Words worthy
November 30, 2019
“We grow old and die in the same way we’ve lived our lives. That’s why this book is not about growing old gracefully—I’ve done more than my share of falling down, getting up, and falling down again. The falling down is due to missteps and gravity. The getting up is due to grace, mediated by people to whom I owe great debts of gratitude.”
Parker J.. Palmer, On the brink of everything; Grace, Gravity and Getting Old.
Words worthy
November 29, 2019
“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.”
(Job 12:7 & 8)
November 28, 2019
Thanksgiving # 4
… fireplace … cinnamon rolls … poems … cider … photos … creamed eggs … chatter about residencies … 1000-piece puzzle …Celtic Guitar … texts out and in … football games … stories … books … caring for neighbor’s dog … birthday gift wrap … dish washing … wine … Australia … graphic presentation … nap … Ireland … crossword puzzle … and more tomorrow
November 27, 2019
Thanksgiving # 3
I am deeply grateful for nine Eastern Mennonite University classmates (class of 1959) who have maintained contact and interactions. Several particulars.
— We each found lifelong partners.
— We engaged in alternate service (instead of military service) in Alaska, Alberta, Cuba, Elkhart (IN), Viet Nam, West Virginia and possibly more.
— We all entered into professional careers: education, medicine, surgery, authorship, administration and research.
— We alI, along with our spouses, lived into our 80s.
— We care enough for each other that we stay in contact with each other.
— And our children — more than 25 of them — are now or have been engaged in a wide array of vocations: working with autistic children, teaching in universities, consulting, business ownership, art, radiology, law, mechanical engineering, computer services and much more.
Oh, I pause to breathe thanks again for each of these.
November 26, 2019
Thanksgiving # 2
First, please see two photographs.
Dresden on February 12, 1945.
Dresden on February 16,
Estimates list 135,000 people killed in the bombing. (photos from Kurt Vonnegut Library in Indianapolis)
I am grateful today people around the world who donated supplies for Europeans who survived World War II. To this day I remember the tables in our church basement, stacked with food and supplies that would be sent to Europe by way of Mennonite Central Committee.
And I am grateful for the men and women, young and old, religious and non-religious, who volunteered for days, months and even years to bring relief to those sufferers.
November 25, 2019
Thanksgiving # 1
I am grateful for people who touch my life, yet I know that they are underpaid and under-appreciated.
cobblers … garbage collectors … night watchmen … restroom cleaners … fast food employees … window cleaners … home-makers … restaurant bussers … drivers for disabled individuals … cross-walk guides near schools … sidewalk and gutter cleaners … slaughter house line workers … farm hired hands … preschool teachers … nurses’ assistants … delivery truck drivers … cooks … small- congregation pastors … park and parking lot attendants … and many, many more.
November 24, 2019
The topic of today’s walk — trees and wood. Come along.
Within steps of our house is a gigantic oak, beautiful enough to evoke worship.
We are now on the golf course, three blocks from our house. That’s a grand hackberry tree.
Notice the pine cones, there beyond the tenth hole. Loitering around tree stumps — kind of nice.
The old dead trees still standing are the woodland’s elders.
I came across a pile of wood chips and wondered how they might be used.
And stopped by a product made of wood.
How long until the sycamore takes a swim?
Back home the Trifolia Maple holds on to about half its leaves through the winter months.
November 23, 2019
The day brightened, the temp rose. I stopped by to see Gary’s truck patch in Darlington.
In the autumn he sows a cover crop (such as rye) on each patch then covers it with a tarp. The rye sprouts, worms get active. In spring he’s got home-grown compost.
He continues to harvest an array of greens.
Tomorrow Gary will go to market in Lafayette.
November 22, 2019
It’s an icky mix outside but I hold close to me this beautiful autumn.
I am surrounded by beauty.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
I’m supposed to be getting high for Thanksgiving, but please let me complain today. I don’t do it often, I promise.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
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