45 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-3-16”

  2. I cannot believe it’s been eleven years since Becca-boo came into our lives. She was born six weeks early and spent her first two weeks in the NICU. I had a precipitous birth with Becca–my water broke at 10:00pm and she was delivered in an ER room at 11:30pm…Things progressed so quickly, there wasn’t time for any anaesthesia,…the doctor literally walked in the room just in time to catch her.

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  4. Good morning Ann.
    I was born at home before the doctor got there.
    My mother was 19 and had never had a baby before.
    My grandmother didn’t know what to do, so she wrapped me in a blanket until the doctor got there.
    They say mother got mad when the doctor called me “a little rascal”.

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  7. Chas, did you have a birth certificate?
    My mother was born at home in the 1930’s and did not have a birth certificate. What she had was something from the 1940 census.
    My father in law was born at home in Scottsboro the day of the Scottsboro Affair. Both doctors in town were his uncles but neither could make it to the delivery as they were examining the women. He also did not have a birth certificate (the other 4 children in his family did) he used something from the 1940 census.

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  8. Kim, Yes. I don’t know why, but I keep it in a safe deposit box along with my AF discharge papers. (And other stuff, of course).
    M:arriage license, mother’s wedding ring. Just stuff like that. A safe place to be, that’s all.

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  9. Here’s Breakpoint’s article about C.S. Lewis, Tolkien and the Great War: http://www.breakpoint.org/bpcommentaries/entry/13/28941

    I found it a challenging read, even with all my WWI experience, but this article points out the important influences the war had on two men and their Christian lens toward modernity and progress.

    Please pray for me–I’m dancing in the rain here in California at the news there are unread Biddy letters in Hong Kong. I’m ready to leave tonight . . . but of course, that may not be wise. Who would feed the cat?

    Among other things. 🙂

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  10. You may wonder why a birth certificate in a safe deposit box. Seems silly.
    It’s just a quirk of mine, but because of a decades old mystery.

    I can’t find my dog tags. It isn’t something someone would steal. But they have been missing for years. Nay! Decades.
    When I got out of the AF, I used to use one of my dog tags on my key chain because it had my blood type on it, in case of emergency.
    But somewhere, somehow, it stopped and I never thought about it again.

    One time, Chuck was going to be in a high school play. He needed a pair of dog tags for part of the costume. OK, use mine.
    But I couldn’t find them I have never seen my dog tags since.

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  11. Do any of you remember when movie theaters were elegant?
    The Riviera theater in Charleston was a large theater that had a “starlit” ceiling.
    That is. If you looked up during the movie, you would see a starlight sky.

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  12. It cost $.10 to get in, BTW. Nine cents plus a penny tax. That’s just over 10%. Taxes on soft drinks were worse than that. A Coke/Pepsi cost $.06. Five cents plus a 20% tax.

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  13. My dad used one of his dog tags on a key ring. I never thought about why. It makes sense that it would have useful information on it. I was also fascinated to know why the notch was in the end of it. His are in a file in the file cabinet. I also have his birth certificate and his death certificate there. It is interesting how old birth certificates read. Father’s occupation was either professional or laborer. Class distinction much?

    I am sure Mr. P has his somewhere too. Probably in a drawer. He can find documents like that faster than anyone I know.

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  14. So, last night I met some ladies for dinner at the new Lebanese restaurant in town. I was driving home and tried to look at my little slice of paradise from the view of someone who had never been here. It’s a pretty good place to live.

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  15. The Fox theater in Atlanta has stars in the ceiling. It is mostly used now for live performances so it costs a small fortune to get in. We go to see something there maybe once every two years. We did see the premier of Fireproof there. That was a thrill.

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  16. I am on Facebook now which I joined to connect with a writer’s group. It IS time consuming. I was just going to use it for the group but did not set parameters up front so people started befriending that I did not think I should say no to…

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  18. Don’t worry about it Janice. You can set privacy blocks so that your “public” friends can’t see your writer’s group and you can exclude the other way. It is in your settings. If you can’t figure it out, snag a college student to help you. Any younger and they will know nothing about Facebook because it has gone the way of COBAL, FORTRAN, BASIC, REBOL—Only the old codgers use FB anymore.

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  19. So, we are enabling our son and trying to figure that one out. He is not a very bright guy, but nobody knows how bright as he is so secretive. We offered him homeschool. No. We offered public school. No. Now he is doing the GED. He was set up to save his money for times like this but chose not to. He did pay a good portion of his trip to China, we paid none of it. Now, he has been given to August as his move out date. He will be nearing nineteen. Husband chose August because that is when the GED folk thought he could be done with that. He drives to town in our car with our fuel on our insurance. He is the ninth child and the first to do this. We are torn between, he is not bright enough to manage without a personal director and he has blown his brain or had it blown on drugs, legal and illegal. Or if he is just choosing the easy life. I lean toward he is choosing the easy life and we should boot him now. Husband leans toward, he does not yet have the tools to succeed, so he is willing to get a job in Korea to pay for the boy to live his life of leisure.

    The cigarette in his room the other day? I am leaning toward it was a plant from his friend who came by the other day. The one whose dad husband had a chat with last week. He is also adopted but as a baby and has been nothing but challenges since. His dad was not happy to hear they were doing drugs and alcohol and chewing and smoking. Our boy seemed surprised that it was there. And I was too as I had checked the place before the boy came over.

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  21. Happy Birthday to Becca!

    Now how can we find Janice on FB …. It’s fun, a good way to connect & share, and don’t worry, it doesn’t ‘consume’ you (unless you let it which most of us don’t). The young people I know all are on Instagram, FB is “out.” But FB and Twitter are still the most widely accepted “go-to” social media platforms for us in journalism.

    Our 1930s Warner Bros. movie palace was spared the wrecking ball a couple decades ago when the city of LA agreed to buy it.

    It had long since fallen into disrepair and in its later years was used for Spanish-language films.

    In the 1990s, it was purchased by a reclusive former rock star — “Do you know what I mean” was his big hit — who basically used it to live in with his family; he also owned some shrimp restaurants along the coast and I guess talked about maybe doing something like that with it, but never did.

    Anyway, when he put it up for sale, a church was going to buy it so the city was persuaded to step in and take it over.

    It’s been an object of restoration ever since and has come a long, long way. It’s starburst ceiling and ornate walls are so beautiful compared to the utilitarian “theaters” we all are used to today.

    I was there last night, in fact, the community meeting I had to cover was held there. But we also have performances of an in-house pops orchestra, ballet companies, (on occasion) the LA Philharmonic, and some rock concerts that have sold out.

    It’s also used frequently for filming, fun to see it pop up on TV. Our councilman took a photo with “Rossi” from Criminal Minds in front of the theater a couple years ago and I spotted the episode later that year where Rossi was sitting inside the theater in kind of a dream sequence.

    Anyway, yes, those old theaters were real works of art. So glad we still have one in our community.

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  23. Janice, take the advice I took from second sibling, do not Friend anyone you don’t feel like Friending. That meant that I said no to a couple of distant relatives, but it hasn’t been a matter for regret. As a little advice from myself, do not consider yourself obligated to click on every link or photo album shared; neither do you have to ‘Like’ every post you actually liked. You can still be interested in a person’s welfare and not have to view or like everything they post. There will be people who post memes that say, in effect, “If you don’t ‘Like’ this, you don’t like me”. Ignore them. I think your experience on places like this blog will stand you in good stead on FB. Also, don’t engage in debate on FB. I have occasionally broken that rule, but only if I’m absolutely sure of my argument. FB is not only the most vicious site when it comes to debate, it is also the most open – everyone can see who you are. As for privacy settings, you can set them so your posts, including photos, are only seen and commented on by friends, and then you can break down those friends into categories so that only some can see something you post.

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  24. Mumsee, sometimes mercy rejoices against judgement. I don’t think you are enabling him. Rather you are considering his welfare and giving him the chance to get as good a start as possible.

    Since I never entered a movie theatre until I was in my early twenties, no I don’t remember when they were elegant, although I have seen some of the old Movietone newsreels, etc. which show some very fancy theatre interiors. In the community nearest to us, they have an old performance theatre which they restored and I’ve been there for musical concerts.

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  25. Thanks, Phos. I had a strong talk with him this morning. He does seem to be trying. I inspect his room every day now and the tobacco smell is mostly gone. Hopefully, the disposal of the last cigarette and the snoose bottle will help. Other than the job thing.

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  26. Thanks for the helpful hints about Facebook.

    Karen O asked about mandalas yesterday. I had seen that post on Facebook, too. After reading that, I do want to stay away from mandalas. They do have a real drawing in to the center of them if you really look at them so it seems they might have more of an ability to capture a depth of attention other pictures do not. So maybe that is why there is concern that they might take focus from the one true God and diffuse it to another foreign god. Just my humble opinion. Do we need give that much time as coloring a picture takes to the symbols of foreign gods? I think not.

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  28. Janice, as you probably saw in my reply to Karen yesterday, a design does not have that much power in itself and cannot draw us away to an idol unless we choose to let it. I think with the mandala, as with other things, that these passages apply:

    Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up..
    Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
    However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled… take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. (I Corinthians 8, ESV)

    As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. (Romans 14, ESV)

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  30. I tend to believe that my God is stronger than the boogie man. He’s bigger than Godziilla or the monsters on TV.
    While I probably won’t be coloring any madalas any time soon, If I decided to, I don’t think it would take away my faith.

    (I once had my behind blistered because my teacher thought I might be color blind and called my mother to take me to be tested. I informed mother on the way to the doctor that I KNEW what colors were red, brown, orange, and yellow, but I CHOSE to color the fall leaves purple because I was in FIRST GRADE now and it was time to LEARN something and quit coloring!)

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  31. Question for cooks with roasting experience. I have a pork shoulder that’s close to nine pounds. It was cheap (a buck a pound), so I grabbed it even though it was a huge hunk of something I’ve never cooked. Well, I found a couple of simple recipes online, mostly just using garlic and pepper, sometimes salt.

    But the recipe I found that’s geared to a large roast (rather than 3-4 pounds) has this instruction: “Place in an oven-safe roasting bag and close with a twist tie. Place in a large roasting pan, and cook until tender, about 5 hours.” I don’t have oven-safe roasting bags, though of course I can buy some if necessary. But I do have an old-fashioned covered roasting pan (which seem to have fallen out of favor in recent years). Is there any reason I can’t just use a covered pan?

    Also, I figured a huge hunk of meat could feed our family and could provide meat for our church dinner this weekend, too. Some of the recipes were showing this to be the cut you use for shredded pork sandwiches, but one mentioned it can also be sliced thinly. I’d prefer initially to slice it, and I think that would be simpler for serving at church, too. Does it work simply sliced? And is it OK to freeze some of the meat (once it has been cooked) to eat later? (I might shred some and freeze it for sandwiches, if it’s safe to freeze it.) I’ve made several different kinds of beef and pork roasts, and I’ve roasted turkeys, but I haven’t done this particular form.

    That’s a lot of questions, but if you can help with any aspect of that, or any other cooking/eating tips, that would be great.

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  32. AJ, did you get the red-winged blackbird photos I sent a few days ago? I might have sent too many pix with one e-mail. I got a good one of Misten, and wanted to resend the best blackbird pic if you didn’t get it.

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  33. Cheryl, hang on, this is going to get complicated.

    Stick the roast in your roasting pan
    Salt it
    Pepper it
    Throw some garlic in –a couple of cloves of fresh if you’ve got it if not garlic powder is good enough
    Sprinkle with some dry mustard if you have it—If you don’t it won’t taste AS good, but it will still be good, so rub some French’s Yellow Mustard on top.
    If you have a little apple cider vinegar pour a little in the bottom of the roaster.

    Roast it in the oven medium and slow

    I am going to check the spice drawer and will come back if inspiration hits.

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  34. Nah, that’s about it. You will want to salt it more than you think because salt will pull the fat out, but the roast will cook in it’s own fat and still be moist. If you want to really seal it like in an oven bag, cover the top of your pan with aluminum foil then put the lid on,
    If you don’t have dry mustard and are going back to the store pick some up–other wise don’t worry. I also use dry mustard in my potato salad.

    If you have the fresh garlic, you may want to sliver it, poke some holes in the meat and stick the slivers in.

    I looked at a couple of recipes on line and that is just way more trouble. This piece of meat has enough flavor.

    Once you master this we will move you on to making gravy and corn bread dumplings to go with it, but that is an advanced procedure. I try to get my ex mother in to perform it for me but I have been desperate enough in latter years I have had to do it my own self and I didn’t like the results as much.

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  35. Serve it sliced at home. It is hard to slice, especially if it has the bone in.
    Shred it to serve at church but save some of the pan drippings to warm it up in or it will get too dry.
    It freezes very well–again in the pan dripping to keep it from drying out and getting freezer burned

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  36. Kim, thank you. I expected you might be the one to reply. 🙂 You say shred it for church . . . my question is that I associate shredding with serving it with a sauce and buns. I’m disinclined to do that simply because there is likely to be someone else serving barbecue or something with buns. It also makes it more complicated. So I’m looking to just serve the meat as meat–does that work?

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  38. Not shred shredded, just pull the meat apart into hunks.
    When I shred it for BBQ it is more like strings of meat. The reason I said it is hard to slice is because if you cook it right it will fall apart more than it will slice.

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  39. Oh if if you have it at home on sandwiches—forget the buns—have it on white bread with yellow mustard—not any kind of pretentious mustard like Grey Poupon though. Plain old yeller mustard

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  44. Janice, I’d like that cranberry pork recipe, but my husband doesn’t eat cranberry sauce and doesn’t tend to like recipes that mix fruit with meat, so I don’t think I’d get away with that one. It does look good, though!

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  45. My dad was born in his parents’ kitchen on July 20, 1934. His mother was on her hands & knees, scrubbing the floor, when he decided to make his appearance. 🙂

    I’m not sure if what I experienced today was the infamous Windows “Blue Screen of Death”, but if not, it was pretty close.

    The screen that came up when I turned on my laptop this morning was indeed blue, & it told me something (I forget what) could not be fixed, & gave me some options, like a reset that would remove everything except my files, or resetting to the factory default settings. I chose the one that would save files (even though I don’t think I actually have any files to save, but just in case).

    When the process was complete, I had to reinstall my browser & the anti-malware & anti-virus apps. Then I had to set up my tabs as I usually keep them.

    But everything is working well now, so that’s good.

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