English Dogwood and paperback swapping...

Judy tells me it's an English Dogwood.

I spotted this last night on her street, here in Rock Hill. I was astonished to see what was apparently a dogwood in bloom here in June!

On Facebook this afternoon I spotted a link that might interest the book readers among you who are trying not to accumulate piles of books. It comes highly recommended. Paperback swap....

Weather: the drought-reducing type...

Click on the title above for the current 10-day forecast in Rock Hill, and note that the next day we are predicted to have less than a 50% chance of rain is Friday, May 29! We have already been having rain since at least Saturday and it may have started on Friday -- I can't remember now... Our default weather mode these days seems to be rain. NOT that I'm complaining!! It is so green and lush here now! I was going to post a photo of how green it is here, but didn't get one taken yet. Maybe tomorrow or whenever I get online next....

In the meantime, here is some photos of another lush place I have been to lately: Houston's bay area.

Guest blogging by willowlaughter

Hi all! I'm doing a small guest-blogging spot for my mom, lidarose. As I'm not much for writing, I'll be showing two photos from last Christmas in California with lidarose, my husband J, my sister samadhiseeker, my brother, my sister-in-law, my grandmother, and various other sundry relatives. In any case, here are the photos:

Our family tradition of tossing the gift bows/ribbon onto the Christmas tree continues...

On the road to Loma Linda - look! There's snow in Southern California!!!

spending time in the library

It has been pointed out to me that I have been absent from the blog-world for awhile. I'm here, just not getting online much, and when I do I have work to do, and am not taking time to play. Mostly I'm at the library, but sometimes at Earthfare or Panera Bread or some other free WiFi place. Work is still slow -- one or two students every day, sometimes more or fewer, and a couple of child-sitting jobs every week. No temp work yet, but I never give up hope. Work on the garden at Pilgrims Inn in Rock Hill is progressing very slowly.... Visits to Houston and CA (weekend before last) were both very good, and last weekend's Math Club picnic passed wetly (the third thunderstorm of the morning flooded the picnic shelter but it was time for the picnic to be over anyway at that point) but I think all-in-all, a success.

I'll have photos of all the above available online when I remember to connect my camera with the laptop!

spring!!

I just uploaded some photos of spring at the Oratory to my Google photos...


Here's a link!

Let me know if it doesn't work, please!

update

I'm back in Rock Hill (well, Charlotte at the moment) and will not have internet for awhile until I have more work. Just letting my readership know, in case you want to contact me...use snail mail or cellphone; my chances to get online will be sporadic.

More about the trip soon, when I have some time to write.

The journey continues...

We made it to Clarksville, AR tonight, but I'm worn out. Hopefully tonight I can get more sleep than last night.
We had a really interesting day. The highlight of the day was a visit to the Oklahoma City National Memorial. I had never been there before, and neither had Carrie. It was a moving experience just to be there and walk around the grounds.

We also made it to Okemah to see the water towers.

Too tired to write more, or even post pictures (hence the links!)

Tomorrow: Tennessee!!

Writing from Amarillo

I'm in a hotel room in Amarillo... so far the trip is going well! I have about 150 photos that I want to post, but that isn't going to happen. But here's one that I liked today:



We saw some petroglyphs, but didn't have time to see many... there are hiking trails that take a long time and I imagine there is much more to see than the little bit we saw. Here's one example, with a couple of petroglyphs (on right and left):


We are already on Central time -- I will lose four hours this week: one extra on account of stupid Daylight Savings Time. But that means I ought to get to bed -- I'm going to turn over a new leaf tomorrow a.m. and get up early enough to leave when I said we would!

Day one of trip...

This will have to be a retroactive post, as I didn't get around to writing any yesterday. We had a great first day, and saw some things that were new to both of us. We decided to take a detour on a section of [the former] Route 66 between Topock and Kingman. We stopped at Needles, CA, before the detour, and I talked with a nice ranger who told us some about it and about Needles, too, for that matter. [Doesn't Needles ring a bell? It's the home of Spike, Snoopy's brother! The ranger said Schulz placed him in Needles because that's where he himself spent at least part of his youth. He said there are two theories about why Spike is often seen with a saguaro cactus, even though there aren't any in Needles: either Schulz traveled to the Whipple Mountains about 60 miles south of Needles and saw some there -- it is one of only three places they occur in CA ones in California! -- or he just used them because that's how people everywhere think of American deserts.]

The view from Needles -- I took this one to remember that I was in Needles and to show how green the desert was as we went through. It's the Mojave Desert and it was very green everywhere we went in it. I was so surprised! (The second photo was nearby, and it shows the green even better. Even the mountains were green!)



Anyhow, the detour was really interesting, and almost too exciting in places -- the road is narrow, and on the high pass over the mountains there are very sharp turns. As the Needles ranger told me, it's a safe road if you obey the posted speed limits! Before the pass, the road goes through Oatman, and old gold mining town. There are burros wandering all over town, lots of them, and people are allowed (even encouraged, it seemed to me) to feed them! The town was crawling with tourists. here are a couple of photos:




This place, in Oatman, had lots of wind chimes. Carie thought the number and size of the visitors' motorcycles was impressive, also!

Breastfeeding in public - Facebook discussion

This article was linked to by a friend on Facebook... it's an interesting analysis of an issue that's been around for awhile.

I can remember back when my children were small, one of the more popular movie theaters in Charlotte asked a nursing mom to leave the theater when she was nursing her baby during a movie there, on grounds that she was offending other patrons. (She was nursing discreetly.) Local nursing moms staged a peaceful protest and convinced the theater to change their policy.

Now the same issue sparks controversy on Facebook... It's a little disheartening that in 25 years or so, we are still fighting this battle, but I have every hope that this younger generation will be able to make progress on this issue.

Missing blog, missing blogging....

Hey, everybody! It's been so long I'm afraid my blog is going to disappear into the ether if I don't write something, quick!

I am in Denver, visiting for a couple days with an old friend from Charlotte. It's been a good visit, though too short.

Denver sure is a beautiful place. There is a large park near here with two lakes in it, so we've had some good walks. Also they have a great independent bookstore here: Tattered Cover. A beautifully laid-out store with congenial employees. Lots of places to sit and read with great views of the mountains.

I miss the olden days of being able to post a photo once in awhile, linking to interesting stuff that I found whiling away an hour or two exploring the web... Can't remember the last time I just websurfed for fun for awhile. It may be some time before I can do that again: I'm headed back home soon, but I won't have web access there (except at the library) until I can afford it again, and that could be awhile.

Hm, good movies I've seen lately, & good books:
Movies:
Martian Child (I do love a good John Cusack movie once in awhile)
Syrian Bride (very intriguing and thought provoking + excellent acting)
I've seen some other movies lately but I can't remember them all. Still working my way through Numbers, Lost, etc.

***I forgot Crazy People, which I watched with Joseph a few nights ago. As he pointed out, I slept through some of it, but I still enjoyed it very much! (the sleeping was not because of anything in the movie -- I was just exhausted!) It is vulgar in places, so be warned -- but it was so funny! A great spoof about the lack of truth in advertising, as well as an affirmation of the worth of people whom our society has deemed worthless due to mental difficulties, etc.***

Books:
The Opposite of Fate, by Amy Tan (memoir/essays, very very good!)
Griffin & Sabine (beautifully drawn)
the first book of Frazz comics :-) :-) :-) :-)
Unbowed, by Wangari Maathai (I'm in the middle of this, but it is wonderful, such a beautiful voice....)
Simplicity, by Richard Rohr (This is the first Richard Rohr book for me, but it won't be the last! It's great. I'm still in the middle of it.)

Oh, well. I'd better go to bed. More posts soon, I hope -- maybe on the upcoming road trip!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Just want to wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a link to a Thanksgiving column I enjoyed reading.

day-after-election-itis; Yay for cousins!

Just tonight when I logged onto my e-mail, I found the latest installment of James Howell's eReligion & politics series: the morning after. I have been thinking a lot about those who are devastated by McCain/Palin losing out to Obama/Biden, and wishing I could give them some comfort and encouragement. I don't think they would accept it from me (and indeed, none have yet actively sought out my shoulder to cry on, figuratively speaking) but I think this short essay could be quite helpful.

The "Yay for cousins!" refers to my cousin Philip and his wife Silvia and their two young children who visited here from yesterday afternoon until early this afternoon. I hadn't seen Philip since he was a pre-schooler, so it was exciting to reconnect and to meet his family. The children were especially sweet and funny, and it lifted my spirits so much to spend some time with them on a couple of walks today. Meanwhile Mom shared her memories with P & S, through photo albums and stories, and they were so appreciative to learn more about their extended family. All-in-all a wonderful day for everybody!

Anonymous comment; Obama charitable donation issue

I have had to remove an anonymous comment because it contained what I consider to be fabrications about Obama's dealings with Rezko and with Kenyan politician Odinga, as well as more of the kind of unfounded character assassination and hyperbole that was rampant in the video I referred to in my post of October 31. I refuse to allow commenters to use my blog to further their own agendas.

Having said that, I will address one point that "anonymous" raised because it illustrates a common problem with so much of what has been going on with attacks against Obama. The anonymous commenter claims that, according to their tax returns, the Obamas made very small contributions to charity when figured as a percentage of their taxable income from 2000-2006. This is true. The a.c. also claims that John McCain was much more generous over the same period of time. I don't know whether this is true or not, and I don't really care. But I have two comments to make about this issue:

First, comparing the Obamas' charitable contribution figures to John McCain's for the same actual calendar years is comparing apples and oranges. I'm not even sure if there is a way to make justifiable comparisons, but it would seem that comparing McCain's figures for when he was the same number of years in the workforce as Obama, taking into account whether law school and college loans (did he have any?), housing costs, putting money aside for his children's future, supporting extended family and so on cost him the same as what they cost Barack and Michelle Obama over this period of time...is there any way to make a fair comparison? Do you see what I'm getting at here? These are candidates who are in completely different stages of their work lives; family circumstances for both of them have been very different; the benefits McCain receives due to his military service; Cindy McCain's personal financial status vs. Michelle Obama's -- all these things, and more, make McCain's financial picture very different from Obama's. I am not saying this to excuse the Obamas' possible lack of generosity, only to say that making reasonable comparisons of the two candidates' financial situation in any way is not really possible. How individuals, whether public figures or not, approach charitable giving is a complex matter, and usually changes a lot through the course of a person's life. Perhaps this is the reason that so little mention of this w.r.t. the current campaigns is to be found recently in the mainstream media.

Second, I would hope that everyone who has the financial means to do so -- including all the current candidates for public office -- would be willing to "put their money where their mouth is" and give as much financial support as possible to genuinely worthy causes. But whether this has been the case or not with the Obamas does not carry anywhere near enough weight to make me want to vote for McCain and the Republican party.

Much of what McCain and the Republicans stand for -- as well as their methods, their perspective, and what they have done over the past eight years -- is so opposed to what I believe, and much of what Obama and the Democratic party stand for is in line with my belief or at least somewhat close. I don't totally agree with the Democratic platform, of course, but it comes much closer to my own views in most cases. I also believe that while Obama is not perfect by any means, he is basically a decent human being, intelligent and creative, well-educated, capable of providing strong and thoughtful leadership for our country, and sincerely committed to finding and implementing the most reasonable and moral solutions to the huge problems that face our country at this moment in time.

One last thing: I will continue to delete comments which contain personal attacks on any candidate, and I have changed the way comments are handled (at least for the time being) so that I will be reviewing comments before they are posted. Please be patient with me if I am not able to review your comment immediately after it has been presented; I am currently only able to be online once or twice a day. But rest assured that I will attend to comments asap when I am online.

Barack Obama probably doesn't need my endorsement, but...

Far better writers than myself have been putting out millions of words lately in support of Obama's candidacy and in explanation of the issues, but I felt compelled to add my two cents worth after receiving a panicky message last night from an individual I know who shall remain anonymous here. The panicky message, entitled "Watch this about Barak Obama before you vote!" included a link to a YouTube video chock full of misinformation about Obama and misleading footage of the WTC collapses on 9/11 and other violence intended, I assume, to instill tremendous fear into the heart of the viewer and to convince the viewer that Obama was somehow responsible for 9/11. It didn't work on me -- well, at least I wasn't filled with fear... but I was moved to reply with my own views backed up by extensive references, should this individual be interested in knowing the truth of the matter. The subsequent reply I received back indicated that my efforts were futile and the references ignored. So I thought to myself just now, why not turn my reply into a blog post? At least my hard work wouldn't go completely to waste!

I watched the video you sent the link to. I watched the whole thing. It really got me thinking...

I am a supporter of Barack Obama because I believe his platform, especially on social justice issues, is what this country needs at this time. Furthermore, Obama has the intelligence, will, and political capital to get people to work together at all levels to solve the difficult problems facing our country right now and in the near future. You can find out more at these links:

Obama on the issues

A thoughtful, brief analysis of this year's candidates and party platforms

A thorough analysis of Obama's platform in the light of Christian values

Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama on Meet the Press

I've also compiled a list of sources for impartial, well-researched and documented information in response to the video:

On Obama being Muslim (link here or here), and about Muslim support for Obama and the American Muslim view on the election in general,

On William Ayers and Obama's connection to him, reliable info is here and here),

A general rebuttal of the views of Jerome Corsi, who appears to be the source of much of the video's misinformation.

Since I sent that reply, I have come across a couple more sites that I also like very much:

The Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote For Obama

and

"A Citizen's Guide to Voting"

hmmm...seems like there was something else, but I can't remember what. Oh well. It's time to try to get some sleep anyhow. Tomorrow Mom and I are going to drive up to the mountains in search of rain.

(If anyone wants the video URL and/or my longer, snarkier first draft of my reply, drop me an e-mail and I'll send them.)

Thinking people, part 2...

I didn't know there was a third site for the cause! It's http://www.catholicsforobama.org/ and it looks at least as good as the other two. (My source tells me that this one was linked to an article in the NCR.)

Wish I had more energy to write about all this, but I'm beat. Even too tired to watch my Netflix movies, which are gathering a thick layer of dust....

Calling all thinking Catholics...

Today these two links came to my attention, and I want to share them with my readers (on the off chance they haven't already found them...)

Roman Catholics for Obama/Biden

Catholics for Obama/Biden

My hope is that before folks succumb to the rhetoric of McCain and Palin on the abortion issue and on Obama in general, they will consider examining the analysis of the issues on these excellent sites.

Political post

Just wanted to post a link to the L.A. Times' lead editorial this a.m. It is one of the better editorials I have ever read.

Another day trip!

Saturday held another opportunity for Mom to have a break from me for the day! My Aunt Carrie and some of Mom's neighbors and a window washer and his wife kept things exciting here at Braemer* while I drove off into the mountains in search of St. Andrew's Abbey. It's a Benedictine community about 60 miles or so northwest of Redlands, on the north side of the San Gabriel Mountains in the high desert. The views on the drive over the mountains were spectacular.
This photo was taken on CA 2 right before the Grassy Hollow Visitor's Center, facing, I think, about SSE.

I didn't know if I would like being in the desert, but it was beautiful, the air was cool, and it was so very peaceful and quiet. Just what I needed. I arrived at about 11:30 and almost didn't make it past the bookstore/gift shop in the welcome center -- I could easily have stayed there all day, reading and browsing among my friends, the books -- but they close for a couple hours in the middle of the day for Mass and lunch, so I was forced to move on :) (Thank goodness!) It was a wonderful afternoon of rest, peace, and meditation.

On the drive back I took a few photos of the desert, which had these wonderful joshua trees everywhere.

Also, on the approach to I-15 on CA 138, there were these enormous white rocks that I just had to stop and take a few photos of. The photos don't really do them justice, however.

*Braemer is the name of the apartment complex my Mom lives in.

nothing like world travel to broaden the mind...

Here's an interesting suggestion for changing the requirements in the Constitution for the post of Pres. and VP....