50 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 9-22-16”

  2. What is that?
    They showed part of the rioting live on FoxNews last night. I didn’t watch much of it. But enough to notice that this couldn’t be happening without agitation. Someone is directing them to surge against police. But the looting appears to be random.
    Nevertheless, someone is behind this.
    But what they’re doing is not illegal????

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Chas,

    They need a safe space to destroy stuff. It’s how things are done now. Baltimore set the precedent.

    Why anyone would riot over a suspect being shot after pulling a gun on cops escapes me. But then again I’m not just looking for a reason to riot and steal stuff either, like many of the protesters.

    Of course what they are doing is illegal, but with BLM and their Soros money funding it, and Democrats supporting it, this is the obvious outcome. Laws mean nothing to this DoJ, and they aren’t big on enforcing it. This will continue, here and in other places, until we get serious and crack down hard. But don’t hold your breathe.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I was just reading about Fairhope tonight and it didn’t mention this. Of course I was reading Michelle’s story of Fairhope. It was fun to read about the heroine attempting to play the bagpipes and remembering the picture of Michelle doing research and trying out the bagpipes.

    Liked by 4 people

  6. Kim, you mean it’s kinda like the bears on the corner in downtown Hendersonville every spring? They have a new set every spring. Painted and sponsored by local organizations. The bears are auctioned off every fall.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I had finished my Bible reading and praying and was sitting there with random thoughts crossing my mind. It came to me that a couple of days ago I heard that the trans-gender movement is having women’s sanitary supplies put in men’s rest rooms.

    HOW COULD THAT BE?
    if she thinks she’s man enough to use a men’s room, why would she need female supplies?
    Not one of them sees the logical contradiction here. They’re going to lose a lot of money in this. Do those supplies have expiration dates?
    A woman is not going to use a man’s rest room. A man may take advantage and go into a woman’s shower if he’s brave/stupid enough, but the rest room thing is a non-starter.
    The most interesting thing is to see how she handles a urinal.
    I know what you’re thinking:
    “She thinks she’s a man so she goes into a men’s room and proceeds like a woman.”

    Never, at any time in history nor in any culture has this been an issue

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Actually, Fall doesn’t officially begin until 10:21 EDT, so it’s still summer. And here it feels like summer, as the temp is supposed to be 90°F today.

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  10. I’m thinking about patience. Are some people born patient, or is it thrust upon them? (Sorry, I couldn’t resist).

    It’s an actual question. I am an impatient person. I want to get things DONE. I want them fixed right now. I want to have finished writing my book before I even start it.

    Yet, once everything is done, fixed or even written, I don’t sit back and enjoy it, but agitation continues and I must do this next thing or that.

    Given I’m apparently never satisfied, why rush anything? Why not be patient?

    So, is this my nature or have I learned to behave this way over my 60 years?

    Liked by 2 people

  11. My parents were always busy. I’m always busy. My daughter is maniacally busy but my very accomplished husband has no problem at all sitting quietly and not DOING something.

    I’m also driven by “shoulds.” He is not.

    Liked by 1 person

  13. Michelle, I’m guessing it’s largely a personality thing. But with self-control being a fruit of the Spirit, it may in some people also be a working of the Lord, or a mark of maturity. That is not to say that a “driven” personality necessarily goes along with immaturity . . . “patience” can also be rooted in apathy or laziness.

    I have a brother who is Type A, and he almost literally can’t just savor and enjoy anything. Interestingly, some of his hobbies require slowing down–he rides a bike and he canoes. But in a hike with me on a trail through the woods, at the halfway point he was “done” and decided to cut through the forest and get back to the road and leave. Likewise, he took my husband and me to the Chattanooga Aquarium (which is expensive to get into), but we couldn’t go slowly through anything, it was rush-rush-rush as though on our way to a fire. What I wanted most to see was the butterfly garden (I’d been there once before and knew it to be exquisite, and wanted to get some photos), but after five minutes in it, he was ready to move on to the next exhibit and I asked for please a few more minutes, which he reluctantly granted. When we went to the Smokies this spring, I talked to my husband about calling this brother (who lives fairly near) and having him join us for a hike or for lunch, and my husband said not a hike–we like to savor and enjoy, and he’d ruin the mood.

    Meanwhile, my husband becomes Mr. Impatient in the car (I think most men do). Half a mile away he is speculating whether he is going to catch the light, and driving accordingly. Even if we have nowhere special to be, he acts as if catching a light as we pull up to it is the worst of catastrophes, and he will sometimes turn right simply to keep moving instead of sitting.

    When I started driving in Chicago, I was appalled by the aggressive driving. To survive in Chicago traffic, you simply have to be able to “force your way in” sometimes. Sometimes it literally is life or death–like the time I was coming up to a merge, seconds away from a concrete wall, and the car to the left refused to let me in and I moved over anyway–it was that or slam on my brakes and then have nowhere to go because I would then be merging without momentum. I didn’t like driving like that, and I didn’t like following so closely behind another car on the expressway that there was no room for another car to move over and get between us, but when it’s life or death, you learn how to do it . . . and I drove in Chicago for nine years without even a fender bender (my first five years in Chicago I didn’t own a car), so obviously I learned to do it well. But very quickly I realized that proactive defensive driving could be aggressive, because it was literally impossible to stay safe any other way (it was, for example, MORE dangerous to leave a safe length between me and the car in front of me, because another car would force its way in if I did), but I was not going to be one of those impatient drivers constantly changing lanes in order to time stoplights, and I was not going to be one of those impatient drivers who refused to let other cars in. I chose that driving would not be a stress point for me, and I was not going to get impatient if I missed a light cycle or for some other reason it took longer to get somewhere than I preferred. I saw impatient drivers everywhere, and I refused to be one of them. So even for me, I think a more patient spirit is probably partly personality (probably including general laziness) and partly chosen.

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  14. I may have mentioned this before, but Cheryl reminded me of it. Once when we were driving home, my husband made a right turn to avoid stopping at a light. I commented that we were heading back from whence we came, to which he replied, “I know, but at least we’re moving.”

    Liked by 3 people

  15. We read Twelve Ordinary Men (or something like that) by MacArthur. It is interesting how God uses different personalities to advance His Kingdom. Each of us is designed the way He wants and as we grow in Him, though we become more like Him, we maintain that uniqueness.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. haha, great story Linda.

    I’m barely awake after having a completely restless night because the cat faked me out.

    I got home late last night — partly due to letting the car wash guys who visit our company’s parking structure on Wednesdays wash my Jeep which was looking embarrassingly horrible — and so the animals got fed later than usual.

    I allow Annie to go out into the backyard for a bit in the evenings, even in the dark, but she’s typically in and out for more food and by 9 p.m. I’ll shut the doggie door so she’s locked in for the night.

    Last night, she vanished. I called and called. I scrunched up the treat bag to attract her back in. I scanned both the front and back yards with the flashlight several times until I finally gave up and went to bed at around midnight, worried something had happened to her. I left the doggie door open so she could come back in when she was finally ready.

    I even woke up a couple times worrying, read for a while, re-checked the back and front yards, called for her (even called her in the house) — nothing. No cat.

    Before dawn, I was up briefly and heard a skirmish in the spare room. I went in there, turned on the light and there was Annie, in pursuit of “something.”

    So now I know what happened — she’d brought a visitor home, unbeknownst to me, and had been quietly and patiently stalking whoever it was all evening and all night long.

    Now, cats are patient. They’ll sit in a crouch for hours on end, laser focused, not making a peep, if they’re in hunting mode.

    Glad she was OK all that time — and trusting that “whomever” is in the spare bedroom will be slaughtered by tonight, leaving me the job of finding him or her.

    Meanwhile, I’m exhausted having lost so much sleep, literally, over this last night.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. You clearly read too much about coyotes.

    I throw rocks at my cat when he lasers. We have a hen with eight chicks and he likes to stalk them. Well, not actually at him. In front of him to remind him that I am in charge, not him. He has not caught one yet. He needs to stick to rabbits and mice and snakes. Leave the birds alone.

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  22. I once got caught in a museum between two friends with opposite personalities. One ran through it like ti was a marathon and the other carefully read everything in the place. Even a couple of things I think were meant for the maintenance crew. I just kind of hover around between them. You might think that makes me balanced but I think I;m just a B who wants to be an A. I once saw an article on what kind of mother you are and told Hubby I thought I was controlling. He said I wasn’t controlling and I say But I want to be. 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  25. They did the yarn bombing in town a few months ago, and to me most of it just looked tacky. One or two things looked cute, but otherwise it looked like they let the kindergarten “art” class loose. I was in Chicago when they did the “cows on parade,” and I thought that kind of clever. But decorated bicycles, metal sculpture, pianos, and yarn (some of the things I’ve seen locally) . . . after a while it’s just kind of dumb. Actually, I like the metal sculptures, or at least some of them. But overall I’m inclined to say “Do something that has some connection with local culture or history, or leave it alone.” In Chicago, the cows made sense . . . between Mrs. O’Leary’s cow and the former emphasis on butchering, cows are actually part of Chicago history, and several of the sculptures gave a nod to that. We have culturally significant things in town (I could say what, but I’ve been vague about where I live), and using those would make sense, or the metal sculpture that is simply local creativity. But decorated bicycles were just “huh?” and the yarn bombing met with “OK, I’ll be glad when they’re finished with this one” from me.

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  26. Kim, they do have some clever examples on that Wikipedia page. Here in town it was mostly just wrapped tree trunks or trees full of hanging yarn objects, etc. It just looked tacky. The first octopus was cute, BTW.

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  27. Hey, does anyone else find the parental “you’ll spoil your appetite” to be literally true? My husband and I went to Costco to pick up his new glasses, and they had fresh, hot brownies and I had one. A small one by brownie standards. But chocolate takes the edge off my appetite–even something as small as two or three chocolate chips, and I won’t be hungry for a couple of hours. I told my husband that would be a good diet plan for me–two chocolate chips every 90 minutes and I wouldn’t need to eat anything else that day . . .

    Liked by 2 people

  28. Cats are so sneaky. To think she was in that dark spare room the whole time I was wandering into the backyard with the cat treats — “heeeeere, kitty-kitty-kitty, Annie, Annie Oakley …”

    Yeah, she was probably laughing the whole time.

    Here’s an interesting piece (about a piece) looking at immigration viewpoints among Christians in an Alabama town (but not Kim’s):

    http://www.getreligion.org/getreligion/2016/9/22/in-bible-belt-town-split-on-immigration-passing-glimpses-of-religious-influence-raise-questions

    Liked by 1 person

  29. mumsee, I’d be in for some serious owner-shaming in these parts if something happened to my cat. It’s the owners’ fault if they let them outdoors at all.

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  30. This is Fairhope. Those weren’t just ways to get rid of yarn projects. We have “artists”. If you notice most of these have something to do with water. A few that I didn’t get were of things related to the town.

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  31. Cheryl, my mom always told me to eat something when I got home after school or I’d “ruin everyone else’s appetite”. Apparently I get grumpy when I’m hungry 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  32. I’m astounded. I just inserted endnotes in my entire manuscript in 1 hour and 45 minutes–239 endnotes. Word 2010 is amazing! (At the moment). All I have left to do is write the bibliography.

    Though, I’m sure something else will turn up. 🙂

    Liked by 6 people

  33. Political stories for me today again along with dealing w/people online who were upset that I interviewed a particular person for yesterday’s story. Sheesh. One said “the normally reliable XXX XXX” has (basically) let us down!

    Someone private messaged me to carry on, I’d apparently “poked a bear” and that was a good thing 🙂

    Where’s 6 Arrows?

    Liked by 1 person

  34. Hey, 6 Arrows, my husband got new glasses today and part of it he’s going to take time to get used to. Which made me wonder if your new glasses ended up working for the piano. I don’t remember if you said . . .

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  35. I don’t have a lot of ‘natural’ patience, but I have been forced to learn to be patient. My husband was a big contributor to that.

    My mother was accused of ‘running’ through Europe by a friend who accompanied her on a trip. I accused my sister of the same thing when we were going through a local museum. Her grandchildren, obviously, wanted to go more slowly. They were reading and looking at things and forced to move along for her. When I mentioned it later, she was astounded. She saw what she wanted and assumed everyone else was (or should have been).

    Part of the issue is what people want out of a particular experience. Sometimes the point is to be able to ‘cover ground’ whether for bragging rights or just to take it all in. Others find joy in sitting and savoring the moment.

    I find it is imperative to travel with people with whom your traveling ‘style’ is compatible.

    My parents were both always busy. My mom still cannot watch TV without doing something at the same time. Anything else is a waste to her. Just having coffee with others can seem like a waste of time to some. The fact that you are building relationship etc. can be lost on some people. Some think the busier you are, the more important you are. I suspect there are a lot of issues involved with having or not having patience. I think we all can probably learn a lot from The Holy Spirit and God’s word about it.

    Patience is definitely a fruit of the Spirit. Personality can make a difference, but I don’t think most of us are naturally patient.

    Liked by 3 people

  36. I like what Kathaleena said about patience.

    When I was younger, I was much lacking in patience. That meant in my case being selfish enough to put my needs, wants, and desires before others. I could not tolerate dawdling, being late for anything, and not to keep moving from one interesting thing to the next. I think I truly got cured of that when I had to look after my son when he was young and care for my mom in her declining health which progressed to doing life in the wheelchair. If I had not learned patience, I would have been the meanest, snarling, resentful, and generally intolerable person around. Most likely I would have been verbally abusive to my mother and son. But God taught me patience to endure the experience. It did take a lot of drive out of me, and my priorities were not the same and never went back to what they were.

    This does remind me of an experience in college. I had a roommate who was an art major. She was slow paced. We had a group of friends who would stop by our dorm room to get us for dinner. We had a set time. My roommate was never ready and continuously held up the group while she did this or that. We all grew impatient with her and started leaving her behind. Of course I was the one who had to suffer her grief. At least she was creative in her name calling. She started referring to us as, “Janice and the hordes of flies.” I suppose she thought of us as flies that could not wait to land on the food. Other than that type of behavior, I did like that roommate and got along with her quite well.

    Liked by 2 people

  37. Cheryl, Art is the same as your husband about traffic lights. I find it difficult to bear when I hear negative comments about every red light. I explain that I don’t hear positive comments about green lights. It really helped when I drove and Art read books so he was not noticing every little aggravation about traffic.

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  38. Hey, all! Whatcha been up to? Sorry I don’t know. Too busy to get here for most of the last couple weeks, and only skimming a little and not commenting the few times I was around…

    Doing the homeschool thing (and it’s going well, I’m very pleased to report!); preparing for the next piano concert October 8; birthdays; medical appointments; indulging the creative urge to compose more piano music, which, strangely, has been strong in the middle of such crazy busyness (usually the inspiration comes to me in my more reflective, down-time moments — I haven’t had many of those at all the last couple weeks!). Last week I composed a 64-measure melody in a day or so, then harmonized it this week.

    Life is good.

    How’s the bathroom remodel going, DJ?

    Cheryl, my husband just got new glasses today, too. 🙂 As far as my glasses, they’re progressive lenses, and I’ve become accustomed to turning/tilting my head just right for reading piano music. They’re working very well for reading and piano, but I don’t think my visual clarity for distance is quite as sharp as it could be with them. It seems that I can’t clearly see what road signs say while I’m driving until I get a closer distance away from them than I used to have to be before distinguishing the wording. They’re not too bad, though, and I like that I don’t have to switch between different pairs of glasses for different tasks. Overall they’re working out pretty well.

    Liked by 3 people

  39. How did my avatar turn from pink to green? I still have the same email address. The last time I was on here was on my birthday, and it was still pink. Maybe I got a makeover when the walls of this room turned peach? 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  40. I used to go shopping and when I got to the store I expected the kids to be ready. I had been driving and they should be ready to shop. I would jump out and head for Costco, while they were saying wait, my shoes aren’t on. After I went to Cameroon in 2001, the malaria meds made me depressed. My friend asked how I knew I was depressed. After thinking awhile I told her when I went to the store I would sit in the car for 15 minutes before I had the energy to go inside. I have learned patience and here there is not much to do either.

    Liked by 1 person

  44. A man just did A most beautiful prayer over the loudspeaker for the whole hospital. It was so comforting. It was the first time we have heard that done. It was super nice and encouraging

    Liked by 4 people

  45. Michelle, I’ve been thinking about your questions on patience. I wonder if your inability to rest and enjoy after you’ve finished/fixed something, your strong drive to move on to the next thing, isn’t rooted somewhat in your observant nature as a writer? Good writers, IMO (a category to which you certainly belong), tend to have (and/or probably work to cultivate) effective skills of observation. You see in enhanced detail what many of us perhaps only see on the surface. Maybe that leads to a stronger drive to take action on unfinished business, to bring all the details and loose ends of your life into a coherent, finished whole?

    Just guessing. I may not know what I’m talking about, and even if I’m onto something, I probably didn’t type it out right. 😉 LOL.

    My husband, while not a writer, is very observant, and he has great difficulty in stopping to enjoy a finished project because he is hyper-aware of everything else that is not done. The car is fixed, but there’s another car… and another… there’s a shop full of tools, thrown every which way in his hurry to move to the next thing, that needs organizing… and a hundred other undone things.

    He sees all these things, and he can’t rest until they’re all done. Trouble is, as we all know, it’s never all done, and can’t possibly be in this world. Something gets dirty after the last load of laundry is washed, dried, folded and put away. (Who am I kidding, saying after? The last load is never done! Not here anyway.) 🙂 Something in the sink (it it makes it that far) after the dishes are done. Something necessary that breaks or disappears when it is needed. There’s always something to clean, organize, fix or look for. And it all bugs him terribly.

    To the point where he can’t even take Sunday off. He goes to Bible study and church in the morning, but then it’s right to the shop for the whole afternoon and evening, except for the occasional Sundays we go to visit his mom.

    Me, I’m not a super-observant person. I can be deep in thought about any number of things, surrounded by clutter in probably half of the house, and it usually doesn’t bother me. My thoughts do eventually lead to action in the narrow area of my focus, though, and when I’m done with the task, I enjoy it, without feeling distressed about the other not-so-great-looking areas. Not right away, anyway.

    I’m not sure that that’s exactly patience. It could be an apathy vs. drive consideration, rather than a question of patience vs. impatience.

    For the record, I do get impatient about some things. Injustice against people, whether real or perceived on my part, really gets to me. I have no patience for that.

    I still have trouble with impatience when we have to be out the door by a certain time, and the last half hour before leaving goes by like it’s 3 minutes, and someone is still looking for shoes to wear.

    Grrr.

    But anyway…random thoughts, these. Back to organizing in the basement. Water from heavy rains came in yesterday, so a bunch of things are not where they belong, having been moved out of the way. Thankfully no rain today.

    Liked by 2 people

  49. How can I resist when 49 is just sitting here waiting for me?
    Prayers appreciated that my home in California would be rented soon. It is time.
    And a renter that the home would bless and they would bless me.

    Liked by 1 person

  50. Insomnia tonight (not surprising since I slept 11 hours last night — very tired from everything going on lately, including, on top of it all, lots of vacuuming up water yesterday, trying to stay ahead of the water coming into our basement during heavy rains) has turned out to be a good time to catch up on the last couple week’s prayer threads.

    Consider you and yours prayed for tonight, per those requests and Jo’s above.

    More prayers to come, as I will probably be awake for another hour yet…

    Good night/day, and blessings.

    P.S. Very nice, reading through those psalms on the prayer thread, also, in the quiet of the night.

    Liked by 3 people

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