A bright spot

Seeking my car in the parking lot, I realized it was being hidden by a huge, black Cadillac Escalade SUV.  Mulling negative thoughts about that disgusting vehicle, the guy about to get into it spoke to me about our president and chanted "Four more years! Four more years!" and I realized he was responding to my 2012 Obama window sticker. He then added "he's the smartest president we've ever had", to which I heartily agreed. After a couple more agreeable comments between us, we both drove away. I smiled all the way home.

I'm really not intentionally competing

Good thing too! I have said many times, "I can't complain", because indeed I seem to be surrounded by folks in worse shape than I am in any one of the two or fewer areas where I'm not 100%. 
I also can't brag.  I tried, but alas, I'm way outdone there too.  Mentioned to a neighbor a couple blocks down that my robin babies seemed to be about to fly away.  Oh yes, she said, "My robins left the nest a long time ago, then we had a nest of mourning doves, and now that they've left, we have a nest of finches.  We sit on our patio and watch them.  They all use the same nest."  "Ah," said I, "That's so fun." And I hunched my shoulders and slithered home to attend to my measly nest of four robins, definitely less smug in my adventure with nature.  I thought later that I should have asked her not to produce so many mourning doves, as they winter in Phoenix (some of them) and eat up my grass seed.

My Lenten discipline and thoughts of home

I am impressed by some of my friends' Lenten disciplines.  One Trinity choir member is posting a daily comment on something for which he is thankful.  That's a blessing for him and all his friends.  One St. Paul's choir member has given up Facebook.  I miss her posts, so that's a sacrifice for both of us. 

My most recent course in obtaining my long overdue education is entitled "Why Evil Exists."  Inevitably this course had to mention the overwhelming evil of the Holocaust, which was used illustratively in the lecture I heard today.  I chose also to listen to some of Rev. Marlene's sermons and hit upon the sermon from this time last year, which was, it turns out, Palm Sunday.  The sermon from that day was as powerful a Palm Sunday sermon as I have ever heard, and yes, she mentioned the Holocaust.  I'm so grateful that these sermons are available any time and all the time. 

I just glanced at my Minnesota calendar and, behold! The picture of the month is of the tulips in bloom at the Arboretum.  It is really time for me to come home.  Just three weeks from today I shall begin that journey.  I need outings, and there's so much to see and do in Minnesota in the spring, summer and fall. 

Miracle cure

The ad was very positive about a "breakthrough" combination of natural herbs and remedies that would free me  from the pain of arthritis, a malady from which I suffer more and more these days.  So, since the world wide web provides us such great opportunities to gather information before deciding, I googled the name of this instasomethingorother to see just what it is known to contain.  There were, of course, the usual glucosamene, chondroitin and MSM, to which were added a number of obscure ingredients which presumably added to the effectiveness of the same old stuff. 

Not to be accused of giving up too soon, I searched out an independent review of the effectiveness of this remedy.  The Internet is a wonderful resource, since even though I am strongly motivated to find something to relieve my relatively minor discomfort, the first objective article I found confirmed that this stuff is pretty much the same old stuff, except that it is much more expensive, and being marketed aggressively in spite of or perhaps because of  its unproven value.  Why, it didn't even contain bifeda regularis.  If you want to know more about that, just ask me. 

I'm back to grumbling to my dogs about my sore knees, hips and lower back, while biting my tongue to avoid complaining to those with whom I socialize and hope to keep as friends.   The wagon may be gone, but the medicine man lives on.

My Days in the Sun

I have been listening to college courses on such subjects as how to write complex sentences, U.S. History and now Comparative Religions.  I'm enjoying these courses, although the section on U.S. History that presented the women's movement in the 60's and 70's was disappointing, and the discussion of sentences in which the professor mispronounced the word was distracting.  Still, overall, I'm learning or relearning things I find interesting.  Today I was pleased to hear the professor in my Comparative Religions course speak of the important work in this area being done by Karen Armstrong and Diana Eck.  Some of you may recall that both of these persons were part of my brief foray into presenting speakers at St. Paul's.  I feel so proud to have met them.

Listening to these very interesting speakers every time I get into my car for even the shortest of errands keeps my mind from rotting any more than necessary.  I expect to immerse myself in a course on Listening to Classical Music for my drive home at the end of April, and meanwhile I'm looking at a course entitled Why Evil Exists, followed by a History of Christian Theology.   Keeping my mind active absorbing or attempting to absorb information that is not part of an outrageous new political movement, or new international disaster or another war front helps improve my perspective on life significantly.

I often then find myself able to catch parts of a number of interesting sports at the parks where I walk the dogs.  Saturdays I get glimpses of Little League games, soccer games, lacrosse, cricket, football and, occasionally, Frisbee golf.  I realize that but for having interviewed Charles Peterson for our St. Paul's Messenger, I wouldn't even know the game they are playing is cricket.  Belonging to St. Paul's has taught me more than I sometimes realize.

There are at least three very nice parks near my home here where I can walk the dogs and enjoy watching the activities.  Phoenix is really not a bad place to be, all things considered.

My home town

Just learned that my home town is in the girl's state basketball tournament and won their first game in their division.  Good for them!  I used to play basketball, and we were proud that we made it to the finals of the sectional, but we never made it to the state event.  We did, however, attend the state tournament in Des Moines, where some of us looked old enough to buy a beer - and did.  The lure of the bid city and its evil ways.  Of course, I've been totally law abiding since then.

Odebolt's excellent web site is worth a look and is linked at the left.  From humble roots . . . .

Troubling news

Being from a state which eliminated capital punishment years ago, I was troubled in the past week or so as the  media reported, calmly and without any sense of momentousness, that someone has recently been executed and another person has just been sentenced to death after conviction of an admittedly horrendous crime.  Does anyone take such decisions lightly?  I've never lived in a state where the law commits legal murder.  Somehow it doesn't feel right.

This is also the state where the legislature is considering legislation to establish a "state gun".  Then I listen to Reverend Marlene's sermons on Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and wonder anew how we can consider ourselves to be a Christian nation.