Dog Days

After a full week of temperatures in the 90s and above, I can only say I wouldn't wish these days on any dog, anywhere, any time.  Who can continue to deny the possibility of global warming? Oh, right.  The North Carolina legislature; they have chosen to ignore warnings of higher sea levels in coastal planning regulations.  On the other hand, anyone who builds a home on shifting sand should expect to encounter a problem or two.  And those folks shouldn't depend on the legislature to protect them from their own short-sightedness.  Nor should they rely on FEMA to bail them out when the inevitable occurs.

I am reminded of a friend who retired from the ministry 20 years ago and built his home on two lots of sand:-)  He and his wife eventually tired of evacuating before the yearly hurricanes and moved inland.

All of these rumination add to my continuing amazement at our human ability to perform mental gyrations that allow us to see the world we wish to see.  Is that a strength or a weakness?

So Many Changes - Again

Today is Fred's last day at Community in Christ, Presbyterian.  The congregation put on a wonderful celebration of his ministry last Sunday which included our whole family, a multi-media presentation, fellowship time, and some of the best food I've ever eaten.  It was marvelous.

Today is also the first day in 2012 that the temperatures climbed above 100 degrees.  So rather than cooking a celebratory meal I bought some cool salads from Fresh Market and chilled the champagne.  I am grateful for so many gifts today: our lives together, the friends who celebrated Fred's ministry with us, and yet another new beginning as we go on to the next chapter.


                                                     

Summer Solstice

Summer is here with temperatures in the 90's, thunderstorms that pop up spontaneously, and humidity that makes one gasp.  But the early mornings make up for this discomfort with shell-pink sunrises that paint the horizon in water color hues and the chorus of birdsong that welcomes each day.  On these mornings I love to putter in the yard after my walk.  Trimming, dead-heading, watering - all these tasks feed my soul.  And so does breakfast on the deck after Fred returns from his run.  Sometimes we share the news in the paper, sometimes we discuss an issue, sometimes we collaborate to finish a crossword puzzle.  And sometimes we just sit in companionable silence and look at the beauty of our yard.

Rainy Days and Mondays

Saturday I went and bought us a new sprinkler for the yard.  Since we use our well for outside watering, I made sure to get a model that could accommodate low water pressure and still cover a lot of ground.  The adjective that might best describe my use of this new toy is "enthusiastic."  Our little corner of the world has been thoroughly dampened this weekend.

So of course we woke up to cloudy skies and a 70% chance of rain.  It figures:-)

Playing Hooky

I usually go to a class on Saturday mornings - a class in basic drawing skills.  And I've enjoyed it!  But today I am playing hooky.  Why?

I looked out the window and saw a day freshened and cooled by yesterday's storms.  It's brand new.  It's clear.  It's calling me.  So, I will pass up the basement studio and go out into the green and blue of a beautiful North Carolina morning.  And I'll do it feeling grateful to have the choice.

Remembrance

Memorial Day:

On the front page of today's Greensboro News and Record were photographs of the young men and women from this area who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq, and I came face to face with Jake Carroll.  Jake was a sophomore when I taught him at Trinity High School, not the most graceful stage of life for kids.  The name itself means "wise fool," a description that fits most of us at 15.  We know it all; older people are stupid; we'll live forever.

Most of us live long enough to gain some of the wisdom we thought we had, long enough to know what we don't know.  But Jake did not.  His 20-year-old face looked out at me this morning, and I was struck again by how very sad war is.

And yet I'm also grateful for the service of those who choose to defend our country from enemies.  I think of my father and my father-in-law, both of whom served during World War II.  Had they not defended us and others, we would be living in a very different world today.

So it is with mixed feelings that I say thank you to those who have served and that I remember in prayer those who did not come back - and those to whom they did not return.

Intrinsic Beauty

My recent exploration of the hammered dulcimer has been a treasure trove of insight.  Some insights are mechanical - how the tuning arrangement of the strings allows me to play rather easily in three different major keys just by moving up or down the courses, that the chords all fall into one of two patterns and so are easily added to melody, how to hold the hammers so they don't "wander" off to the left or right.

Some insights are more cosmic in nature.  This instrument makes beautiful sounds for whomever plays it.  It matters not whether you are a beginner or a master.  The tone is just lovely (even, as observed before, when the notes are wrong).  This characteristic of the dulcimer appears as a parallel to the characters of people.  Those with beautiful personalities - the altruists, the care-givers, the listeners, the empaths - are lovely even when they make errors.  In contrasts, those who are self-centered and uncaring can act correctly (i.e. play the correct notes) but their "music" doesn't ring true.

I wonder what would happen if we all worked more on our "tone" and less on the "notes."