Gratitude #83 - Sweet Biddies!
11 years ago
Friday, January 8, 2010
my friend hank
I met Henry Thoreau when i was 12.
OK, I never met him in person. Shucks, many of my best friends I never actually met.
Any way, as I read Thoreau, I read of a way of life (not too much different than what my parents lived, though that was not necessarily their choice) that was full, rich, simple, and not really lacking much that was really important.
Thoreau never married, and he died quite young. Had he lived long and had a wife and a family, I wonder what he might have said. Of course, one can only guess.
For a long time there has been a movement, way below almost any one’s radar, described as “Voluntary Simplicity.” Outwardly poor, but inwardly rich. It was a call to look beyond what some one else says is important and to instead work at something I (or we) think is important.
I like the idea. I like it a lot. Shucks we don't have to keep up with the Jones, we can BE the jones that we keep up with
Our society have had a period of artificial prosperity, it seems, when we all lived higher than we should. Now we are being a lot more careful.
That is good for us as individuals, but all of that stuff we bought that we did not need provided work for a lot of good people, some of them my neighbors and friends. How will all of this sort out in an era of universal belt tightening.
My actions affect more than just me, but I do have to look after me first.
And there has to be a better way on this one too.
OK, I never met him in person. Shucks, many of my best friends I never actually met.
Any way, as I read Thoreau, I read of a way of life (not too much different than what my parents lived, though that was not necessarily their choice) that was full, rich, simple, and not really lacking much that was really important.
Thoreau never married, and he died quite young. Had he lived long and had a wife and a family, I wonder what he might have said. Of course, one can only guess.
For a long time there has been a movement, way below almost any one’s radar, described as “Voluntary Simplicity.” Outwardly poor, but inwardly rich. It was a call to look beyond what some one else says is important and to instead work at something I (or we) think is important.
I like the idea. I like it a lot. Shucks we don't have to keep up with the Jones, we can BE the jones that we keep up with
Our society have had a period of artificial prosperity, it seems, when we all lived higher than we should. Now we are being a lot more careful.
That is good for us as individuals, but all of that stuff we bought that we did not need provided work for a lot of good people, some of them my neighbors and friends. How will all of this sort out in an era of universal belt tightening.
My actions affect more than just me, but I do have to look after me first.
And there has to be a better way on this one too.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
grr
I have been getting internet from a huge national company.
My bank card was hacked, so I got a new one. The internet provider could never figure how to upgrade my account with the new information.
I tried for two months.
This morning I threw up my hands and said: “ENOUGH.” So I am going with a local company. If I have problems with anything related to billing there is ONE woman who takes care of it all. Wonderful.
This one requires some equipment to be installed and that will happen next Tuesday, so then I will be on line regularly again. To post this I went to our town center, where there is a big wifi hot spot, sat in my old car and transferred the post!
There has to be a better way!
My bank card was hacked, so I got a new one. The internet provider could never figure how to upgrade my account with the new information.
I tried for two months.
This morning I threw up my hands and said: “ENOUGH.” So I am going with a local company. If I have problems with anything related to billing there is ONE woman who takes care of it all. Wonderful.
This one requires some equipment to be installed and that will happen next Tuesday, so then I will be on line regularly again. To post this I went to our town center, where there is a big wifi hot spot, sat in my old car and transferred the post!
There has to be a better way!
happy?
There was a long piece on Public TV last night.
It was about happiness.
One story was about a woman who lost her husband of 62 years, and how since that time she has been able to enjoy life in a whole new way. She is busy with a host of activities, she has friends (a crucial component to happiness), and even though she knows she does not have too much longer to live, she is thoroughly happy.
I have thought about happiness before.
It took me about a day to adjust to retirement. This week I had a little volunteer job to finish and the whole idea of the job petrified me all week. (I finished it yesterday). Loosing that on a day to day, multi level pressure has added to my euphoria.
Strangely, perhaps, the years since Miriam was diagnosed with AD, have had some of the best years of our marriage. She has been the love of my life since we were 15. If anything that love is deeper now, in it's post mature stage. Her AD made a lot of difference in our relationship, but it still is rich and loving.
It took me a long time to come to peace with who I am and who I am not and what I should be doing in this world. Much of that peace arrived after retirement. It was a long time in incubation. Officially we are poor (according to the Gov). Our money income is low, but our satisfaction level is high.
Most of my life I spent doing work I was marginally suited to. There have been just three times in my life when I could pursue my creative spirit without massive feelings of guilt. This is one of those wonderful times.
My clean studio is small (12 by 12). It is cluttered. It is over stocked on almost everything, but it is the place where I have been happy.
Of course it would be wonderful if what I am producing in this studio were of real great artistic importance, but alas that is not the case. I am making semi-useful trinkets: books without words and boxes without contents.
But I am happy.
It was about happiness.
One story was about a woman who lost her husband of 62 years, and how since that time she has been able to enjoy life in a whole new way. She is busy with a host of activities, she has friends (a crucial component to happiness), and even though she knows she does not have too much longer to live, she is thoroughly happy.
I have thought about happiness before.
It took me about a day to adjust to retirement. This week I had a little volunteer job to finish and the whole idea of the job petrified me all week. (I finished it yesterday). Loosing that on a day to day, multi level pressure has added to my euphoria.
Strangely, perhaps, the years since Miriam was diagnosed with AD, have had some of the best years of our marriage. She has been the love of my life since we were 15. If anything that love is deeper now, in it's post mature stage. Her AD made a lot of difference in our relationship, but it still is rich and loving.
It took me a long time to come to peace with who I am and who I am not and what I should be doing in this world. Much of that peace arrived after retirement. It was a long time in incubation. Officially we are poor (according to the Gov). Our money income is low, but our satisfaction level is high.
Most of my life I spent doing work I was marginally suited to. There have been just three times in my life when I could pursue my creative spirit without massive feelings of guilt. This is one of those wonderful times.
My clean studio is small (12 by 12). It is cluttered. It is over stocked on almost everything, but it is the place where I have been happy.
Of course it would be wonderful if what I am producing in this studio were of real great artistic importance, but alas that is not the case. I am making semi-useful trinkets: books without words and boxes without contents.
But I am happy.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
ohh
Ahh, health sanity.
When some one gets sick we ask: “What did they do wrong?” Surely there is something in their lives that was really badly wrong for them do get sick?
Conversely, of course, what can I do?
Today I read a piece in the NY Times. Take a look at this quote: Now Dr. Susan M. Love, one of the country’s most respected women’s health specialists, offers a new rule: stop worrying about your health.
In the new book, “Live a Little! Breaking the Rules Won’t Break Your Health” (Crown), Dr. Love makes the case that perfect health is a myth and that most of us are living far more healthful lives than we realize.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/health/05well.html
Maybe the point of it all is to have a good life, to enjoy that life, and let some of the worry go.
When some one gets sick we ask: “What did they do wrong?” Surely there is something in their lives that was really badly wrong for them do get sick?
Conversely, of course, what can I do?
Today I read a piece in the NY Times. Take a look at this quote: Now Dr. Susan M. Love, one of the country’s most respected women’s health specialists, offers a new rule: stop worrying about your health.
In the new book, “Live a Little! Breaking the Rules Won’t Break Your Health” (Crown), Dr. Love makes the case that perfect health is a myth and that most of us are living far more healthful lives than we realize.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/health/05well.html
Maybe the point of it all is to have a good life, to enjoy that life, and let some of the worry go.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Didja see the game?
Boise State University rated 6th in the in college football beat Texas Christian University, rated 3rd. Final score 17 to 10.
First off, I am not too much of a football fan, but I do have a degree from BSU. A friend came over and we watched (and listened) to the game.
Boise State began as a private college and then became a public junior college and only began awarding bachelors degrees in 1965. It is a right decent school, but never mentioned along side any real major universities.
And, I don’t usually watch BSU games. They have been in bowl games several years now, once defeating mighty Oklahoma, but I have never watched. My football fire just does not burn brightly.
Most likely I will never be a big football fan. A grandson that I am very proud of played high school football (he is a senior this year) and played very well, and now my alma mater has a nationally recognized team, so I am warming up a bit.
Comparing my graduate university (University of North Texas whose football team nearly always looses) with BSU on any level other than football is futile. BSU did not offer a doctorate degree until the early 90’s. UNT has twice as many students, dozens of doctorate degrees and so on.
But today we celebrate football. And we are proud of them.
Now if someone will really tell me how high priced college football relates to education, I’ll be satisfied!
First off, I am not too much of a football fan, but I do have a degree from BSU. A friend came over and we watched (and listened) to the game.
Boise State began as a private college and then became a public junior college and only began awarding bachelors degrees in 1965. It is a right decent school, but never mentioned along side any real major universities.
And, I don’t usually watch BSU games. They have been in bowl games several years now, once defeating mighty Oklahoma, but I have never watched. My football fire just does not burn brightly.
Most likely I will never be a big football fan. A grandson that I am very proud of played high school football (he is a senior this year) and played very well, and now my alma mater has a nationally recognized team, so I am warming up a bit.
Comparing my graduate university (University of North Texas whose football team nearly always looses) with BSU on any level other than football is futile. BSU did not offer a doctorate degree until the early 90’s. UNT has twice as many students, dozens of doctorate degrees and so on.
But today we celebrate football. And we are proud of them.
Now if someone will really tell me how high priced college football relates to education, I’ll be satisfied!
Monday, January 4, 2010
mom's prayer
My mother had a special prayer for her children.
She prayed that they would not be so beautiful as to call attention to themselves and not so homely that they would either.
Mom’s prayer was wonderfully answered!
The ancient wise guy (King Solomon) said it another way: “Give me neither poverty nor wealth.” Proverbs 30:8. Another chap (Lao Tzu) added: “He who knows he has enough is rich.”
I picked up that idea as a child, though that paragraph is indebted to Duane Elgin. I have been reading Elgin for years. He seems to put the whole philosophy into practice.
Not so rich as to be distracted and not so poor as to be distraught.
She prayed that they would not be so beautiful as to call attention to themselves and not so homely that they would either.
Mom’s prayer was wonderfully answered!
The ancient wise guy (King Solomon) said it another way: “Give me neither poverty nor wealth.” Proverbs 30:8. Another chap (Lao Tzu) added: “He who knows he has enough is rich.”
I picked up that idea as a child, though that paragraph is indebted to Duane Elgin. I have been reading Elgin for years. He seems to put the whole philosophy into practice.
Not so rich as to be distracted and not so poor as to be distraught.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
uzzah
The sermon was about Uzzah.
I have heard the story, and read it myself, a good number of times. The story is about a priest, who, while the Arc of the Covenant was being moved, he reached out to steady the arc and was instantly killed “by God.”
No matter how well every one tries to spin the story, I come out shaking my head. If you read the passage King David was upset too, really upset. Read about it in 2 Samuel 6:1-15
The story does not make a lick of sense to me. It does not come close to lining up with what I see of God and so on.
Don’t try to enlighten me, I have heard all the angles, but it is one of those stories that I just have to let go. There are a few others, I might add.
David was really unhappy with God, I mean really unhappy.
Is it alright to be angry with God, I am told. A friend related how that when his wife was attacked by a pack of pit bull dogs, and would have been killed had it not been for a passing motorist. She shook her fist at God, friend said, and asked: Where are you God? Where are you when I need You?
And that has bothered me as much as the story about Uzzah.
A politician a few years ago made a big thing of telling us there was no free lunch. How we all have to earn our way, of how no one owes us an easy living. But how about God? What does he “owe” us?
I don’t mean what does God owe the other guys, but what does he owe me and my good friends.
I do not know. Maybe it is not God’s place to give free lunches either.
I still don’t know!
I have heard the story, and read it myself, a good number of times. The story is about a priest, who, while the Arc of the Covenant was being moved, he reached out to steady the arc and was instantly killed “by God.”
No matter how well every one tries to spin the story, I come out shaking my head. If you read the passage King David was upset too, really upset. Read about it in 2 Samuel 6:1-15
The story does not make a lick of sense to me. It does not come close to lining up with what I see of God and so on.
Don’t try to enlighten me, I have heard all the angles, but it is one of those stories that I just have to let go. There are a few others, I might add.
David was really unhappy with God, I mean really unhappy.
Is it alright to be angry with God, I am told. A friend related how that when his wife was attacked by a pack of pit bull dogs, and would have been killed had it not been for a passing motorist. She shook her fist at God, friend said, and asked: Where are you God? Where are you when I need You?
And that has bothered me as much as the story about Uzzah.
A politician a few years ago made a big thing of telling us there was no free lunch. How we all have to earn our way, of how no one owes us an easy living. But how about God? What does he “owe” us?
I don’t mean what does God owe the other guys, but what does he owe me and my good friends.
I do not know. Maybe it is not God’s place to give free lunches either.
I still don’t know!
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