. So, maybe I will get to see the inaugration after all from my own desk!!
They call the place "THE WELL" and good luck to them. I hope they have a special ministry that will reach all people. They have a vision of a coffee shop, ice cream parlor, hang out for old and young.

Amy said that the memories about her gerbils reminded her of another growing up time in her life. She had a hamster that she just loved and he became sick. Now, Dr Randle lived across the street and was a dear friend and he tried to treat it for her. Finally the hamster (I don't remember his name) got so sick that his heart stopped and she ran across the street with him and Dr Randle said to her, "Amy, if I give him CPR and try to restart his life, he may not live or he may live and have someting wrong with him. Now, it is your decision. Do you understand your choices?"(That mey not be his exact words or even the exact situation, but it was life and death). I wanted to smack him...how dare he put that decision on her shoulders! But then he gently told her she only had a few seconds to decide and she finally told him to let the hamster die. Wow!! We had a little funeral. That was a big deal for a kid and she grieved and lived over it. But it was a big lesson for her.
As she said, "I'm amazed I passed my psych exam for the Presbytery." I guess we are resiliant people.

Eating our Young

Melody is getting an aquarium and we were talking about tropical fish eating their new born. It reminded me of the time Amy had a bunch of gerbils. I heard a blood curdling scream and ran to find Amy throwing her arms around and crying 'he's eating it'. When I looked, there was the male gerbil with a baby hanging half out of his mouth, kicking his feet and you could hear little screams. When we counted, it seems he had eaten 3 or 4 already. I guess he had his fill. Anyway, that was pretty much the end of gerbil production. I think we tried taking the babies out of the cage but we couldn't keep them alive.
I suppose we all eat our young in different ways. Humans do it emotionally most of the time, but the young seem to survive it and grow up to do it to their young. I suppose that is why we are humans and not gods. We are not perfect and just do the best we can. Anyway, it prepares them for the world and maybe the more we chew them up the tougher they are when they face the real world. Well, probably not. I will leave that to the psychology major to discourse.
Anyway, I know it was traumatic for her. I suppose she had nightmares that her Dad and I would go eat her!!!
I am so glad she passed her psychological review for seminary.

Green Stamps

I am sitting here looking at my reward points with Amex. I am getting ready to buy a plane ticket with them and it reminded me of Green Stamps.
When we were married, they were the big thing. You didn't buy from a place that didn't offer them. Filling stations, grocery stores, some department stores..they all gave them. We used to have stamps flowing from every storage place and then once every six months or so we would take the weekend and paste them in a book. (Yes, all my organized friends put them in the book before they put the groceries away.)
After awhile, stores started giving their own stamps and the grocery store was my favorite, because you could turn in a book of stamps and get $2.50 off on your groceries. Sometimes I would have enough 'red' stamps to pay for my groceries for the week. That was a good thing.
Then the filling stations began giving glasses instead of stamps and you could collect sets of glasses and pitchers to match. Today, you can sell those sets for a lot of money. I never collected them.
Finally, in the late '70s I think it was, trading stamps began to fade away. I aquired lots of stuff with those stamps and it was fun to look through the book and see what you could get and how many books you had to save to buy that special thing you wanted for your house.
Now, we get points for using credit cards and buying airline tickets. But I have a devil of a time using them. It seems I am always on the wrong day, or wrong flight, or going the wrong place. I am going to work really hard to make sure I use these points for my trip. Even if I have to go to Nome, Alaska in the middle of the night to get to Florida!!

Never Too Old

I am enjoying reading John Calvin's 'Institutes". I would never have tried reading the two volume edition from 1559 if Princeton had not been generious enough to make a web site so that it may be read in a year. A small daily dose is not too much, but enough to stretch my mind. And then they kindly provide a reader, so you don't even have to read unless you want. And the professors who write the weekly synopsis are brilliant in their ability to make it even more understandable.
What a treat, to be able to go back to the beginning of Protestantism and see how the theology was developed. Anyway, I am enjoying it and am glad that I still have enough sense to follow it. People give up on themselves too early in life and I will continue to try to learn new stuff every day. For now, Calvin will keep me going for the year. Gran Mitchell always said you had to keep learning and she certainly did that. She was a great believer in education. She was a smart and learned lady.

Pity Party

While I am sitting here frustrated at my embroidery machine, I remember that I agreed to tamp down my frustrations. That was with people, not machines. Now it seems I must add machines to the resolution. Behind almost every machine malfunction, there is a human malfunction. And it is usually me. Being frustrated with me is non-productive.
I remember when we were first married, I could not understand why Bill would get so angry with 'things'. He never got angry with people, just things and machines. He would kick and cuss at them as if they cared. Still that is better than kicking and cussing at people. As he 'matured', he did the smart thing....he never let himself get in a position where machines could get the best of him. He just resigned his relationship with them. Now he walks away from them and lets someone else deal with them.
Today, I would like to walk away from this embroidery machine, but unfortunately, there is no one around to deal with it but me. Ah, poor me. Now I feel better. Strange how a one man pity party can make you feel better. Now, if I had a few friends join me, I am sure I would feel much better. So everyone just say "Ah, poor Rosie" and I will be able to continue the day!

Meetings

I am off to a Committee on Ministry meeting for the Presbytery later today in OKC and I am going to have Doug drive for me. I went to the opthamalogist yesterday because I just am not seeing up to my expectations and I was a bit concerned that it was turning bad. As it turns out, it is worse than it was in Oct, but it is still in the dry stage which means I am not going blind in the next few weeks. That is a very good thing to know and I am grateful for that and for the information I managed to glean from him. Seems Drs just tell you what THEY think you need to know and forget that some of us NEED to know more. So now that I know that it can get worse and stay in the dry stage (I think of that as the safe zone), I won't get so panicky when it gets worse and I have more difficulty doing the things I want to do (like close up, intricate work..reading in low light..overusing my eyes). I guess it is 'just learn to deal, lucille'.
Doug will take me, not because I can't drive, but after that light they use to take the picture of the back of the eye effectively blinds me for a couple of days and I don't think I am a safe driver until the effect goes away. He is a good guy to go and just sit and wait and not complain until I am finished. He takes Dad for his meeting in OKC, so he is good for that.
I know I am not a really good driver now because I can't focus both eyes quickly as well as I used to be able to do that. Around town is ok because there is not all that traffic from so many directions. But I suspect city driving should be out.
Well, enough whining. Just update. Eyes worse, spirit better. Good thing is they may get to a stage and stay that way for a long time. Or not. Anyway, eye vitamins with zinc are supposed to be useful and I do take them each day.

Take a Deep Breath

This year I have decided that I must not let other people frustrate or disappoint me. I can control that, even if I can't control them. So far, we are on day 5 and I have only been frustrated twice and disappointed once. Doesn't sound like I am going to have a successful year. But, I haven't given up, I will just treat tomorrow like Jan 1 and start over.
I finally figured out that frustration begins with my need for folks to act the way I want them to act. Disappointment comes from people not behaving the way I want them to behave. What is the common denominator here? I want...that makes it all about me, doesn't it? Well, the world is not all about me, so I better get that idea out of my head and move on. Tomorrow is the first day of my new year and I vow to do better in the remaining 360 days.

FOG

Mercy, it was so foggy this morning when I came to work, I almost got lost. At 6:30 it seemed just fine and then in a flash it turned to thick gray soup. Reminds me of life. One minute clear and sunny and the next you find yourself in a fog hoping you remember the way. Tim would make this a good sermon and he is right, there is a way and hopefully I won't let myself get lost.
Since the way to survive the drive in a fog is to be careful, extra watchful, lights on, seatbelt tight, slower going, concentrating and not stopping in the middle of the road...I guess that is the way to life when it gets foggy. The good news is that we always come out of the fog into the sunlight if we persevere. Hopefully, the country will take my fantastic advice and keep on going, watchful and deliberate and with purpose. Here's to a good year to me, to you, to our country.
Hopefully First Presbyterian Church, Duncan, Ok will end the year in the sun with the fog at our backs.

New Years Resolution

Happy New Year! I am making a resolution for the year. I will not eat licorice!
That doesn't sound too hard. Except it is. A few years ago I discovered that eating licorice will raise my blood pressure.....a lot. So I don't eat it. But I guess I never mentioned it because Santa had help from a couple of my children and I found 2 kinds of licorice in my stocking. I let it sit there fore several days and finally said, "surely I can eat a little bit." Then I had to confess to Doug that I shouldn't eat it at all. It sat there and every day I would eat just a tiny bit. Came home tonight and found it all gone. Seems someone figured out that I am not to be trusted. I guess we all have our demons and mine just happens to be licorice.
I should have known that from when I was in the 3rd or 4th grade. Mother always left a nickle on the clock in case I needed to take the bus to the shop after school. Well, one day, I went home for lunch and as I left I picked up that nickle and went to Gamills store across from the school. In the back, they sold candy and they had so much good licorice. Mother loved licorice too, and we used to go there sometimes and get a few pieces. She loved licorice whips and you have no idea how many licorice whips you can buy for a nickle. I ate them on the way home from school. I have no idea how Miss Ellis (teacher) did not know I had them, because that red headed mean woman knew everything. Anyway, there were too many for me to eat...but if I took them home, someone would find them and I was at least too frugal to throw them away. So I ate them....and got so sick. Of course, Mother wanted to know about the nickle and it didn't take her long to figure it out when I got sick. I remember being in a lot of trouble over that. I never stole money again. But it didn't cure me of licorice. So I still need a keeper when it comes to that and it's a good think that Doug is here to make me behave.
But I promise to do better this year.