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.