For the month of November, I’m going to continue with my habit of posting things I am thankful for. Thankfulness is different from happiness, and I don’t want to conflate the two.
I’m so thankful for our little house that keeps me warm and dry. I’m also thankful for the maintenance people who keep everything in working order and for the grounds keepers who maintain the lawns and plantings. I LOVE Franke Tobey Jones.
I’m so thankful for our little house that keeps me warm and dry. I’m also thankful for the maintenance people who keep everything in working order and for the grounds keepers who maintain the lawns and plantings. I LOVE Franke Tobey Jones.
Today I’m thankful that I waked up to a beautiful sunrise. I’m even (especially) thankful that the clocks are turned back to “real” time. I prefer waking up to see the sunrise, rather than having the sun going to bed the same time I do. My personal circadian rhythms are much better suited to Standard Time, than to Daylight Savings Time.
Today I’m thankful that my beloved Oregon Ducks football team (and the whole PAC12) has finally started their season – with a win (35-14) over perennial nemesis – Stanford. #GoDucks
I’m struggling today to be thankful. I suppose I’m thankful that there are SOME cooler heads in response to the horrific terrorism in Paris, Beirut, and Bagdad. At the same time, I’m fearful that the drums of war are beating. God in your mercy…
I’m so thankful for our little house that keeps me warm and dry. I’m also thankful for the maintenance people who keep everything in working order and for the grounds keepers who maintain the lawns and plantings. I LOVE Franke Tobey Jones.
Today I’m thankful that my beloved Oregon Ducks football team has finally figured out how to win convincingly again. (I know, 1st world problem). The season is shot as far a national recognition goes, but, if they can get past Stanford next week, there’s the tiniest glimmer of hope for the PAC 12.
I’m so thankful that a team that I support is finally not a loser (I have a bad habit of loving the losers and it’s really nice to pick a winner for once). The Oregon Ducks are champions of the PAC-12 (North Division) and win/lose/or draw next week against Oregon State Beavers they will represent the north in the PAC-12 Championship game on December 5th. I’m could wax poetic about all the great stuff they are doing (including being #2 in the whole nation), but I thought I’d tell you why I’m totally their fan. Their quarterback, Marcus Mariota, is a fine young man – a student of the sciences who wants to “help other people” either in Sports Medicine or in Physical Rehabilitation. He’s carrying 20 credits this semester in addition to being the leader of his team. The other things I love about the Ducks is their play. They rely on quickness, speed, agility, and innovation instead of on brute strength and power. Personally, I dislike “smash-mouth” football that seems bent on seeing exactly how much one team can hurt the other team. They are also truly balanced, with lots of different players contributing to their success and no ONE player who has to carry the whole load for the team. Watch them play, and I think you’ll be won over. #GoDucks!
After the dreadful weather the last weekend of September and the beginning of the first week of October, we’ve had several days of bright blue sky and warmer temperatures. The weekend was simply mahvelous! Last evening, after dark, a nice rain moved in, and, although today is bright, with scattered clouds, it’s colder and very windy (no reading on the porch for me). WeatherBug says it’s 54 degrees with a wind chill of 52. The rest of the week looks like it will be changeable, with scattered showers and sunbreaks. Typical fall weather!
The trees around town have started changing colors, and there are some spectacular sights. Maybe I’ll remember to take my iPad and get some decent pictures of the really beautiful ones later this week, if only the wind doesn’t blow all the leaves off of them. We lost one of the big trees that line the drive onto campus last week in the storm last week, but, so far, the trees in the forest over the fence from my backyard seem to be holding their own.
Kudos to the Ducks for maintaining their place as #2 college football team in the nation with their game against Colorado. Unfortunately, the Cowboys were didn’t fare so well, although they were in it until the last play of the game. I was very impressed with U-Dub (that’s the University of Washington) against Stanford on Saturday night. They seem to be a real team this year, and the Ducks had better buckle down and try hard next week when they play them in Seattle. It’s the featured game of the week on ESPN next Saturday. ESPN will be bringing Game Day to town, and the excitement is running high.
About the only excitement for us last week was a Lunch Bunch trip to Silk Thai. I wrote a guest post for the Franke Tobey Jones blog about it, but so far it hasn’t been published. I’ll let you know when it finally pops up.
We talked about DESPAIR in Sunday School yesterday, and we’ll be talking about it for the next several weeks. We’ll be looking at Biblical references to despair (think Job), and we’ll be using Kathleen Norris’s Acedia and Me to explore further. We’ll be looking at acedia as containing depression but being different. In one episode of West Wing, Josiah Bartlett says “There’s a Korean word, Han. I looked it up. There is no literal English translation, it’s a state of mind, of soul really. A sadness. A sadness so deep no tears will come, and yet still, there’s hope.” I think that’s what we’re looking at. What is the Christian response to that existential angst?
I’m trying not to bore y’all with my thoughts on the idiots in Washington, DC., but it’s never far from my mind. Lord in your mercy…
(Those of you wanting pictures and warm fuzzies can quit reading right now. I didn’t make up these questions…)
What do you think are your three best qualities?
What do you think are your three worst qualities?
And when you think about it, it just depends on whether you like what I’m saying or dislike what I’m saying whether you think the same thing is Best or Worst!
What do you think you have the most of: talent, intelligence, education, or persistence? I have the most intelligence.
How has it helped you in your life? – From the exalted age of 67 years, I’m not sure my intelligence has really helped me all that much. I never HAD to work at grades so I didn’t study. I know a lot of people think I’m a “know-it-all” because I usually DO know the answer to most questions, but that doesn’t necessarily endear me to others.
Do you have any special sayings or expressions? – Probably too many to list.
What’s your favorite book and why? – I’ve got so many favorites it’s hard to pick just one. I love “Gone with the Wind” 
probably because it was the first “adult” novel I ever read. I also adore “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy 
, partly because it’s a great story dealing with wonderful, eternal themes of courage, and perseverance, and friendship, and honor, and partly because Tolkien drew from the countryside around Oxford and it makes me homesick for the Cotswolds whenever I read it (how’s THAT for a sentence – parse THAT if you will). I also love the novels by Elizabeth Goudge, most of which are out of print now. 
She treats her characters, with all their flaws, with love and compassion. And for light reading I love the mysteries of Tony Hillerman, and the novels and mysteries of Father Greeley. I always feel like I accidentally learn something from them in and around the edges of a great story.
What’s your favorite movie and why? – I love “Gone with the Wind” 
(see above), and “The Lord of the Rings” 
(again, see above). In a more current vein, I liked “The Help” 
– I thought it was true to the book. The book made me uncomfortable – convicted me – but I appreciated the look at history. I know there are some people who disliked both the movie and the book because they felt like a white woman couldn’t tell the story of the black women in the 1960s, but I thought it rang true to what I knew in Arkansas during that time. I also love “The Blind Side”. 
Probably the same people who disliked “The Help” disliked “The Blind Side” for the same reasons, but I appreciated the story of hope and redemption told there.
An Aging Liberal Hippy from the Left Coast 