49 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 2-15-19”

  3. I’m up because I was lying in bed thinking of how to help my author turn a really boring, bad book into a good book (at least potentially–if she has the ability), and I thought I’d better get back up and put it in writing, since by morning I’ll completely forget what I wanted to say, and will be back to reading a book that tells us “the scene was truly a winter wonderland!” about every 15 pages and “needless to say” every couple of pages, and never really gets the story going. But she has buried humor everywhere if she can actually present it as humor and allow the reader to laugh.

    That’s a tricky thing for an editor, to say “you’re trying to do this (and it doesn’t work), but if you turn 180 degrees and do this, you might have a really excellent book!” Good humor is such a rare gift, that if she can actually pull it off . . .

    When I mention my authors, by the way, I don’t mean to do it as gossip. There is nothing in this description that would give anyone the slightest idea what book I’m reading, or who is the writer, and that’s deliberate. And I’m not meaning to tear anyone down–writing is harder than many people expect it to be, and it takes an objective outsider to say “This works, and this doesn’t.” I personally wouldn’t be able to write the book this writer is attempting to write, but if I can help her do it, or even help her learn what doesn’t work (and why) and to go in a different direction than my suggestion, that will make it that much more likely she will someday be ready to write a book for publication. There is tremendous satisfaction in coming alongside an author when she begins to “get it” and I’m hoping I can help this writer in such a way. But before I went to bed I hadn’t figured out how to be positive and not just say “this and this doesn’t work.” An editor often spends a lot of time pointing out what doesn’t work, but the idea is always to prune off the dead stuff and allow the good material room to grow and be beautiful, not just to chop everything down. (Sometimes it is “Good first attempt” and you know that THIS book can never be a published book, or even a good book, but that just the practice of getting words on paper is useful. And if you can help the author see what she does well, and to learn in the areas where she is weak by reading other writers, then her second attempt at a book might just be playing to her strengths and not her weaknesses.)

    Liked by 7 people

  4. The van has not reappeared today, so I got to walk home. It only rained the last 100 yards and the heavy rain we had just had actually made the roads better. I am thankful that I had the van to go to market this morning. My market bags were heavy.
    I bought a couple of extra mangoes to peel, chop and freeze so that I can have mango chicken later in the year.

    Liked by 6 people

  6. So. What do we know about primary parahyperthyroidism?
    I do know that when my doctor mentioned a surgeon I told him we needed to explore other avenues first. He is getting me in to see BG’s endocrinologist.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Kim,

    Not much, other than it’s overactive. Mine is Hypothyroidism, the opposite problem. But the surgery sounds like it’s not too bad, and is effective. Plus the new way, the “mini” way, doesn’t leave a large scar behind on the neck. Definitely a plus. 🙂

    Hope this helps.

    https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyperparathyroidism/symptoms-causes/syc-20356194

    —————————-

    https://www.parathyroid.com/mini-surgery.htm

    “Minimally Invasive Parathyroid Surgery for Hyperparathyroidism.

    Mini-Parathyroid Surgery for Parathyroid Disease and hyperparathyroidism. Nearly all parathyroid tumors can be cured with mini-parathyroid surgery. Parathyroid disease is typically cured in under 20 minutes using minimally invasive methods allowing you to go home an hour or two after your parathyroid operation. High success rates require checking all four parathyroid glands.

    Minimally invasive parathyroid surgery was pioneered in the early 1990’s by the work of Dr James Norman, MD while being the Director of Endocrine Surgery at the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL. Dr Norman learned how to perform parathyroid surgery like all other surgeons: make a big incision and dissect and explore until you find the four parathyroid glands; decide which one is bad and take it out–and keep exploring to see if there are any more bad glands. As he performed more and more parathyroid surgery, he could not believe that in the era of mini-surgery for galbladders and knee scopes, people had to have their neck slit open to find a tumor the size of an olive. “There had to be a better way! Digging around in somebody’s neck hoping to run into a tumor was the dumbest thing I had ever seen in my life!”

    Like

  8. He (the baby) looks like hi is having fun.
    How do I know it’s a He?

    BG is too pretty to be having whatever that is. I know what the “Primary” part is. I would be skeptical about the rest.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Last night my 16 year old attended her first concert, WinterJam 2019 with a youth group. She saw the Newsboys and a bunch of others. She had a great time, but we didn’t get to bed until 2. So I’m going back to bed.

    G’night.

    Again. 🙂

    Liked by 7 people

  12. Morning! It is dark and still in this forest and we have been promised one more day of springlike weather. A very good day to take a walk and drink in the fresh air!
    Kim I saw your baby on FB. Now she has rhythm 😊 and she is indeed adorable!

    Like

  14. See Who?
    😉

    I keep explaining to Elvera what we are doing this morning. Finally, I said, “Trust me. You have been doing that for 62 years and It’s always worked out.”

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Wow! Lots of confusion on here this morning. Good morning despite it all!

    Kim, the question is with whom would you attend the concert? To me the answer totally depends on that.

    Like

  19. Darling adorable and very cute picture. What a view!

    Well, Kim, that explains your depression. I have been hypo and hyper. Neither is fun. I have a friend at church who had a tumor removed from her thyroid. She is a singer and has done great through it all.

    Praying for wisdom for you and the health care personal.

    Liked by 2 people

  21. Is it Kim or BG w/the hypo whatever? Or both?

    I saw Fleetwood Mac “back in the day,” 1970s. They were good. Not sure about now.

    Well, then, there it is. First concert — that’ll be a security question AJ’s daughter will have to answer decades into the future.

    My first concert was the Beach Boys.

    I don’t know who invited the goats. I only suggested dis-inviting them because they are rowdy.

    Have the blog grandbaby wars begun?

    It’s cloudy today with maybe some showers anticipated for later and into the weekend. But needless to say, it’s nothing like yesterday morning when we woke up to truly a winter wonderland! (rainy, muddy LA style)

    Yay for Friday.

    Liked by 2 people

  22. I posted an answer for Kim but I am not sure where it went.

    If BG wanted you to go to the concert, by all means yes. But with the ones mentioned, it would depend how much it means to them and also what else you could do with that time.

    Like

  23. Kim,

    Depends…….

    Will Stevie Nicks be there?

    Then definitely. 🙂

    If not….. No.

    They already fired Lindsey Buckingham so he won’t be there. 😦

    Like

  24. Art and I saw the movie ‘I Am Sam’ last night. After the beginning I was not sure I wanted to watch it. A lady is at the hospital delivering a baby fathered by an autistic man (out of wedlock). They depart from the hospital, and she leaves him with the baby girl. The plot seemed too unrealistic to start with but it later became very real as he sought to retain custody after the girl turned seven and reached his mental capacity. The movie makes good use of the Beatles’ music since the autistic father is fixated on them. It really explores the DFACS methods of choosing fit parents and also shows love can count for so much more than other abilities in parenting. It is PG-13 for adult topics and some language. It is a movie to make you think about the special needs community as a whole to see how they support each other, too. It starts Sean Penn and Michelle Pfiffer (the lawyer who takes his case Pro Bono).

    Liked by 1 person

  27. I like the sound rabbits make best.
    The first concert I remember is Johnny Cash. He made a joke about Jimmy Carter. “First president without an accent.”

    Liked by 3 people

  28. The neighbors have fainting goats. They fall over when the dog barks at them. The dog enjoys barking at them. I don’t know if they enjoy falling over.

    Liked by 5 people

  29. Oh, fainting goats! I love that idea.

    Chas, that’s a very cool “first concert” (Johnny Cash).

    My girlfriend’s parents took us to the Beach Boys concert (in Anaheim), we were probably 13/14? And I don’t think we really “got” it back then, but we grew up in the community (Inglewood) that was right next door to where the Beach Boys lived and went to school (Hawthorne, although a few years ahead of us, of course). We frequented the same local burger joints and beaches. Small world.

    My 2nd concert was the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl.

    Liked by 2 people

  36. I’ve been out with my brother running .any errands. First he took me to the eye doctor, then we visited Sprouts then took the car go get an emissions sticker where the battery died and the car had to be jumped off then we dropped videos at the library. Picked up Art’s medicine at Kroger, got gas at Sam’s, paid my credit card bi at Sam’s and then shipped there. Wow! We got a lot do e

    Liked by 1 person

  39. I’m at a conference and just stopped in before dinner. You prayed for him, there he is at 4.5 months. His mom is sewing curtains.

    I should have another (smaller) Adorable in 10 weeks. 🙂

    Liked by 6 people

  42. Such a combination- I can’t see going to Evie then Styx! And was it Barry MacGuire before his conversion?

    I think my first concert was The 5th Dimension. Or it may have been 3 Dog Night. I know I was 12 or 13 for my first concert, other than the classical music concerts my dd would take us to every Sunday evening in the park.

    Liked by 1 person

  43. Barry MacGuire and the “Eve of Destruction.” We saw him at the Hollywood Bowl when that song was still very popular.

    I liked 3 Dog Night and The 5th Dimension but don’t think I saw either of them in concert.

    Like

  48. My first concert was Chicago. I’ve seen the Almond Brothers, Neil Young, a triple header of Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and John Melencamp, Gordon Lightfoot, the Getty’s, and Lorenna McKinnet. I may not have spelled all those names correctly. I am probably forgetting some other bands since I never enjoyed the concerts as much as I enjoyed listening to albums at home. The concerts cost so much and you can’t hear it again unless they record live. I never liked being around all the smoke at concerts and how people passed the joints around.

    Like

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.