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Our Daily Thread 11-13-14

Good Morning!

Today’s header photo is from Kim.

On this day in 1775 U.S. forces captured Montreal.

In 1956 the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws calling for racial segregation on public buses.

In 1971 the U.S. spacecraft Mariner 9 became the first spacecraft to orbit another planet, Mars.

And in 1982 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, DC.

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Quote of the Day

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

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 Today is George Whitefield Chadwick’s birthday. From David Sawtelle and the Texas State Symphony Orchestra

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Anyone have a QoD?

57 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 11-13-14”

  1. Good morning. It’s cold in Texas! 36 degrees and raining…which is cold for us! Becca-boo is still sleeping… I’m reading a new Anne Lamott book, Small Victories. While I disagree with her politics, I love her writing, and just know we’d be good friends if we actually knew each other…

    L.’s appointment with the new neurologist went really well. We all liked her. She was warm and sympathetic and had a plan…and was even on time! L.’s migraine finally abated yesterday.

    Well–Becca’s just coming down; time to snuggle (my favorite part of the morning!).

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  3. It is -8.4 degrees this morning with a windchill of -22 degrees…three inches of snow on the ground….
    I thought that was a photo of fall leaves and snow on the ground….guess that would be cotton if it is in Kim’s neck of the woods! 🙂 What a beautiful sight!
    Morning Chas, Ann and AJ….

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  7. Kim Cotter theme photo. And keeping with the theme, the quote for today is a perfect match! Thanks, AJ, and Kim.

    That was one of the best things about taking the back roads to Charleston. We saw all the beautiful cotton fields. You don’t get that along the expressway. Chas, I appreciated your suggestions of what to do in Charleston. My husband has some back pain when walking so what we get to see along the scenic back roads is our treat for the trip. As for Charleston, well, we got to visit the Honda dealership for an oil change. 🙂 I guess I need to write up a review on that for Trip Advisor. 🙂

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  9. Well, Becca is running a low-grade fever. I think it is just severe allergies, but the school said she needs to stay home. Our public school allows them to attend as long as fever is below 100.1, and she only has 99.5. She feels bad, but not terrible, so it’ll be nice to have her company today. She’s thriving at The Redd School and I’m glad we’re no longer homeschooling, but I miss her sometimes.

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  10. When I sent the photo to AJ yesterday I titled it Southern Snow. The last of the fog was lifting off of the ground. I drive past it on my way to work. It always does a little something to my soul when I drive past a field with the fog still hanging over it. I pulled over and took the photo with my cell phone.
    Chas, these days no one has to “pick” the cotton. First they crop dust and de-foliate then there is a large tractor that that picks the cotton and another machine at the end of the field that puts it in a large rectangular bale. Tell Elvira that both machines are air conditioned and heated. The bales are made such that a semi will pull up to the field and load the bales on the back and drive off to wherever they need to go.
    After the cotton is picked some remains on the plant. The farmers don’t care if you go into the field and scavenge. I have used some of it to decorate my Christmas tree in the past when my last name was the same. Just recently my church was decorate with cotton stems and lavender for a wedding. It was quite pretty. ….and yes, there is a lot of money in that field.
    The seeds are turned into cotton seed meal that is an excellent fertilizer for roses. If any gets on your grass it will be greener than any of the other grass. The only problem is that it STINKS!

    http://www.cottonsjourney.com/storyofcotton/print.asp

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  13. It is cold here in Atlanta this morning. I am not sure what the temp is, but it is keeping the furnace/heat pump active.

    I saw last night that the Christmas Moments book compiled by Yvonne Lehman is showing up on Amazon for pre-orders. My story is in the book. I have not received my copy yet. All proceeds go to Samaritan’s Purse. The only thing I receive from my contribution is the one book copy.

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  14. Janice: Congratulations! I’d love to be a published author…quite the accomplishment! (I know we have other writers in our midst–I think they’re cool, too!).

    Becca is now complaining her right ear hurts, so it looks like we’ll be heading to the pediatrician today, after all. I just emailed her teacher so I can pick up the assignments she’s missing, as she’ll probably be out tomorrow, too, since they are supposed to be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school. Fortunately, they get out at noon on Fridays, so at least she won’t miss another full day. I apologized to her teacher for her frequent absences (I think today is her fifth absence in five weeks). Becca is sick a lot. Has been since birth. Her pediatrician tested her for Cystic Fibrosis at age three because she was so sickly. Fortunately, the test was negative, but she seems to catch everything! And, she spikes high fevers all the time. Anyway, prayers for my li’l pumpkin to feel better quickly would sure be appreciated!

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  15. One of my husband’s clients brought in a bottle of Silver Shield by Nature’s Sunshine for him to take to rev up his immune system. Has that product been discussed here before? Does anyone have experience with it?

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  16. Kare, a real cotton field is an interesting and pretty sight. You may have seen pictures of women in the cotton fields. I’ve never picked cotton, but, as I said, Elvera has. She describes it. “No way to comfortably pick cotton. It’s too short to stand, too tall to kneel. You have to bend over until your back is hurting. Then the bags get heavy and your fingers are bleeding because the edges of the bolls are sharp. That’s all except it’s always hot out there.”

    I’m glad to hear that it’s mechanized.

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  17. Annms, thank you. I am not on the same level as the other pros here, but it is nice to have something in print. I had another short, short fiction piece in a compilation years ago and that was fun, too. All the stories in this Christmas book are true.

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  18. When talking to my brother about family history, he said since my father was the only son, and his father was in poor health, our dad was the one who plowed the fields. My aunts were the ones who picked cotton.

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  23. Congratulations Janice, how exciting 🙂

    Cheryl, no, but we posted it on our website last night — almost shared on FB last night but thought I’d wait until today since it was late when I saw it. And we actually did have a guy here who was looking to open a cat cafe in LA probably more than a year ago now, I called him and we were going to do a story … but I got yanked in another direction and it fell by the wayside.

    I think he finally did open one up near Chinatown in downtown L.A. (more in our other sister paper’s readership territory to the north of us, they may have done something I missed seeing). But the cafe’s are quite the trend in some other countries I guess. Cats are hot.

    I’ve never seen a fields of cotton, but I have seen a lot of corn fields. 🙂

    It’s about 60 here this morning. Chilly, as we say.

    Here’s my eagle story, everyone’s very excited and hoping we start seeing bald eagles around again. Thankful for some wonderful photos people shared with us since our photographer never did spot the eagle (“Luna”) when he tried to find her. One of the people I interviewed, Jean, is a FB friend who’s helped me w/other eagle stories in the past — they have a nesting program on Catalina Island which is where this one originated — so she was especially helpful.

    Interesting, too, because since posting the link on FB several people have chimed in saying “So I’m not crazy — I thought sure I saw a bald eagle” at such and such place last week … Seems quite a few folks spotted her while she was here (she seems to be gone now).

    http://www.dailybreeze.com/environment-and-nature/20141112/a-rare-bald-eagle-seen-soaring-over-san-pedro-brings-wonder-x2014-and-second-looks

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  25. Well it is now 0.0 degrees in the Black Forest,,..we are headed towards a high of 9… I just might venture over to the post office! Kare they are telling us this cold is compliments of Canada….did it get colder as it slid south?!

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  26. Good Afternoon, Y’all!

    I was thinking southern snow as well…
    I like looking at cotton fields but only if there is no chance I have to work them. Same with tobacco…

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  27. Question? Is there anything that your parent of the same male or female status as yourself could do that you never could do as well as they could?

    It’s a little thing, but each time I thread a needle and knot the string on the end I am reminded of how my mother could somehow, in her one hand, between her thumb and index finger, knot the end of the string. She tried to teach me, but I never learned the trick. I always use both hands in making the little knot. There were more advanced aspects of sewing I could do that she couldn’t like getting the machine unjammed when it seemed beyond her, and figuring out how a complicated pattern fit together, but the simple little knot, one-handed, was beyond me.

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  28. I can do your mother’s trick Janice. My mother could make corn bread with corn meal, a little flour, and water. It made a really thick crust on the bottom. I cannot do it. My dad eventually figured it out but didn’t have time to teach me. Mother canned vegetables. I have never done any canning or freezing.
    I don’t really have any good memories.

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  29. Can’t think of a thing Janice.
    I learned something on Mother’s day that I never knew about my wife.
    She can’t make gravy.
    She confessed that in SS class
    I never thought about it.
    I kept her anyhow.
    All these years, I never got gravy and never missed it.

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  30. My mom taught me how to make gravy, she said it’s something I just needed to know. But that’s been a while ago and I honestly don’t remember ever making it on my own since.

    I can (sometimes) do the knot-with-one-hand-two-fingers trick on a piece of thread, though.

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  31. It amazes me thinking back on it how my mom managed to make everything come out “done” at the same time (with none of our modern contraptions like microwaves) for big, homemade dinners.

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  32. Although more than once I remember that she would remember she’d forgotten to put the dinner rolls in the over until we were mid-way through Thanksgiving dinner. 🙂

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  33. I wish I could have learned more from my parents. I did have a roommate who did not know how to use the larch to set up an ironing board. I was really amazed how she got to be a grown up without learning that. Maybe her mom had space to always leave it up.

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  37. Donna, I work to make everything get done at the same time; I don’t always succeed, but usually. My sister (who is a better cook) commented that I’m better at that than she is, and then I realized it must not be something every woman does.

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  38. Cheryl, I never thought about that.
    I think this is hilarious. The first Thanksgiving after my dad died I called all my friends and told them that I needed them and Thanksgiving was at my house. My Aunt V came over to spend the night on Wednesday night to help me get everything ready. I woke up around 7, puttered around the kitchen and had everything ready by the time she dragged herself out of bed around 10am

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  42. Nancyjill: and we were told it was because of a typhoon from Japan hitting Alaska and pushing the jet stream waaaaay south.

    I can do the thread knotting trick with one hand.

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  44. Something my dad can/could do is build something (a shed in the backyard) and have it look like a pro did it. I cannot. Power tools and I don’t get along too well.

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  45. kBells – Hubby & I know the feeling. Keep holding on to Jesus.

    One wonderful thing about how tough things have been for Lee is that it has driven him to his knees, reviving his prayer life & his walk with the Lord.

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  47. Oh, my mom had a really green thumb, something I’ve not inherited.

    But I did sign up for a free, 2-hour drought-resistant plant workshop on Saturday morning. I’m hoping to get some one-on-one advice from someone about what I could do with the yard besides trying to coax my poor lawn back to life again.

    I need something low maintenance, low water, low budget and just generally easy. But pretty. …

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