by

Our Daily Thread 11-22-13

Good Morning!

It’s finally Friday! 🙂

On this day in 1718 English pirate Edward Teach (a.k.a. “Blackbeard”) was killed during a battle off the coast of North Carolina. British soldiers cornered him aboard his ship and killed him.

In 1899 The Marconi Wireless Company of America was incorporated in New Jersey.

In 1906 The International Radio Telegraphic Convention in Berlin adopted the SOS distress signal. 

In 1943 President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek met in Cairo to discuss the measures for defeating Japan.

And in 1963 U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a motorcade in Dallas, TX.  Texas Governor John B. Connally was also seriously wounded. Vice-President Lyndon B. Johnson was sworn in as the 36th U.S. President aboard Air Force One.

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Quotes of the Day

“The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.”

“A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”

John F. Kennedy

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It’s the birthday of Composer Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.

For some reason I have this song stuck in my head today. 🙂

From TheMerbeckeChoir  

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Anyone have a QoD?

58 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 11-22-13”

  3. I thought Blackbeard was killed Captain Jack Sparrow at the Fountain of Youth. You mean movie don’t accurately portray historical events? 🙂

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  4. Good morning, Aj! I wonder where Jo is; she’s almost always first!

    I’ve been up since 4:30. Becca ended up in bed with me around midnight due to bad dreams, then she couldn’t sleep, and we’ve been awake since 4:30. Should be an interesting day of homeschool….

    Becca has her first vision therapy appointment this morning at 10:00. The initial appointment is mostly an orientation, with the real work beginning next week. They are predicting it will take 45 weeks of therapy to correct the problems she’s having, as well as approximately 20 minutes of daily exercises at home during the 45 weeks. I’m glad we have a diagnosis and that there is something that can help her, but I wish the problem didn’t exist at all. The doctor said it’s a miracle she’s reading, as much of the time the letters are moving around the page or she’s seeing double.

    Today marks the end of the first month of our foray into homeschooling. We’re going to do something fun to mark the occasion.

    Hubby and I have a date-night planned for Saturday. Connie’s going to stay with the kids. I found a four star hotel on Priceline for $65.00. I’m looking forward to spending almost 24 hours alone with my husband! We’re going to try a new-to-us Italian restaurant. A guy hubby works with lives close to the restaurant and gave it rave reviews. It’s a small, supposedly romantic restaurant — not super loud like most have become.

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  6. Well, folks are up and at em early here today, as Chas would say. Friday has been nice and I hope that you enjoy yours.Not sure how Ann will manage to stay awake though.
    Yes, Aj, the reply feature provided lots of excitement yesterday or today for me.
    What a fun race we had to 100, I knew those gals would come out of the woodwork.
    Our annual craft faire is tomorrow morning. This is where I do my Christmas shopping. Hoping to find some unique gifts as that’s all there is here.

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  8. I. am. so. cold. -39C windchill out there today. I think I shall wear the long underwear to work today.
    Brrrrrrrrr

    Very glad hubby replaced the oil tank and we had it filled a few days ago. It’s nice not to have to get up in the middle of the night to add wood to the furnace.

    It’s going to be a sea of green everywhere in Saskatchewan today – the ‘Riders play in the Grey Cup at home on Sunday. CFL football is HUGE here. (Too bad I’m a Calgary fan)

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  9. kare2012: I can’t imagine it being that cold!!! I was just telling hubby to dress warmly, as the cold front we were expecting this afternoon has already come through. It’s 55F here this morning — we’ll be down in the upper 30’s tonight — which seems cold enough to me!

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  10. Good Morning everyone. It is a full day for me.
    Amos goes to the groomers this morning.
    I have an 8:30 breakfast meeting
    I have to take my Xterra in to have oil changed and tires rotated and balanced
    I have a class from 10-12
    Hubs has a friend coming in from Maryland and they are headed to Tuscaloosa for the game
    I have to pick BG up from school and get her several places.
    She is have a slumber party at my house tonight
    I have to shop for Thanksgiving next week.
    A busy day indeed.

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  11. Justas soon as I stepped away last night this bunch started acting like a bunch of rowdy children.
    Now, I would go back and answer KBells #7:16. But those of you who have already read down to 8:17 would never see it.
    So. KBells, You know that if it’s in the movies, it had to be that way.
    Elvera used to have an step-aunt who believed that everything said on the radio was true. “If it wasn’t so, they wouldn’t let them say it.” She really said that. She is the one who believed all the unusual weather we were having was because of “them rockets poking holes in the atmosphere”.

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  14. Wild night here with 45 mph wind gusts. We’ve got a big tree right outside our bedroom window, so I invited my husband to join me at the other end of the house in the guest room. He laughed at my fears and stayed in bed.

    Which is just as well, since the storm blew out the electricity at some point in the night and when it went back on, the fax machine beeped, waking him up. He had to leave at 5 to drive 100 miles to work in San Jose, so it was good he could make the necessary changes to the alarm clock and it went off on time.

    Gorgeous morning now that the wind has died down. Three palm trees directly to the east of us framed a star against a stunningly clear dark blue, but lightening with the sunrise, sky. I went to get the camera, but of course it’s too dark to take a photo yet!

    And I’ve been awake for two hours!

    Wrote 3400 words yesterday and feel totally self-righteous . . . of course I’m still thousands of words behind . . . 🙂

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  16. Yesterday I received the “holidays” offerings mailer from the USPS.
    It shows the offerings of “holiday” stamps. One for Hanakkah, one for Kwanzaa (in big stand out letters) and a gingerbread house stamp that is generic. With a magnifying glass you can see the house has a little greenery over the door and at the window which is green with some red dots. I even wonder if any of the designs on the stamp might be Muslim at this rate. There is a big G in our land that is trying to squelch Christmas. And the G is not the storybook Grinch.

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  17. So, I have the question? What stamp will you use for mailing your Christmas cards? We need some Christians to go into the stamp making business so we don’t have to rely on government issued.

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  18. And Kwanzaa is celebrated by so many people now. 😉

    The Post Office usually offers 2 “Christmas” stamps — one “religious,” featuring Mary and baby Jesus; the other books featuring usually a mix of more secular scenes (reindeers, Santa, a heap of colorfully wrapped toys, a decorated tree, wreath etc.).

    But maybe the selections aren’t as widespread this year … ? I think I still have Christmas stamps from last year.

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  20. You can also buy Christmas “stickers” to use on envelopes, I’ve done that in years past. There are some Christmas cards you can order that come with coordinated stickers.

    Which reminds me, I need to see how many cards I have left from last year and/or before — shouldn’t have to buy too many new cards this year. I’m also not sending as many as I once did.

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  21. Good frosty morn! It is now 20 degrees here….the roads still icy and as I look out the window, it sure does appear that I am living in a snow globe…complete with deer roaming about! Listening to Christmas music and moving furniture around trying to determine where oh where will the Christmas tree go?!
    I was mailing a package the other day and saw the offered Christmas stamps…poinsettia (really pretty), Mary and baby Jesus, and a beautiful starry night scene of Joseph leading Mary and Jesus who were on a donkey….they were out of the two I preferred and said they will get them in this coming week…I’ll be going back (I hope to address and write notes on the cards I am sending and just have to plop that stamp on and send them off!) I am not sending as many as I did last year…
    My own Qod….does it perturb you to receive a Christmas card that has only the signature of the sender? No note, greeting nor even your name on the card itself?

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  24. Unless I have reason to write a note to update someone, I usually just let the card give the message about Jesus for the season. I try to select really beautiful and memorable cards that I get most often at after Christmas sales. Sometimes I have included the prayer cards that are bookmark size that the Navigators have available. People have made nice comments about what I send. I usually just put the phrase, Merry Christmas and have a blessed 2014, etc., The G Family, A, J & W. Since my husband and I attend two different churches, and I like to send cards to members that means I have twice as many to send to. Someone else in the office has been sending out Christmas cards for the business and sometimes I have worked with that, too.

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  26. Nancy that’s a beautiful pic. He’s quite the specimen. And I’d rather hunt him with a camera like you did, than with a rifle. He’s gorgeous.

    Mumsee,

    🙂
    Things got a little hard to follow towards the end. 🙂

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  27. Janice that is a beautiful gift to include with the card…I had never thought of that before! (I just may need to drive over to Glen Eryie and see if they have these in the bookstore!) I always like to jot down a personal greeting to those of whom I send cards, always inviting them to come for a visit…I usually include a family Christmas picture for those who have not seen us in a while…I’m not too much of a fan of Christmas letters…some are quite entertaining, but, others…not so much 😎
    AJ that fella hangs out on the property quite a bit…the herd feels quite protected here…and I am blessed that firing a gun in our community is against the rules… 🙂

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  28. Janice- Perhpas the USPS doesn’t have this anymore, but a few years ago they let you design your own stamp as long as it didn’t have a living person or x-rated material. Check that out and design your own Christmas stamps.

    Personally, I am with Mumsee in not sending cards. I have tried for years to get Mrs L to agree, but she insists on sending a form letter with cards to her relatives and a few of our friends.

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  30. I hope the rest of you will see the humor in what I am about to say because quite frankly that is the only way I can sometimes deal with this stuff.

    I took the Xterra to have the oil changed and the tires rotated and balanced. I was joking with the guy about which last name my file was under. I told him I didn’t want him to call me right before Christmas and tell me I needed $800 worth of new tires. He laughed and said that was the same thing G(ex-husband) had said when he was in there the other day. Then he went on to tell me that ex-mother-in-law was in after that and he told her G needed new tires. She said she would take care of it for Christmas. I laughed and said, “Well I don’t have a parent to take care of me.”

    Turns out I need $700 worth of new brake pads, rotors, etc.

    And yet G gives me grief about $150 to spend on his daughter. He IS the poorest man in America! I know how much he was making when I divorced him and he has told me about each of his raises, now he acts as if the child support money is the only thing keeping him off of the streets and his mother is paying for his new tires! WHAT DOES HE DO WITH HIS MONEY?????

    Mr. P asked me where I was going to get the money for the new brakes. As luck would have it I have a closing that will just about cover that and the $400 dollar ticket for Middle Son to come home for Christmas and a few presents

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  32. Nancy Jill, I don’t understand why anyone pays postage to send just a card, with barely a signature. I used to have a neighbor who “signed” a card with an address label and stuck it in my mailbox (no postage). I always make sure I include at least one sentence (usually more) or I won’t send a card. And I like doing Christmas letters; I started doing that when my Christmas card list reached 80 people and I started dreading all the writing. Now I usually just do a Christmas letter with a simple one- or two-sentence greeting hand-lettered at the end.

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  33. Re holiday stamps: I haven’t seen them yet this year, but the last couple of years the assortment has included stamps for “Eid” (EID”?). That, I understand, is a Muslim holiday, so don’t worry, they’re included. I can’t imagine the sales are that brisk, since it probably isn’t a huge holiday, but no lawsuits over exclusion, anyway.

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  34. Well, a sixteen year old boy is cleaning up from dinner while the other two sixteen year old boys are outside preparing a couple of turkeys for dinner tomorrow, then they are off to small engine repair class. Meantime, a sixteen year old girl is waiting in the wings for the kitchen so she can make the pumpkin pie and sweet potatoes before she heads off to basketball and her game tonight. When she leaves, the fifteen year old girl steps in to make her rhubarb pie and the twelve year old girl starts the dinner rolls. After husband, who is currently napping, takes the five to school, he heads off to another town for that doppler xray of his hand. Then……whew….I am glad I am just a supervisor.

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  36. Mumsee, you must need a nap after all that work.
    😆

    I was downstairs helping Elvera, but I couldn’t do anything right, so I’m back up here harassing you.
    Not really that bad, but I learned long ago to tell when I wasn’t needed.

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  39. A few times I have received the Christmas letters that seem to me to be “brag” letters about all the good and wonderful happenings for some people. Somehow most of those letters come across as rather artificial, only highlighting the good and not mentioning the other less than desirable things that happen, and take away from the spirit of the Christmas card message as if what all the person and their family did was greater than the birth of Jesus so long ago. I want Jesus to be the focus of the Christmas cards I send out.

    But like I said, we have a small family so not so much update is necessary. My husband is an only child, my son is an only child and my brother never married. So there is not a lot going on besides routine life, work and school. I hope I am not offending anyone I send cards to because I don’t write more on the cards. I will have to give this some more thought.

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  41. Well, the workers all got called away before they were finished so the fifteen year old has to pick up the slack. She is doing great. Finished the plucking and cleaning, the birds are cooling, she finished the pumpkin pie and started on her rhubarb (the boys will be making apple, pecan, and banana cream when they get home), and will finish the sweet potatoes. She is in charge of the mashed potatoes tomorrow so she may boil them today in preparation. Twelve year old girl is out cleaning up the mess the boys left, with the help of the little folk. Then she will start her rolls. Guess, I will go grade this morning’s math.

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  42. Tell the girl to put a little (very little) garlic in her mashed potatos with a stick of butter, but not to make them until tomorrow. If she can find any buttermilk , it will make her potatos better.

    I will be making cornbread again this weekend because I have to make two batches of corn bread dressing. One for Tuesday at work and one for Thursday at home. I have buttermilk.

    Tonight I have BG and a friend of hers. My bad girls. The great thing is the friend cannot keep a secret so I know all about what BG has been up to.

    Amos went to stay with George, when the girls and I got home Lulabelle got so excited she teed in my dining room. Thankfull this house has lots of hard wood floors.

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  44. Well, I left the twelve year old unattended while I went out to the pantry for more flour. She was not exactly unattended, there were several sixteen year old boys and a fifteen year old girl in the kitchen making pie crusts. Anyway, twelve year old was supposed to be counting out four cups of flour into two breadmakers. But when I got back, she was carefully leveling the flour so I could not tell if it was done correctly or not. One seemed to have much more than the other. She said there was four and a half cups in each and then she said there was not enough flour so there were only four cups and then…. Anyway, we will see what comes of it.

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  45. Hello all! Nice music selections today, AJ.

    Well, looks like that reply feature is gone. It reminded me of some of you having said the old World Mag Blog in its early days was like the wild, wild west.

    I had a lot to do last night, and left after the 79th comment. When I came back at 1:00 a.m. (yes, I’m a night owl, and especially so last night), there were 98 comments. Pretty funny to post what I thought was #99, and see that Donna had beat me to it, so I could grab 100! (I didn’t pull away any football, though, despite what she says. The football was on the other thread. I’m not over there.) 😉

    Ann, happy first-month homeschooling anniversary!

    Mumsee, that’s a lot of 16-year-olds you’ve got. I’ve only got one. She’s a delightful one, though, which is always nice.

    I’m going to go make us some apple crisp. I’ve got lots of good helpers for that. Should be fun.

    Not sure if I’ll be back on here tonight. I’m going to bed early, as it was past 1:00 when I hit the sack last night and 6:30 when I awoke for the day. Don’t want to repeat that. 😉

    Have a good weekend if I don’t see you till Monday.

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  46. I’ve written enough blogs now (300+), that I seem to have one for every subject! Here’s the one on writing a Christmas letter: http://wp.me/p3HcoH-KV

    Whomever lives at home signs the card. In the letter I include photos of everyone. I usually notate the letter with things pertinent to whomever is receiving it. (So, the boy scout people get a note about one of my boy scouts, say; friends who’ve just had a first granddaughter get some sort of reference).

    I don’t like just getting a signed card either–though maybe in this FB day and age it isn’t such a big deal. Until recently, the only time I heard about my many dear Navy pals was the annual Christmas letter.

    And, okay, how can they be dear if I don’t hear from them? When you’ve gone through some of the traumas together that we have, I hold them all in great affection even if I seldom see them and I care about them–always.

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  48. Seriously? Here are the Holiday stamps from the USPS web site.

    https://store.usps.com/store/browse/subcategory.jsp?categoryId=subcatS_S_HolidayStamps&categoryNavIds=catBuyStamps%3AsubcatS_S_HolidayStamps

    So we’ve got Holy Family, Virgin & Child by Jan Gossaert, and Madonna of the Candelabra by Raphael. Then you’ve got the gingerbread houses, poinsettia, wreath, Santa & Sleigh, and Holiday Baubles. I make that three explicitly religious and five generic for a total of eight Christmas stamps. And you think there’s a “Grinch” or some “War on Christmas” or something because they offer two Hannukah, two Kwanzaa, and two Eid stamps?

    Other people shouldn’t celebrate their holidays? They shouldn’t be acknowledged? A four to one ratio compared to any other religion isn’t enough?

    QOD:

    Some people get their knickers in a knot over whether store clerks say “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas” as a matter of store policy. How about they let each clerk decide for themselves what to say. What would you do if you went to a store, and the clerk wished you a “Happy Hannukah” when you checked out? Would you be offended or not?

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  49. Hi Buffiddle. Have we known you by another name, or are you new here?

    No, I would not be offended at all by being wished a “Happy Hanukkah”. And I think the “War on Christmas” is more of a media-generated controversy. Most of us Christians, I think, are disappointed, maybe even irked, that it has become more politically correct to say “Happy Holidays”, but we’re not going to get all grumpy towards the poor cashiers & sales clerks who have to say it.

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  50. I do not believe I have mentioned lately what a wonderful life I have. It is exhausting but I do love my life. Right now our gangsta wanna be turned right solid young man, is in the kitchen hand beating egg whites to put onto his lemon meringue pie he is making, to go with the banana cream he made earlier. Meanwhile, four of the other young adults are sitting around playing Dutch Blitz. Others are off to bed or reading in the living room.

    My children do not spend much time in their rooms, they like to be together with us whenever possible. You would not believe the number of happy grins and hugs I get when I show up at church each Sunday, an hour later than the first arrivals as I don’t take the little ones to Sunday School. They act like they have not seen me in six months. I love it and continue to try to fill their love and attention tanks.

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  51. Re Christmas letters: if they are well written, I enjoy them. (Annually I get one six-page letter from a former boss who has never married, telling what she and her sister and their dogs and their other family members have done this year. That’s way, way, way too much information about someone I barely knew twenty years ago!)

    I’ve never really understood the complaint about good news in a Christmas letter being “bragging.” Maybe I just don’t get the kind of letters that would generate that complaint? It seems to me that telling the fun things that have happened this year would make more pleasant reading. When I write them, I include less-than-pleasant details (this year’s will include the death of a brother-in-law and may mention that my husband and I went to a record number of funerals overall), but good news nearly always overwhelms bad as I think about my life, and my Christmas letters reflect that. I just don’t have that much to complain about. A few years ago, I had a hard year, and my Christmas letter reflected that, but with a Christian perspective, with a theme of God’s strength in human weakness.

    Re the focus of Christmas: the New Testament gives no hint of celebrating Jesus’ birthday; there is no religious significance to celebrating it or not. (That’s not true of the resurrection–every Lord’s day is a celebration of the resurrection, and every time we take the Lord’s supper we remember His sacrifice.) So I tend to think of Christmas as three different holidays: one is remembering the incarnation, and it’s an “optional” celebration for Christians, nothing we’re commanded to set apart a holiday to do. The second part of the holiday is the “secular” aspect of it, the holly and Christmas trees and gifts, a cultural holiday that’s fun but isn’t necessarily Christian. The third is related to the first and second, especially the second, but I think it’s distinct from them: an opportunity to spend time with family and to reconnect with people who have some level of importance in our lives. It basically is using Christmas as an opportunity to slow down and spend time with people for a few days, to write notes to people you rarely communicate with, even to buy big or little gifts for people. You “could” do it some other time of year, but the calendar provides a reminder and a good opportunity. All three of these separate but connected holidays are good. Choosing only one or two of these, or skipping the holiday altogether, are all legitimate choices. For me personally, I generally prefer not to “mix” the first in with the others. I like the reminder of the incarnation, the holiness of it; I don’t like the sentimentality of manger scenes. When I buy cards, I choose ones that say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings,” but I avoid those with a manger scene or a “message.” I’m sending a greeting of love to a friend or family member, not trying to preach a sermon. I don’t want to sentimentalize the season. The importance of the incarnation is God becoming human, NOT God becoming a cute little baby.

    I really think Christians can have different perspectives on this and all be “OK” in their different perspectives. After all, no less than the apostle Paul said some people treat some days as more special than others, and some treat every day as equally special, and both perspectives are valid. Neither choice is more or less Christian. I think that applies to Christmas. Some Christians see it as “pagan” and choose not to celebrate it at all–they have that right, as long as they don’t try to convince the rest of us that our choice is evil. Some choose to focus only on the religious aspects and avoid any other aspect, even avoiding gift giving or Christmas trees. That too is valid–but it isn’t more “godly,” it just is a different perspective. And some of us (like me) think all the various sides of Christmas are good, but would prefer not to dilute the awe of the incarnation by making it so cute it blurs with Santa and Frosty the snowman. So let’s sing carols in church, and read the Christmas story in our homes, and let’s decorate Christmas trees and send Christmas letters and cards and gifts, and let’s revel in the extra time we get to spend with family. Let’s see all aspects of it as good things from God, no matter which particular aspect has our focus at a given moment.

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  53. I appreciate Christmas letters — but it’s nice when the person also jots down a personal note & signature. 🙂

    My “notes” (never bordering on a letter, my life is too dull) vary from year to year. Some years I write a lot, filling up the card (and sometimes throwing in a couple pages beyond that). But mostly it’s a simply wish for God’s blessings.

    I had a friend who used to send a card faithfully but then she’d just sign her name — nothing else. I always wondered about that, but realize, too, that some people feel uncomfortable with the written word.

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  54. I appreciate cards and letters, but don’t send them anymore. I send letters throughout the year. But my life is too boring to put into a letter.

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  55. I don’t care what a store clerk says, especially since I avoid all department stores between now and December. Call me a Scrooge, but if Christmas is really the celebration of the birth of Christ, why do people who claim to be Christians (Christ-like) get all in a tizzy instead of loving their enemies?

    Personally, I don’t think Jesus was born in December (too cold for shepherds to be out at night, even in the desert), and that if we were supposed to celebrate his birth, there would be a record of the apostles celebrating it in the New Testament. I was reading old issues of a Christian newsletter I used to get that had an article which stated that those who wish to celebrate Christmas should prove scripturally why it is okay for a Christian to do so. It then went on to give the origins of the holiday in pagan Rome and how the Roman Catholics took Saturnalia and other pagan holidays and Christianized them. Now, I don’t want to get into that discussion, but would ask you if you had to find scriptural evidence for your celebration, could you?

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  56. I view Christmas as a celebration of the incarnation. It is not a “holy” day. If I want to work for some OT on that day, not a problem. But it does provide us, I think, with a season to ponder and celebrate Jesus’ first advent.

    I love Christmas Eve services. 🙂

    (My last church, BTW, was big on NOT celebrating Christmas. I get their point, it’s not in the Bible; but I think that a properly focused celebration of the incarnation can be very helpful spiritually.)

    And, yes, Christmas is just also a lot of fun.

    😀

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  58. Continuing …

    “While the New Testament doesn’t require that we celebrate Christmas every year, I certainly see nothing wrong with the church’s entering into this joyous time of celebrating the Incarnation, which is the dividing point of all human history. Originally, it was intended to honor, not Mithras or any of the other mystery religion cults, but the birth of our King.”

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