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Our Daily Thread 12-18-14

Good Morning!

1 Week To Go!!!!!

Today’s header photo is from Kim.

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On this day in 1862 the first orthopedic hospital was organized in New York City. It was called the Hospital for Ruptured and Crippled. They obviously needed a better name.

In 1865 slavery was abolished in the United States with the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution being ratified. 

In 1912 the discovery of the Piltdown Man in East Sussex was announced. It was proved to be a hoax in 1953. 

In 1957 the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania went online. It was the first nuclear facility to generate electricity in the United States. It was taken out of service in 1982. 

And in 1998 the House of Representatives began the debate on the four articles of impeachment concerning President Bill Clinton. It was only the second time in U.S. history that process had begun. 

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Quote of the Day

“My brothers and sisters, may the spirit of love which comes at Christmastime fill our homes and our lives and linger there long after the tree is down and the lights are put away for another year.”

Thomas S. Monson

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 My wife Cheryl requested some of Mr. Crosby’s work today. 🙂

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Anyone have a QoD?

66 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-18-14”

  3. I told you before that Pastor Steve always has a “Rabbit Chasing” session before the Wednesday night Bible study. Thirty minutes for each. He has a suggestion box and we anonymously suggest topics for a rabbit to chase.
    Last night he chose “How do you love the unlovely/”
    Long discussion, but he pointed us to Luke 6:27-27. We have a Spiritual obligation toward those who hate us. It goes with love.
    Do good to them. It goes with Romans 12:19. (He didn’t say this, but the Islamic culture is built on vengeance. That’s one reason they call westerners “Crusaders”.)
    Bless them that curse you. That is, if you can’t say something nice…. Cursing back makes it worse.
    Pray for them. They don’t know it, but that’s what they need.

    In response to a question, he said that we have emotions, but we must let our will direct our actions. One guy told his father that he would work in the field, but didn’t. The other got mad and said “No”, but he did the job. Which pleased the father?

    I studied Greek in college, but didn’t know this. The Greek word for “forgive” is “let it go”.

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  4. I was taking an anthropology course at Carolina in 1953. Dr. Harry Holbert Turney-High (That was his name, really.) Told us that he was always skeptical of Piltdown.
    Dr. Turney_High is another story. 🙂

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  5. Musical Advent Calendar – Day 18: “Kalanta Orestiadas” means literally, Carol from Orestiada, a city in the region of Thrace in northeastern Greece. I was unable to find a translation of the lyrics of this gorgeous carol, but that may be because Thracian carols often have improvised lyrics, as they are sung house to house.

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  7. No sign of Jo yet, but in her last FB post she was getting ready to leave Brisbane to fly to LA and thence to Sacramento. We flew Auckland to LA once and it took 14 hours–which is when she last posted. I expect she’s still somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, but undoubtedly back in the same day as most of us! 🙂

    Fantastically crazy afternoon yesterday. If I have an energy left after the gym and my walk, maybe I’ll tell you about the total comedy of errors.

    All’s well that ends well, but it did involve a large jar of pickle relish.

    🙂

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  9. One thing about traveling by air, as Jo is. You know she’s safe. If something happened to the plane, it would be on national news.

    Do you realize that in two weeks it will be 2015?

    Years ago, there was an earthquake in LA. Donna likely remembers it. Not a big one.
    Anyhow, we had a friend who was visiting out there. When we heard of the quake, Elvera said, “I hope Janice is safe.” I said, “She is, or they would have told us.”
    If a local person is a victim of a national event, that becomes news.
    Donna can explain that better than I can.

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  10. Good Morning Everyone!
    I don’t usually listen to the radio when I am driving. This week I have tried because I have been driving some distances, but have been reminded that I hate the chatter and talk that goes with commercial radio. This morning on my drive to work I heard ONE song. The rest was talk and advertising! Argh!
    I did pick up a bit of interesting trivia though, so here is a Question of the Day for you?

    Which State was the first to make Christmas an official holiday?

    Speaking of children, and we were weren’t we? Middle Son will be in tonight. Of course as children have done since the beginning of time, his arrival is inconvenient for me. 🙂
    Tonight is my company Christmas party and I am in charge. I guess Mr. P won’t be going with me and will be entertaining his boy child.

    Oh, and don’t get distracted by pretty, glittery wrapping paper. I bought a roll of gold and a roll of red glittery wrapping paper. Last night I tried to wrap presents and the tape wouldn’t stick to the glitter. The paper is gorgeous, but worthless.

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  11. Good morning, all! Another dentist-appointment morning. Sixth Arrow went Tuesday — no cavities! — and Fifth Arrow goes today. Hoping for the same report. 😉

    Gray skies at the moment. Weather forecast says mostly cloudy until around 2 this afternoon, then partly cloudy the rest of the day. Still hoping to see a little bit of the sun sometime today, but, if not, maybe tomorrow. Prediction is for sunny or partly sunny from 9 am to 3 pm tomorrow, then heading toward a wintry mix for the weekend.

    Pray for that sun to make an appearance — and maybe even stick around a few hours — in the next couple days? I would love to bundle up the kids and all of us camp outside in the sun while it lasts. Just forget we have a house, and live outside a bit!

    I can hope… 🙂

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  13. Good morning. Just stopping by to say hello. I have a busy day ahead and still haven’t made it into the shower…Just got back from dropping Becca off at school…L. is transferring to our local public school after the holidays; she hate Concordia. I’m sad I’ll have to deal with the public school system again, but she wasn’t getting a good education at Concordia anyway…and it’ll save quite a bit of money…I just detest the way they act like the child belongs to the state rather than the parent when enrolled in public school…

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  14. We have been to the dentist yesterday and last Wednesday. Nine people had zero cavities. Two people had some. One of them had one in a tooth that was iffy due to its odd shape (the one on the other side is a similar shape, as are his older sister’s. The other was me and I had two. Figures. That is exactly why I don’t go to the dentist. Every time, they find something. My dentist, by the way, is seven months pregnant, they are expecting their first in February. A lovely Valentine. With fifteen children, we don’t have any birthdays in February or March. We may have to adopt more. But probably not today.

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  16. Last night, during the Bible study portion, Pastor Steve told us about the place where Jesus was born. Actually a cave. The fact that there was no room in the inn was a blessing because otherwise, they would have been bunched with a crowd of people sleeping as a group. That’s the way they did it then. (It’s approximately the way they did it in colonial America. You see it in Williamsburg.) Anyhow, Jesus was born in a cave just behind the house. The cave is now a church. We know where those places were located because the Persians came in after the Romans ran the Jews out after the Bar Kokaba war of 135a.d. The Persians sought to desecrate the sites but really kept the locations identified. In the early 300’s Constantine’s mother built churches on those sites. The Catholics, however, ruined them by places ornate stuff around. But we know where most of the sites are located.
    The Shepherd’s field once belonged to Boaz, Ruth’s husband.
    .
    Concerning Kim’s QoD. I guess Rhode Island.

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  18. Apparently Thomas Monson didn’t know that some of us never put our lights away, actually.

    Chas (8:47), yep, first thing an editor will say after a big disaster somewhere else — find out if there were any locals. Localize, localize, localize.

    Kim, the glitter paper sounds beautiful. Although the glitter might wind up everywhere. But it’s Christmas, so that’s OK too. Glittery dogs!

    I am back to flossing (almost) every night now. My hygienist will be happy. Or she should. I don’t go back until May, I think.

    Just got a call from Art, the friend who has Parkinson’s, asking if I can research how he can get into a new facility — he’s VA and hates the place he’s in. But I don’t know what his options would be. Told him I’d see what I can find out about the system. Anyone know much about that?

    But today a friend and I are off the Christmas craft fair at Knotts Berry Farm so I’m scrambling to get out of here.

    It’s cloudy here, we had a smattering of rain overnight, but don’t know that there’s any other significant rain in our near future for now.

    Oh, and if you think of it, prayers for the victims of a horrific car accident last night, a suspected drunken driver plowed into a crowd of 12 pedestrians leaving one of the Catholic Churches near the beach in our area following a Christmas program. Last I saw on our website last night was that one was killed, others (including some children) left in critical condition. I think it’s made the national news.

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  20. The latest on that accident, now the death toll is at 3 with 9 others remaining hospitalized:

    The death toll from the accident involving a suspected drunken driver and a dozen pedestrians leaving a church in Redondo Beach has climbed to three, and nine victims — including two children — remain hospitalized, authorities said today.

    A group of pedestrians crossing Pacific Coast Highway at Vincent Street after leaving a church Christmas concert were struck by a northbound car that flew through a red light at about 8 p.m. Wednesday, said Redondo Beach police Lt. Joe Hoffman.

    Two of the fatal victims were elderly women from Torrance — Mary Anne Wilson, 81, and Saeko Matsumura, 87 — said Investigator Kristy McCracken of the Los Angeles County Coroner’s office. The third victim is Martha Gaza, 36, of Torrance, who also had next-of-kin injured in the accident.

    The driver, Margo Bronstein, 56, of Redondo Beach was taken to the hospital for her injuries and arrested late Wednesday. She has been charged with vehicular felony vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, Hoffman said. She is currently being held at the Redondo Beach jail on $300,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court on Friday.

    http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20141218/suspected-drunk-driver-crashes-into-group-of-redondo-beach-churchgoers-3-killed

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  23. Kim, could you use double-sided tape on the non-linear side to hold the wrapping paper on? Also use ribbons to hold it on? Bosley will be glad to help!!! She will claim to be your BFF. ♡

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  26. My heart is so touched by what I just found. It is a word search puzzle book my mom worked in during 1999. She was in her wheel chair then. She left some pages undone and put my son’s name, Wesley, on them. One of the themes is “in Shakespeare’s words.” That is just so appropriate since he majored in English. He would have been ten years old in 1999.

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  29. Back in 1999 Wesley would have been majoring in bugs and not thinking about English. It was terribly difficult to get him to write papers for homeschooling. Now in his Grad/PhD program, instead of exams he has to write lengthy papers for his classes.

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  31. Our veterinarian’s office sent out Christmas cards which have a very cute picture of a cat and a dog on a couch. The dog is a bulldog (GA fans) and the cat looks just like Bosley until you look real close. Husband thought it was Bosley until I pointed out the nose did not have any black like Bosley’s, and the mustache is shaped slightly differently.

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  34. In four hours yesterday, the following things happened:

    Rain (thank you, God!) all through the events.
    25 minute wait at the post office. When I got to the front of the line had missed the overnight deadline for a check to a client (by several hours–you can’t get this sort of info on websites for some reason and of course no one answers the phone).
    Stop to buy special “sensitive stomach” food for yowling cat, all the while wondering why I thought I needed to do that right then.
    Hurry to church around the corner to drop off chicken casserole for potluck. No room in the inn, er, refrigerator or freezer because of food donations for the hungry on Saturday.
    In a hurry because I had a medical appt. in 20 minutes, I left it on the counter, shouting, “fine!”
    The pastor heard me.
    I ran out the door and managed to hit every red light and had to brake several times for surprising pedestrians stepping into busy traffic turning the seven minute drive to 13.
    Son called in the middle to discuss his father’s Christmas present–on speaker phone.
    Skidded into appointment with one minute to spare, except I hadn’t brought the paperwork that hasn’t been necessary in years.
    Filled out paperwork anyway while office worker called doctor office.
    No chit, no annual . . . unpleasant woman chest procedure.
    Took a deep breath, reflected on yesterday’s Bible study: “Divine Interruptions,” while reading the first pages of my book and thinking. “Maybe an hour wait for the paperwork to be faxed over IS what I need right now?”
    Called into the procedure after page two (wow), over quickly.
    Remembered I hadn’t picked up a prescription sent in two weeks ago, stopped to get it.
    Church–setting up tables for Advent potluck. Older woman brought me a pickle relish jar to open.
    Explained my hands don’t work, but I’ve learned this neat trick: turn glass jar upside down and rap entire lid on counter–which loosens it and enables me to open the jar every time.
    Demonstrated.
    Glass jar shattered.
    Ten minutes to rehearsal time–ran out door to drive to grocery store to replace pickle relish, all the while wondering if I would be safe and thus praying, as it poured, I’d get there and back safely.
    I did.
    Rehearsal didn’t start until 5:30.
    Four different reeds didn’t want to work on my clarinet. Squeaking in lower register every time. (I’ve played the clarinet too long to have this happen).
    Dinner was relaxing.
    Muddled playing, squeaking, wrong notes.
    So thankful to finally arrive home an hour later.
    Where I remembered it was the 17th–the day I pray for Hillary for half an hour.

    I’m so glad yesterday is over.

    🙂

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  35. OK, I’m trying to catch my breath after reading Michelle’s post!

    Interesting description: the “unpleasant woman chest procedure.” 😉 I had one of those in my twenties. Never again, I would like to hope.

    Glad to not have read anything about fingers cut with shards of glass from pickle relish, though. 🙂

    One tiny bit of decay, but son’s dentist didn’t think it was necessary to drill and fill, as it’s in a baby tooth that he’ll probably lose in not too long a time. It’s not loose yet, but that particular tooth usually falls out by the age of 12, and son will be 11 in February and is ahead on his eruption schedule. If we watch it closely and work well to keep it clean, she doesn’t think it will be a problem.

    I’m fine with that — one less expense! — and 5th Arrow was OK with it, too. 😉

    He did pretty well at the dentist, though it’s not his favorite place to go! He was excited to go to the grocery store after that, but it was the store, and not the dental office, where he left in tears.

    He was glad to push the grocery cart to the car after we’d checked out, but as soon as we got to the car, he ran around the side of the car to get in, hit an icy patch near the passenger side of the car, and down he went, onto his elbow. Ouch.

    Good thing he had on a thick winter jacket. He could bend his elbow fine, and nothing else hurt, and he stopped crying after a few minutes. By the time we got home, 20 minutes later, it didn’t hurt at all.

    We did have a good discussion, not the first, but maybe the first one that might sink in, about some of the dangers of running in parking lots.

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  37. Does it count that I thought, “I’ll bet Alabama is the state in Kim’s question” , but didn’t answer in print, before she revealed the answer?

    Please? Please? 😉

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  38. Spent last evening near a toilet- vomiting and diarrhea- no fun.
    Couldn’t hold anything down – no fun.
    Chills, but no fever – no fun.
    Pain in stomach, and no position was comfortable – no fun.
    Having a wife who is more than willing to help – Blessing!

    I feel better now, but stayed home since the flu is going through the school and I didn’t want to infect anyone.

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  39. Wow! That’s almost as much fun as I just had on the phone with Aetna being told I don’t have insurance according to what they see even though I was told differently by an employee before dec. 15. I have been on the line with three different people, on hold and listening to Fer Elise over and over and over for close to two hours it seems. The end result is they had to communicate by email with another dept. and I need to call them back in 24 to 72 hours for the answer from that dept. Huh? I said I would but it does not look favorable at this point. 😦 I think I would do better with a pickle relish jar…at least it might smell sweet instead of fishy.

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  40. Thank you so much for your timely post this morning Chas @7:25….seems as though the Lord has used you ,yet again, to speak wisdom into my life in particular….I was so tied in knots last evening after watching Obama on the news. ( I really really try to avoid watching national evening news ) Hatred was boiling inside of me which was disturbing to my spirit…battling this morning and then I read your post….thank you again!
    Loverly tree Miss Kim….I just knew it was yours when I first saw it on the header!
    After reading Michelle’s post I took a deep breath…feeling my heart beating faster…whew!

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  41. My thank you, also, to you, Chas, for your 7:25. I read it in some haste this morning before heading out the door, but rereading it more carefully now, I see so much that speaks to me in your post.

    Donna, that accident in Redondo Beach is so sad. Prayers for all concerned.

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  42. There was a Christmas Flash Mob video I remember having seen in the past that I loved so much. I just went to YouTube and found it. It was recorded exactly four years ago today — in Redondo Beach, at the South Bay Galleria.

    Made me wonder about all those people in the video. Have any of them suffered the loss of a loved one in that Redondo Beach traffic accident that just happened? Or been one of the victims?

    Probably not likely, but it gives one pause to look into the faces of living people who are associated with a place where a tragedy has occurred.

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  49. I was wondering about my comment; re. Pastor Steve saying “forgive” means “let it go” in Greek. So, I looked it up. There are several Greek words translated “forgive” in the NT. The two most common are “be gracious” and, most common, “send away”. So Steve is correct.

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  50. Yep, that tree was immediately identifiable as a product of Kim’s decorating finesse. 🙂

    Someone needs to stop Michelle. She’s making us all so tired.

    Went to Knott’s Berry Farm today, first time I’d been there in probably 15 years. Wandered through the ghost town shops, almost broke a ceramic rooster figurine in a gift shop when I lifted up (“DO not touch” sign irrelevant in my world) a heavy set of horseshoe-shaped coasters.

    Clerk came running, friend turned around and pretended she did not know me. But somehow the figurine survived. Clerk grabbed coaster set from my hands and took them to the back of the counter so I could not touch them again.

    Gardener is here today, making a loud ruckus. But I need to head out to the dog park before it gets dark. It’s cold and cloudy outside, but only sprinklers now and again.

    Latest story on the Redondo car crash indicates suspect was disabled, confined to an electric wheel chair & that prescription drugs were a factor, not sure if any alcohol was involved or not.

    All still very sad.

    And I remember that galleria flash mob event, I think one of our reporters covered it since flash mobs were still sort of a novelty back then.

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  52. And when I drove back into town, there was a large police perimeter with a helicopter overhead near the waterfront. Some kind of foot chase going on, police pursuing someone who is “known” to them, so probably some local gang-banger.

    Gardener is now in the backyard, Tess is barking at him. I’ve shut the dogs in for his comfort, he is afraid of dogs.

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  54. Michelle is tired, too, so tired she just took a 20 minute cat with a purring cat on her lap– a highly unusual event.

    Ran around today as well, but this time my husband drove and everything was as smooth as it always is when he drives!

    I even got to save adorable granddaughters at Costco!

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  56. Imagine my surprise when all those horseshoes just came clamoring free, banging and clanging onto the shelves below as the clerk, costumed in some long Western-wear getup, bounded into action & sprinted across the floor.

    Yeah, thought my girlfriend was gonna die.

    I muttered something about how they really need to put the prices on the sides of these items, not the bottom … But I think my suggestion was lost in all the panic.

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  58. Do you think my stomach muscles are not sore enough, Donna, that you have to use words like clamoring, banging and clanging? LOL 😀

    I do agree with you with that price tag on the bottom nonsense. 😉

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  59. What day is it, and what time is it. anyone know what time zone this is supposed to be???
    My friend picked me up and brought me here. Daughters had said that they would stop by when they were free. I didn’t hear from them so finally decided to call and found the phone here had been unplugged, whoops.
    When I got hold of my oldest she was 2 minutes away and had been to the store buying me groceries, she knows what I like.
    I hugged the two grandchildren so hard and tight.
    Then my wonderful family helped me move beds around from room to room as I wanted the Queen size not the California king. They made sure the beds were made and all set up. I tried to do it myself.
    Then oldest picked up my computer and ipad and figured how to connect them to the internet here, something else that wasn’t working for me.
    oh, family is wonderful.
    A baker friend had a freshly baked apple pie here waiting, what a fragrance to find as you open your door.
    youngest daughter called me after she left to make sure I was okay and did I want to come to dinner or just rest. I so appreciated the invitation, but told her that I am not thinking too clearly right now.
    I feel so loved and cared for.

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  63. Welcome home to California, Jo.

    I see on FB that Kim is Christmas-partying in a basic black cocktail dress with pearl-like strands around her neck and a drink her hand. 🙂 She looks happy.

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  65. Everyone west of Georgia is settled in now and will be for a while.
    Deleted by any other name must be Michelle.
    But I don’t understand most of this. It’s too early anyhow.

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  66. Good morning, Chas. I’m up, but haven’t consumed enough coffee to be truly awake yet…
    Becca-boo has her school Christmas party this morning at ten-thirty. Parents are welcome, so I’ll be in attendance. She’s very excited… She also has her first play date with a girl from school this afternoon…Kelsie will be at our house from 12:30-3:30. Then, at four, Becca’s supposed to be at her good friend’s Brie’s house for a sleepover. Their block is having a Christmas party, complete with fake snow, hayrides and a visit from Santa. I’m so glad they invited her as I know she’ll have a great time! I’ll be a hunting widow again this weekend…Hubby is going to try for an Axis and we’re going to give most of the meat to my parents and Connie, as our freezer is already full of venison.

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