Joey and I went to the mountains on Saturday. We stopped at one of our favorite bar-b-q spots. It was raining a bit so we lingered for a while, watching people and talking about current events.
What a little paragraph to describe a third of my life!
Joey is all the things a husband should be but he is also my friend. We talk about the most interesting things. In the beginning, Joey was old south conservative and I was midwest liberal. He preferred sounding sensible and I loved to make his eyes bug out by saying something completely off the wall ... but little by little, he was less shocked and more amused, even siding with me on some issues ... and little by little, I started to listen to his explanations and adopted some of his ideas as my own.
Today, there isn't any mind I'd rather pick than his. Today, it's my feelings that matter most to him. If a stranger were to listen to us talk when it was just the two of us, they would hear the kind of speech that only happens between two people who have been speaking for a very long time. We have words that hold meaning that only the two of us know. We dance and swirl around each other's thoughts, adjusting our pace and movement when the music changes, but here we are, dancing still.
We almost lost each other. We gave up on each other for a while. Sometimes, love renewed has a magic all it's own. There's the comfort of knowing one another but the knowledge that if we aren't careful, everything could disappear like a puff of smoke ... It makes NOW too precious to waste.
We stopped at a few mountain stores and found a treasure or two or three.
I had iced coffee and Joey had sweet tea. We laughed and held hands and talked about growing tomatoes and benches and window boxes and exchanged memories on a little town's street.
Life is good.
SUNDAY
Joey got up early and made us breakfast. The smell of coffee woke me up.
We ate breakfast on the back porch with the birds and the sound of the creek. When the leaves are thick, our little woods turns into an exotic rain forest with those caw-caw-caw and eee-eee-eee sounds of birds. We talked about our day.
Joey wanted to mow the front lower yard, the front upper yard and the back meadow too.
I had to clean the back room and get some things ready for the kids to pick up.
I had a little excitement. I was cleaning and rearranging bird feeders and wind chimes, tightening screws and adjusting chain when I slipped and pulled the tip of the needle nose pliers across my forehead at an angle. I dug the most amazing gouge! It bled gloriously. After I put peroxide and neosporin on it, I looked like I had been in one heck of a good prize fight! I'm glad I have bangs!
It gave me such a headache.
Joey and I cooked together in prep for the kids coming the next day. I made potato salad and Joey made some of his famous chili for the burgers.
I had a cup of tea and we went to bed early.
MONDAY
Joey and I got up early and began to make preparations for company. Have you ever noticed that chores are easier on a holiday?
Everyone got here around noon. We had grilled burgers/cheeseburgers with potato salad, chips and drinks ... nothing fancy. We got the kids fed and then we all sat at the table in the dining room. We talked through lunch and sat at the table for another hour or two, with the conversation floating from one subject to another. It was a LOT of fun.
One of the most interesting conversations was about a show they had seen on the DISCOVERY CHANNEL. I didn't see the show, but I found a web-site that seemed to say a lot of what they explained to me. Here it is:
Earth is one rough place. Even the most devastating storms of recent years pale in sheer destructive power against outsize natural disasters of the past, such as continent-smothering ice sheets, ocean-raising floods, super volcanoes and the occasional asteroid. Because cataclysms will always be a regular feature of life on Earth, PM consulted with leading scientists to detail five more disasters that may be in store. Some will be beyond human control; others could be disasters of our own making. Either way, prepare for a real doozy.
40-Mile-Long Mudslide, Washington State Movin' Mountain
On an overcast afternoon high on Mount Rainier, a rocky slope slumps and then cuts loose from the mountain. Small rock slides are common on the volcano's steep flanks, but this one is different. Most of Mount Rainier's west face is in motion. Into the tumbling maelstrom go millions of tons of ice from the Puyallup and Tahoma glaciers. House-size rocks disintegrate in the downward crush. “With Rainier's active hydrothermal system saturating the rock, the landslide would reach the base of the slope as a flowing mass of watery, muddy debris,” says Kevin Scott, scientist emeritus at the U.S. Geological Survey's Cascade Volcano Observatory (CVO).
So a lahar is born--a volcanic mudflow--and a nightmare realized for the approximately 150,000 Washington residents who live and work on the solidified debris of past flows. The mass of roiling mud, rock and trees, traveling at 60 mph, would quickly funnel into the canyons of the Puyallup and Carbon rivers, where it would rise 180 ft. high before spreading into the lowlands as a 15-ft. wave. The 5000 residents of Orting, at the rivers' confluence, would have less than 45 minutes to evacuate. People downstream, in towns such as Puyallup and Sumner, might have twice that long.
Despite its iconic standing, 14,410-ft. Mount Rainier is pocked with corroded, unstable rock capped by a cubic mile of ice and snow. The mountain--weakened from the inside out by acids resulting from upwelling magma--has partially collapsed many times in the last 5600 years, unleashing mudflows that have inundated five of six major drainages. Six of those lahars surged at least 45 miles to reach Puget Sound.
The USGS gives a 1-in-7 chance of a similar event occurring in anyone's lifetime. And, says Dan Dzurisin, a CVO geologist: “There's no guarantee there would be any advance warning.”
80-Ft.-High Tsunami, Atlantic Coast Coast Buster
A massive collapse of Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Islands would cause a tsunami to radiate all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to the East Coast. PHOTOGRAPH BY J. SCHWAKE/ALAMY
Cumbre Vieja, the most active volcano in the Canary Islands, lurches as a violent earthquake wracks its upper slopes. A third of the mountain breaks away and plunges into the Atlantic Ocean, pushing up a dome of water nearly 3000 ft. high. They don't yet know it, but tens of millions of Americans from Key West, Fla., to South Lubec, Maine, have just 9 hours to escape with their lives.
The collapse of Cumbre Vieja unleashes a train of enormous waves traveling at jetliner speed. The first slam into nearby islands, then the African mainland. By the time they reach the East Coast of North America, the waves are up to 80 ft. high, and in low-lying areas, sweep several miles inland.
When tsunamis strike the United States, it is usually Hawaii or Alaska that take the hit. But topography and population density put the East Coast in a special risk category. “More Easterners are exposed to potential tsunamis--from the Canary Islands or the Cape Verde Islands--than the people on the West Coast, which has a steep coastline and few lowlands,” says Steven Ward, a geophysicist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A Cumbre Vieja eruption in 1949 opened a mile-long, 20-ft.-deep fissure near the crest, forcing the volcano's western face to slump several feet. A 1971 eruption didn't budge it.
Marine geologists at Southampton Oceanography Center in Great Britain have a different take. They conclude the volcano would collapse in stages-- at worst threatening nearby islands. Ward calculates only a 5 percent chance Cumbre Vieja will trigger a tsunami in a given century, but that when it does a chunk of earth 15 miles long, 9 miles wide and nearly 1 mile thick will plunge into the sea--a landslide 250 times larger than the collapse of Mount St. Helens.
The tsunami's probable trajectory within 5 hours of the collapse of Cumbre Vieja.
The tsunami's potential range of destruction 9 hours after the collapse of Cumbre Vieja
Magnitude 6.9 Earthquake, Mississippi River Valley Stress Test
The New Madrid Seismic Zone, which extends into five states, is part of a rift that formed more than 500 million years ago when tectonic forces began pulling the continent apart.
Ten miles beneath Caruthersville, Mo., stress along an ancient rift zone releases in a violent spasm. Shock waves from the magnitude 6.9 earthquake roll 160 miles up the Mississippi River Valley to St. Louis, and 75 miles downriver to Memphis, Tenn. The soils under Memphis ripple like a shook rug. Century-old brick buildings heave, then crumble. Sewer and water lines rupture. Gaslines snap. Downtown, the 14-story federal building, a decade overdue for quakeproofing, rains 3-ton panels.
While all eyes are fixed on California as the site of the next “Big One,” damage from a quake along the New Madrid Fault--which runs for 150 miles between Marked Tree, Ark., and Cairo, Ill.--may be greater. The hot, shattered crust beneath California absorbs seismic energy quickly and focuses it at an epicenter, says Gary Patterson, a geologist at the University of Memphis. But, he says, “the relatively hard, cold slab of rock beneath the central U.S. allows that energy to travel great distances.” A quake's impact zone is at least 10 times larger on the New Madrid Fault than on the San Andreas, and its shock waves reverberate longer.
The New Madrid Fault has produced the strongest earthquakes in the contiguous states: three tremors near magnitude 8.0 that struck from December 1811 to February 1812. Odds of a quake of that scale are small: 7 to 10 percent in the next 50 years. But factor in unprepared citizens and infrastructure and even a 6.0 earthquake, which has a 25 to 40 percent chance of occurring, would be a disaster.
“There's a lot about the New Madrid we don't know,” Patterson says. “But what we do know is very concerning.”
195-MPH Hurricane, Florida Tropical Terror
Packing maximum sustained winds of 195 mph, Hurricane Lyle slams into Coral Gables just south of Miami. The breadth and intensity of the storm dazzles meteorologists, who rank it the strongest hurricane ever to hit the U.S. mainland.
On the north side of the storm's eye, Miami Beach, which has the second highest housing density in the country, is in shambles. Many residents don't evacuate, believing they are safe in concrete high-rises. They are wrong. Then it is too late, as the causeways connecting them to the mainland wash out. Waves riding a 15-ft. storm surge gut oceanfront condos up to the third story; windows blow out, allowing wind and rain to ravage upper floors. The storm surge sweeps over the island, carrying wreckage into downtown Miami, where the 70-story Four Seasons Hotel and Tower is reduced to a sodden shell.
Low-lying coastal areas would be hit twice by a supercharged storm—as waves rushed in and then back out. PHOTORAPH BY WARREN FAIDLEY/CORBIS
Block after block of homes in Coral Gables, West Miami and Sweetwater--many not yet retrofitted to the tough codes imposed after Hurricane Andrew in 1992--are blasted down to roofless frames. Waist-deep floodwater inundates areas as far north as Fort Lauderdale. Insured losses exceed $100 billion--nearly twice the amount caused by Katrina--making Lyle the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
Katrina should have been a wakeup call, but coastal development has continued unabated, exposing the 4 million people in Florida's Miami-Dade and Broward counties to deadly monster storms. Warm water is rocket fuel for hurricanes, and global warming is predicted to heat tropical oceans by 4 F in the next century. Sea surface temperatures in the tropics have already risen by about 1 F since 1970.
Researchers at Georgia Tech and at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., have measured a near doubling in the annual number of Category 4 and 5 storms during the past 35 years. And Kerry Emanuel, professor of meteorology at MIT, has found that Atlantic storms today wield twice the destructive force as those in 1970.
Wind speeds increase with altitude, and so a Category 4 storm at ground level can be a full category higher at the top of a building. While the storm surge scours the first two stories, overpressure blows out windows in the highest floors, exposing the interiors to wind and rain.
Some scientists dispute the global warming-hurricane connection. They attribute the intensity of recent hurricanes to natural cycles, or they contest the accuracy of early data and the objectivity of techniques used to analyze it.
Supercharged or not, hurricanes promise to wreak unprecedented damage in the decades ahead for one simple reason: More people have put themselves in harm's way. Coastal zones from Texas to North Carolina have gained 24 million residents since 1950.
Climate-Changing Ocean Disruption, North Atlantic Sea Change
Winters in the Northeast begin to bite with a ferocity last seen during the deep freezes of 1936 and 1978, when icebreakers plied the Mississippi and Hudson rivers. Winter temperatures in Washington, D.C., begin to approximate those of Boston. Extreme drought grips the Midwest, sending grain commodity prices soaring; crops fail and farmers spin into bankruptcy. Climate patterns go haywire. London, Paris and the Scandinavian capitals shiver through their coldest winters since 1850. Summer monsoons in India and China weaken, affecting harvests that feed hundreds of millions of people. Fisheries decline when plankton populations collapse. Drought and flood push worldwide agricultural losses to $250 billion.
The cause of the big chill is an unlikely culprit: global warming. The northeastern States, eastern Canada and, primarily, Europe enjoy warmer climates than they otherwise would because of an ocean-based system of heat delivery called thermohaline circulation. This vast ocean conveyor sweeps warm, salty water from tropical latitudes north along the surface. After shedding heat to the atmosphere, the chilled brine becomes denser and sinks. Thousands of feet beneath the surface it flows back toward the equator, completing the loop.
Freshwater melt from the Greenland ice sheet contributes to a layer of buoyant water that is beginning to cap the North Atlantic Ocean. PHOTOGRAPH BY BLICKWINKEL/ALAMY
But as the climate warms disproportionately at the poles, the gears of the system begin to wobble. Freshwater runoff from Greenland's ice cap and from melting glaciers across the Arctic, combined with increased precipitation, could form a thick, buoyant cap over the North Atlantic. Already, the great gyre may be sputtering. The surface of the North Atlantic is becoming noticeably less salty, and thus less driven to sink.
Thermohaline circulation shut down as recently as 8200 years ago, and some scientists contend that the Little Ice Age of 1300 to 1850 was due to a hiccup in the system. The chance of another collapse is hotly debated. Terrence Joyce, a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, calls it “unlikely” if Greenland's ice cap continues to melt at the current pace. However, “Greenland is a wild card,” he says--its melt rate remains unpredictable. Michael Schlesinger, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, calculates a 45 percent chance of the system shutting down in the next century if nothing is done to slow global warming.
Cold, dense water typically sinks near the Arctic and flows in deep currents to the equator. When this cycle is disrupted, warm water is not pushed as far north along the surface.
Ice core samples indicate the switch from temperate to bitter could be measured in mere years--and last for centuries. The timing of such an event will determine the severity of its consequences. “If the shutdown happens 100 years from now, it will bring us back to where we are now, canceling 4 to 6 F of atmospheric warming [predicted] in the Northeast,” Joyce says. “If it happened tomorrow, that would be something more significant.”
I am curious to hear your take on it. What do you think?
While searching for this to show you, I researched something else we talked about yesterday. I'll continue my part of this conversation tomorrow ...
On the eve of this upcoming Memorial Day Holiday weekend, TallPockets asks EACH to remember: Soldiers wore the uniform for US. So that we may live in as PEACEFUL a world as is POSSIBLE”. Every soldier who has done so should be ‘saluted’. However, and THIS bears REMEMBERING dear folks, they will ALSO TELL you that WAR is the LAST resort -- ALWAYS.
What was offered to a soldier after serving time in Iraq did not come close to equating the finances received while fighting a war that led no where. His need to survive and have a quality of life led him to believe like my son who also served time in Iraq that in order to have a valued life in America he would have to reenlist to have hope of a bright future. Freedom to Think by Universalove
DEAR ^BELLE^ Well gang, it's Monday (at least I think it is), and time for another edition of, Dear ^Belle^. I have some hum and dingers for you this week. Remember, if you have a question, from serious to silly, send it to me in a PM and I will do my best to answer it for you. Let's get started: QUESTION: Dear Belle: How can I get my man to pay more attention to me? ANSWER: Have you considered dressing up like a cell phone or remote control? Get your questions answered every Monday at ... INSIDE THE FLAME by ^BELLE^
IN THE NEWS
Well, it looks as though that future is here, consider the following According to Robert Hirsch, Management Information Services Senior Energy Adviser (Mr Hirsch is the dean of energy market forecasting), gave a dire warning about the potential future of gas prices... Twelve dollar/gal of gas is inevitable in the not so distant future. Hold on to ur hats folks cuz even at that price, rationing is in the cards as well! I suggest, staying alert and informed...conserve, simplify and have faith! Park it when u can and conserve it when ya can't park it! LaLePoP' by lalepop'
Both Dem candidates want to make history so bad they are forgetting about our future ... No matter what the First still is their history is made, let's put pride aside and fight for the people! The people, the economy, the environment and our future is what is important. If we worry so much about making history we can really be history. Open for discussion ! by Mind taker
we become "WE The People" and the cockroaches in Government will be sent scurrying back where they came from. That's how we get our freedom back, that's how we get our Constitution back, that's how we get our dignity back, as individuals and as a people. We are all in this together. aircooled underground by capananda
"[George H.W.] Bush has more connections to British and European royalty than any President of the United States. For example, Mr. Bush is a 13th cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and is related to all members of the British royal family, according to Burke's [Peerage]genealogists. Moreover, he is related to all those who have married into the British royal family, like the Queen Mother, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of York. Mr. Bush is also related to all current European monarchs on or off the throne, including the King of Albania.... Of the 40 American Presidents, 13 have had a direct connection to European royalty. Mr. Bush is a direct descendant of King Henry VII, of one of Charles II's mistresses and of Henry VIII's younger sister, Mary, who married King Louis XII of France. According to Burke's, which has traced the genealogy of American Presidential families for years, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams were all related to Edward I. In the 20th century, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt were descended from Dutch nobility. Jimmy Carter has kinship ties to noble Scottish and English families, while President Reagan is a direct descendant of the 11th-century High King of Ireland, Brian Boru." - From a July 5, 1988 New York Times article. Food For Thought by WhitneyWright
Elections Throughout the race, the competitors themselves and spectators, even members of the media can and will throw things at the candidates. This is why, by the time there is a winner, it is so often difficult to tell him from the loser(s). Lone Wolf Chronicles by lonewolfchronicles
In her shameless attempt to grandstand on television Democrat Maxine Waters let the true agenda of the Democrats slip out - she wants to socialize the oil companies. She wants the government - specifically the Democrats - to run them and truly ruin the economy of the United States of America. And the Republicans offer no reply to this outrage. I am not a Republican. I am a Conservative. I believe in the free market system. The Outlander by TheOutlander
As a lifelong registered Democrat I've tried to 'be for' Obama. I've listened to his message and .... I've come away 'scared to death' of this man. He is a "danger" to the U.S.A. and must be stopped. I know that my vote this year in the Presidential Election will be nothing other than a vote "against" someone rather than for someone. Nevertheless ... I'm voting for McCain. STOP OBAMA TRAIN; ALL ABOARD! by -ice-
America wants to end the war and we all know that. I would prefer to hear about how each candidate feels about terms limits, welfare reform, church reform (too much money going to churches that is unregulated), R&D for alternatives to oil, and an explanation for America's foreign policy in the Middle East. I would also be interested in hearing how all of these topics might be tied to greater prosperity for all Americans. Leave the fear mongering, race baiting, sexism, and ageism alone. Talk about some real issues.
Max Motors, a small Butler, Missouri dealership that has as its logo a grimacing cowboy wielding a pistol, has sold more than 30 cars and trucks in the last three days, far more than its normal volume. And owner Mark Muller credits his decision to start offering buyers their choice of a $250 gas card or a $250 credit at a gun shop ... because of Barack Obama who said, "... all those people in the Midwest, you've got to have compassion for them because they're clinging to their guns and their Bibles. I found that quite offensive ... We're not clinging to nothing. We're just damn glad to live in a free country where you can have a gun if you want. This is the way it ought to be." Mad Yankee Ranting by BigChris
EDITORIAL
I have never written an overheard editorial before but yesterday ...
I listened to a heated conversation about the Obama Camp screaming racism
(again?)
What is the difference between this:
and this ???
Bad taste? Maybe.
Racism? No.
C'mon America! Grow up!
The Civil War ended in 1865. That's 143 years! There is no one alive today who owned a slave. There is no one alive today who was a slave.
Has any nation in history ever held on to their pain so long?
A Good Reason To Grow Our Own Vegetables Summer Sun heated the door handles of car. In the store, produce that was too expensive ... Tomatoes seemed to follow the increase in Gold futures, so it is an unnecessary luxury item I left with the rest of the overpriced produce. aircooled underground by capananda
Native to Europe, naturalized in North America by early settlers, chicory has uses in herbal medicine; it has been used in the treatment of gallstones, bowel upsets, and as a balm for cuts and bruises. During the Civil War, when coffee was not to be had thanks to the success of the Union blockade of southern ports, the roots of chicory were ground up and boiled and drunk. I'm not a coffee drinker myself, and have never drunk chicory coffee either, but I'm told it has a bitter taste--not so far from black coffee. Fairweather Lewis by Fairweather Lewis
Miles ago when I was young, And days were filled with running, breezes, sun... I watched my grandma garden, Saw her hands work deftly in and out through soil and sands, And marveled that she willingly so toiled. I could not bear to get my hands that soiled. But she just looked at me and, smiling,
said, "You best not keep that notion in your head. This is CLEAN dirt ... remember what I say Don't soil your hands with what won't wash away." Strange Phrase Indeed by Kristin
I always knew there was something special about my granddaughter, but I heard a story about her just recently that proves just how special she truly is. Jordyn loves to draw, so she has decided to put her talents to work. She has made a deal with her friends in her class at school that if they behave all day long, she will reward them with one of her drawings. She also has declared she wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Texas and Beyond by RoieVanBib
... a friend came over with cake, and then later another brought a heap of cake. There's always plenty of cake isn't there? There's always Hope... by Rosie
RitaB and Rusty are back from their trip across the big pond and she has pictures at ... Momma Never Told Me by Rita B
The most beautiful and profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.
In my humble opinion, this wisdom from one of the greatest human minds that ever existed provides reason to keep faith that ‘dreamers’ will always be as essential as ‘doers’ to our society and our future. P.S. Can you believe Mokie Joe wrote an entire post without even once mentioning politics? Now, if that ain’t indisputable proof of a modern miracle, what is?! Touchy Subjects by Mokie Joe
Sitting at my kitchen counter this afternoon, trying to work, but really thinking about other things, I occasionally glanced outside to the deck where there are several birdfeeders and a birdbath. From to time to time a rose-breasted grosbeak came in to feed. I couldn’t resist the urge to watch this bird. Not only are grosbeaks just plain beautiful, they are my favorite birds. Here’s why ... Much Ado About Nothing by Moonstone
we'd all be talking like him the next day. "Top a' the marnin' to ye' Katy!" "Where ye' be goin' Joey!" I love the Irish! He would start talking gibberish when he got drunk. He and my Mother would laugh at the pure futility they suffered while the depression was happening. Of course, they'd both end up crying, but it was always fun when he was around. He wasn't around nearly enough. Since my father died in the war, Roy thought he had to guide us through life. Man, what a guide! He was a disaster waiting to happen. How come the Irish are like that? When he talked about the old people, I could see them, and hear them, and almost smell them. What a great story-teller. Pagans don't wear sandals! by joesblog6
Of all the Unmitigated Gall.. Of all the Pure Impudence. Of all the Utter Temerity. Of all the Outright Audacity. They all say the same thing.
The English language is so interesting and funny. And then there's ... consummate impertinence Total chutzpah Pure sauciness... THE OTTUMWA SHAMAN. by HAWK....
Cindy comes bebopping over----with an apple pie in hand!! Yes, she's quite wonderful to bring me treats when she visits!! So we end up on the front porch talking when my OTHER neighbors from across the street wandered over to tell us that they'd had someone looking at their house and they were VERY interested in buying it! Ugh. I just hate breaking in new neighbors! From what they said though the people are really nice AND they're Harley folk! Cindy's going to LOVE these folks since she was a biker chick way back when!! THIS SIDE OF 40: Life With BryM by Bry_M
I want my words to be felt and not just heard because I say things without regret. I want my poetry to have the ability to reach inside your soul and connect. I want you to someday buy a book with my picture under the headline of author. Restless Souls Congregate by Sacred
We Are In Trouble The population of the USA is 300 million. 160 million are retired. That leaves 140 million to do the work. There are 85 million in school. Which leaves 55 million to do the work. Of this there are 35 million employed by the federal government. Leaving 15 million to do the work. 2.8 million are in the armed forces preoccupied with killing Osama Bin-Laden. Which leaves 12.2 million to do the work. Take from that total the 10.8 million people who work for state and city Governments. And that leaves 1.4 million to do the work. At any given time there are 188, 000 people in hospitals. Leaving 1, 212, 000 to do the work. Now, there are 1, 211, 998 people in prisons. That leaves just two people to do the work. You and me. And there you are, Sitting on your ass, At your computer, reading jokes. Nice. Real nice. sabrina by indian
A little girl asked her mother, "How did the human race appear?" The mother answered, "God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so was all mankind made." Two days later the girl asked her father the same question. The father answered, "Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race evolved." The confused girl returned to her mother and said, "Mom, how is it possible that you told me the human race was created by God, and Papa said they developed from monkeys?" The mother answered, "Well, dear, it is very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your father told you about his!!!!" Lou's World by Miss Lou Lou's World by Miss Lou
In the hospital the relatives gathered in the waiting room, where their family member lay gravely ill. Finally, the doctor came in looking tired and somber. 'I'm afraid I'm the bearer of bad news," he said as he surveyed the worried faces. "The only hope left for your loved one at this time is a brain transplant ... $5,000 for a male brain, and $200 for a female brain." The moment turned awkward. Men in the room tried not to smile, avoiding eye contact with the women, but some actually smirked. "Why is the male brain so much more?" The doctor smiled at the childish innocence and explained to the entire group, "It's just standard pricing procedure. We have to mark down the price of the female brains, because they've actually been used." Miss Terri's World by Miss Terri
Olny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rgh it pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Whispered Promises by Whispered Promise
No matter what situations life throws at you… No matter how long and treacherous your journey may seem... Remember, there is light at the end of the tunnel! The Library Cat by L.Cat
How sweet and happy seem those days of which I dream, When memory recalls them now and then! And with what rapture sweet my weary heart would beat, If I could hear my mother pray again. INSIDE THE FLAME by ^BELLE^
SO LONG - FAREWELL - AUF WEIDERSEHEN - ADIEU (This Week's Parting Thoughts)
Every week, I try to link to 65-70 bloggers on OVERHEARD. If you want to be included but we haven't met, don't wait for me to find you, INTRODUCE YOURSELF !!!
If you want to add a recent quote or a picture to this week's OVERHEARD and SEEN,
let me know!
If you have a birthday, let me know!
I do OVERHEARD because I hope ... I hope that introducing you to other bloggers will reinforce a sense of community and your feeling of belonging, no matter who you are!
Blogstream Birthdays !!!
Gemini ~ Air ~ mentality & versatility May 21 to Jun 20
If you get a chance, follow the links to make someone's day! Belated Birthday Greeting Are Okay Too!
This is a new thing for me so bear with me. I think if you pause Neil Diamond (above) and then hit play here, you can see a video made by a proud grandma for her Granddaughter, Kat ...
Sacred secret forest Where the breeze smells sweet Grateful to awaken from a Deep sleep, dreaming of The river we have known
And the River, flows downstream 'Course it does That River, knows our dreams Clear as God, this river We have seen Just droplets of, but here The drops converge in this stream
The gateway is that pathway Where the weeds grow high Lately I've been thirsty, but I Fly by driving 'til The teardrops all run dry
Deeper, I remember Down this dream-worn path Steeper 'til we're laughing as we Slide fast, splashing in The wonder of this love ...
A bright kite he's hangin' from Jon rides a glider above the clouds He stepped off Haleakala Ten thousand feet above the ground
High up over the mountain snow He rides the air up high and thin Tell us now, we gotta know: How do you get to where you've been?
Because you make it look easy You make it look easy, easy.
"Fun river to run," she said. Class 5 rapids is what she means Weave through the boulders in one thin line No room to eddy-out between
A 20-foot high falling wall You ride it down like easy fun What's the trick to falls that tall? How do you do the things you've done?
Because you make it look easy You make it look easy, easy.
Really it's driving long distance Dialing in the gear Studying the balance Quieting the fear
All the hard landings Teach you how to fall But what do you get For getting through it all?
You can't keep it in a camera Not a trophy on a shelf Not a tale to tell the children Not a way to prove yourself
It's much bigger than we are Can't claim it as your own But you've got to climb that mountain To find your way back home
That's how you make it look easy You make it look easy, easy.
Mud enduros and motocross Dishwashing money to buy my gas Late at night in the cold garage Building the engine that moved my past
Sliding out of the perfect turn To hook up the traction just in time Skip the second half of the double jump Chase it right down to the finish line
That's how you make it look easy You make it look easy, easy.
Really it's driving long distance Dialing in the gear Studying the balance Quieting the fear
All the hard landings All the tough breaks Learning all of your lessons Making all the mistakes That's how you make it look easy You make it look easy, easy.
Make it look easy Make it look easy, easy ----
Hear the sound of the rushing wheels Fly by in a gust of wind A bright colored flock of steel Stampede as the race begins
Later on up the winding climb You break away and shake the pack You made your move at the perfect time Over your shoulder they're off the back
Having a bunch of teachers in the family usually means truly interesting conversations about plot and symbolism ... I couldn't help but think of them when I read this email.
Hope you find it interesting too ...
THE TAO OF NARNIA Understanding 'Prince Caspian' By Chuck Colson
Many of us can hardly wait for the release of the second film in the Chronicles of Narnia series. Prince Caspian will arrive in theaters this Friday.
If you have read the book, or if you listened to Mark Earley yesterday on "BreakPoint," you know the storyline: the return of the four Pevensie children to a Narnia under the rule of the evil King Miraz. But how many of us realize the tale is undergirded by natural law lessons?
As Tim Mosteller writes in a book titled The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy, "There is a Tao of Narnia." Tao is the term that C. S. Lewis uses to describe "the doctrine of objective value, the belief that certain attitudes are really true, and others really false."
In other words, the Tao of Narnia is what theologians call natural law-the belief that moral truths are present in the natural world that can be known by all, which, in Narnia, includes dwarves, fauns, centaurs, and mice.
As Mosteller notes, Lewis does not argue for the Tao in his Narnia books; he illustrates it. Accepting the Tao involves three things: "(1) A commitment to an objective moral order that is independent of what I or anyone else thinks; (2) an openness to moral development only within the Tao, and (3) a willingness to follow the Tao in all situations."
The characters in Prince Caspian illustrate various responses to the Tao. For example, the valiant mouse Reepicheep wholeheartedly accepts the Tao and strives to live by it-even at the loss of his tail.
By contrast, King Miraz denies that loyalty to his nephew Caspian, the true king of Narnia, is a valid moral demand. Yet, he demands unswerving loyalty from his own men. In other words, Miraz tries to pick and choose which elements of the Tao he wants to live by. But as Mosteller notes, this is impossible because "all parts of the Law rest on the same self-evident moral axioms; any moral values the picker-and-chooser may appeal to have no authority outside the Tao as a whole."
We also have the dwarf Nikabrik, who wants to conjure up the White Witch for help in overturning Miraz. Nikabrik is the ultimate pragmatist: To him, moral truth is whatever works. As Mosteller observes, Nikabrik fails to realize that the Tao is not just one morality among many: "It is the only morality-Aslan's Owner's Manual for true success and fulfillment, for Humans and Talking Beasts alike."
These days-as in Lewis's time-schools routinely teach that there is no objective moral truth: Morality is subjective, a matter of just personal preferences. And then they wonder why kids lie, cheat, and steal. As Lewis himself observed, "We make men without chests and expect of them virtue . . . We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst."
Stories like Prince Caspian reveal, in the most exciting and dramatic way, that there is an objective moral law known to, and binding upon, us all.
Which is why I hope that, come this weekend, you will take in a showing of Prince Caspian. Take a child with you. Both of you will emerge from the darkened theatre longing to be as brave as Reepicheep-and as noble as the Lion.
__________________________THESE THOUGHTS AND MORE AT__________________________
