Daisy

This political commercial only ran once during the 1964 presidential election. Those of you old enough to remember, probably remember this ad as "Daisy", or the "Little Peace Girl".

I was surprised by the simplicity and the poignancy of this campaign ad. It borders on brilliant, if the truth be told.

In fact, "Daisy" kinda makes all of our modern day political ads pale in comparison....which just goes to show how far we've fallen.

If you'd like to learn more about political campaign ads, click HERE, and HERE. There's a lot of interesting history/information at both websites.

Benevolence

I recently received a letter from our church regarding the benevolent fund.

Apparently, church leadership has determined that they can no longer continue to meet the crisis need that exists in the very neighborhood where the church itself resides. "Need is up.", says the letter. "Our staff can't handle the numbers requesting aid." And finally, the coup de grace, "We don't see enough people coming to Christ to merit our continued financial investment."

The church's solution is for staff to refer requests for aid to existing social service agencies. Concomitantly, the church will increase the amount of money it contributes to those social service partners....partners like the Salvation Army, for instance.

Needless to say, I was very disappointed by the letter I received. So, I wrote a response for church leadership. I sat on that e-mail for 48 hours and then I mailed said response to our Governing Board, Head Pastor and the two church staffers responsible for writing the "Benevolent Fund" letter. I also sent the e-mail to two other key individuals. One is a neighbor, church member, and strong advocate for living Christ's love out loud; and the other, is a close friend, upon whom I often rely to help me clarify my own thoughts and positions.

I doubt that I will hear back from leadership....at least not directly. Somehow, the e-mail is making the rounds though. I had proof of that in a brief exchange at our neighborhood Safeway, where I ran into a fellow church-goer who made a snarky comment about my e-mail. It would seem based upon that brief encounter, that my status among the church going faithful has been elevated from "malcontent" to "malevolence incarnate".

...and now, I feel dirty, like I did something wrong; which is absolutely ridiculous because in truth, my only misstep, if any, might have been sharing the letter with the neighborhood advocate.

I guess that old saying about dishing out the shit is really true, because I put a little of my poo out there and a whole boat load is heading back my direction.

And you know what I'm going to do?

DUCK!

Slick

What if worship was like an NBA game.....c'mon, we've all been there, haven't we?

Yeah well, I thought this YouTube video was hilarious!

Watch it and see if you don't agree.

Izzy

Introducing Izzy D. Cat

Little Izzy D. Cat is seven weeks old. She was born in a chicken coop on a local farm.

We welcomed sweet Izzy to our family last Thursday.

She's as cute as a bug's ear and leaves a trail of laughter wherever she goes. I'm telling you, Izzy is non-stop entertainment.

We haven't watched t.v. since Izzy's arrival.

And why should we?

Izzy is our very own kitten reality television show....without the television of course!

Izzy

Is she cute, or what?

Blessing

b-day card and beaded gift from Annie

Yesterday, my friend Annie came to town for a birthday visit.

We had coffee and then we walked to the Saturday Market for a little bit of exercise, sunshine and fun.

It was a lovely morning.

I am so fortunate to have friends like Annie who drive miles and miles just to deliver a few hours birthday cheer.

I think this was one of my best birthdays ever!

Friends called, friends stopped by, and yet another friend treated me to a rare and much appreciated fine dining experience.

My family made cards, and posters and decorated the house with birthday banners. I received sweets and treats and love galore!

Like the little beaded angel below says, "I am blessed."

bead embroided angel~

Lessons

Today I celebrate 46 years of life.

Happy Birthday to me.

In honor of this auspicious day, I have decided to share some of the more important lessons I've learned over the years.

1) Things, by their very nature are designed to be used; people, on the other hand, are not. Love and honor all people.

2) All to often, I overvalue what I am not and I undervalue who I truly am. I am a beloved child of God, wholly forgiven, wholly loved. All of my anxiety, my ego, my self-righteousness...those are the pieces of my shadow self that I often empower at great expense to my true self. Learn from my mistake....embrace God's well spring of compassionate love and live a life of love.

3) Going to church every Sunday morning doesn't make someone a Christian, any more than my stepping into a garage makes me a mechanic.

4) Sometimes silence is the best answer.

5) A person never loses by loving, but they will always lose by holding back.

6) The way of truth is always preferable to the way of deceit and dishonesty. In the long run, truth will win out anyway. Don't waste time lieing to yourself, or to others.

7) Jamaican Ska is amazing. Just hearing those wonky rhythms causes my soul rise up and twirl about on tippy toes!

8) All of the best things in life, are not things at all.

Blah, blah, blah....

I think I will end there. I could go on, but what's the point? Most of you've either heard or discovered these things already.

So, instead of pretending I'm deeper and smarter than I really am, I'm going to go inside and have a piece of chocolate pie for breakfast. Before I go, I'll leave you with just one more lesson I've learned....

9) Costco's chocolate pie is sinfully delicious and it is perfectly acceptable as a breakfast food on one's 46th birthday.

Nudibranchs

Photograph by David Doubilet

These are toxic nudibranchs. (Soft, seagoing slugs which are kith and kin of the common snail.)

Aren't they absolutely lovely?

Trunk Show

lampwork frog bead

I found the cutest strand of lampwork frog beads at a trunk show yesterday.

I also found the coolest iridescent beads pictured below. (I think they are shell?)

I just couldn't resist buying them.

froggie + beads=one damn fine bracelet

I'm planning on making a bracelet using Stephanie Sersich's knotted bracelet technique.

I already have a name for my bracelet too.

It's going to be called, "Frog Kissing".

Get it?

Frogs? Kissing? Prince Charming? Beads? Bracelet?

I'm talking about one super-fine, groovy, frog kissing bracelet everybody!

Aren't you just green with envy?

Contention

Graduation~2008

Oldest Daughter has been trying my patience.

She doesn't want to get a summer job. She doesn't want to contribute by helping around the house.

Instead, Oldest Daughter wants to sleep late, and socialize, and spend her parents' hard earned money.

And me? Well, I have a problem with that.

As a result, Oldest Daughter and I are at odds. We aren't fighting exactly, but an uncertain kind of wariness has wedged itself between us.

...and this makes me feel so sad, because this should be our summer of celebration, not contention.

The only good thing that I can see coming out of all of this exasperation, is that if things keep going as they are, I shall be relieved to see Oldest Daughter leave for college this coming Fall.

Please pray for us if you are the praying sort.

Without some sort of divine intervention, goodness only knows how we shall make through this summer.

F.Y.I.

Did you know that Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into their refrigerators as they put into their cars?

The average American consumes 400 gallons of oil a year. 17% of that 400 gallons per person per year, is spent upon agriculture.

More than one quarter of all farming energy goes into synthetic fertilizers. Guess what's the main ingredient in all of that synthetic fertilizer? Yup, you guessed it. Oil.

But getting the crop from seed to harvest takes only one fifth of the total oil used for our food production. The rest is consumed by getting the food from the fields to our tables. Food transportation costs combined with processing, packaging, warehousing and refrigeration costs consume millions upon millions of barrels of oil each week.

If every US citizen ate just one meal per week comprised of locally and organically grown meat and produce we could reduce our country's oil consumption by 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.

Small changes can make a big difference.

(I found this and other great information in Barbara Kingsolver's book, "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." This book is amazing. I highly recommend it anyone interested in food or healthier eating!)

Graduation

Class of 2008

Oldest Daughter has officially completed 12 years of primary school education.

We are so very, very proud!

Class of 2008 Valedictorians