Upcoming Changes

Anyone standing by with bated breath, at this point, deserves a medal or something.  Anyone holding their breath waiting for the next post has sadly passed away.

I do want you to know though that there are serious plans in the works for a renewed effort on this blog.  Beginning in the new year of 2012 a new theme will be developed.  You will have to wait to see what that theme is, but those waiting for just about anything will be pleased.  There will be new people coming around here...hopefully... and they too should be pleased. People hoping for more snarky comments about what's going on in the world, not so much.

The first of these new posts should come about on January 9th. Stay tuned.  I've already got April all planned out too...A-to-ZChallenge.com . Blog titles written, even a few rough notes written in.  It will all be centred around the new theme.

If this falls apart, I will have to stop pretending I am a blogger and stick to what I do better...not blogging.

So...April 30th was the last post...

...and now its December 1th.  We are slogging along here.  Our foray into fostering has been very enjoyable and still looks like the end date is nowhere in sight.  Not that we mind.  Work has been a source of soul-searching.  What to do, what to do?  No real publishable answer as of this date.

Florida is rapidly approaching, and it can not arrive soon enough.

Stay tuned.

I will return.

By the way, the ramping up has begun for next April's A to Z blogging challenge.  Consider it and join in the fun.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzz's

So, again (see my "M" post) my wife is away for the weekend... maybe I need to live better to get her to stay home (really, she rarely goes away, this is basically the only weekend a year she goes away, to a retreat, the other weekend was for a friend in need).

Anyway, now I'm home with three toddlers, well, six and younger, running two teenagers around last evening, trying to finish this blog thing, washing my hair (I have ten seconds to do that), trying to keep the house semi-clean, the police from being called and the wolf from the door. I need to sleep!


Thanks for the fun in the A to Z challenge. Its been good to do this, though I must admit, some days it was posting for posting's sake, like some of today's. Sorry that those of you who kept looking in were forced to read some of these! Maybe it will begin a creative process of thinking about saying something though, not just sitting idly by with my brain in a bucket. Out.

Y not? A New Blogging Challenge, only one day this time!

X's and O's

Technology, sophistication, messy hand-writing, generation gaps, too little time...

Who doesn't still love to play at least one game of Tic Tac Toe?

Whining

I love whiny blog posts... they make me click "next blog".

Voting for Veterans

Canada has an election on Monday. How many is that now in so few years? That's the joy of a multi-party system, minority governments and special interest groups in Quebec.

I wish we weren't heading to the polls on Monday.

However, I'm glad we get to vote, and I will if the river don't rise.

We seem to have gotten the idea that Remembrance Day/Veterans Day is an important day, finally. However, until we have a better turn out on election day, its like showing up to church on Easter or Christmas. Its better than nothing, but it looks more like duty than a true understanding of the bigger issues. Why did we fight? Why do we need to vote? It couldn't happen again, right?

Vote, left-wing, right-wing, I don't care who for. I just care that you exercise the right.

Unknown

We've entered a time of unknowns.

Personally and as a planet.

How long will this little guy stay with us? Who's next? Can families be saved in an age that doesn't support them except as ideals and back-window stickers on our minivans?

Will our economic system survive?

Does anyone care about democratic process?

Is there hope when earthquakes and tornadoes and terrorists threaten every day?

We don't even know the questions, let alone the answers.

We don't, but someone does!

"Why don't you look into Jesus, He's got the answers"-Larry Norman

Time

The more time passes me by, the less I understand it. The more I put the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, and decades into their neat little boxes and tuck them out of sight, the less I understand what they have actually accomplished and how to take advantage of the moment I am actually living in. Maybe thinking about it actually makes it worse- fretting and not living.

Its a human struggle though. One that's been happening since people had more years to live. Vanity of vanities.

Here are a few brilliant quotes from Annie Dillard on time and a life well lived:

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."

"We are here on the planet only once, and might as well get a feel for the place."

"Spend the afternoon, you can't take it with you."

"There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by. A life of good days lived in the senses is not enough. The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less; time is ample and its passage sweet. Who would call a day spent reading a good day? But a life spent reading -- that is a good life."

"A schedule defends from chaos and whim. A net for catching days."

Reasonable Service

from the album "Green Room Serenade, Part One"
by the Lost Dogs
(Terry Taylor)


In every soul an altar stands
There on dwells all in the heart of man
Oh consuming fire lay waste the dross
Upon this table purge us
Though the sacrifice we'll fear
Forsake us not Lord draw us near
For we never fail to find you here
In our reasonable service

Now the least that we can do
Is the least that you require
Living sacrifices on
The sacrificial fire
Cleanse these earthen vessels Lord
Of every false desire
And when we fail the do the least
Help us in our unbelief

Chorus

And in the measure of our faith
Let our minds keep on renewing
Not conforming to this world
Until this worlds undoing
And by your tender mercies Lord
Your perfect will pursuing
We become an offering
Made holy through your suffering

In the servitude of love
Drifts a fragrant scent well pleasing
As the strength of grace compels us on
To a worship without ceasing
To count as loss all we hold dear
Is Christ in us increasing
And through the fire gold will remain
To live is Christ to die is gain

Quinzy

One of the unique experiences those of have who grow up with lots of snow in the winter is the experience of building snow sculptures, forts, tunnels, etc.
I remember visiting a quinzy, a snow tent built into a snow bank. This was during my teacher training days in Three Hills, Alberta. One of the junior high teachers (I think, though he may have taught high school) there would build one every year and people would go to this very large snowbank with several tunnels leading into a large inner room that was about five feet high and ten feet across. They iced the ceiling in the inner chamber so that it would be more sturdy.

Olivia Dunham and Peter Bishop

O and P, one fell swoop...
are the two main characters from Fringe. We have been watching season two of Fringe, the Hitchcock-like thriller of a television show that takes you to very strange places, then twists things up till it is stranger still. Dunham and Bishop are two very effective characters because of the human struggle that the writers work very hard to incorporate into who they are.

The show itself revolves around trying to line up known science with scientific anomalies, things that are rumoured, but not provable, things like spontaneous human combustion, astral projection, and telekinesis. It also introduces alternate universes and moving back and forth between them. Quite intriguing if you like that kind of show! And we do.

Novels

Very late, been writing a bit, but having a hard time getting things posted, dial up and kids and life, you know....

What would I write, if I could write a novel?
What I would write is what I like to read. My favourite books lately have been ones that involve complex growing characters more than anything else.

Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, Annie Dillards's The Maytrees, any of David Adams Richards works, Tolkiens' Lord of the Rings, To Kill a Mockingbird, anything by Dickens, and most of the rest of my favourites all entail characters growing, maturing, overcoming their weaknesses, etc.
Even the most popular of modern works which we tend to think as revolving around suspense, medical intrigue, international terrorism or espionage are usually more tightly wound around the main characters' struggles.
I even have a part of a story rattling around in my head, involves strange human behaviours and overcoming the past, redemption, the human struggle. Just a few pages though and that's taken over a year... no hurry!

Missing My Wife

We had to split up this weekend. She had to take our daughter two hours west. I chose to take our two boys two hours east. Now we're far apart. Distance.

Tomorrow is a new day and by the end of it, we shall be together! I love you, Sabrina.

Oh yeah, she's doing the A-Z challenge too. Check out her site!

LOST

Anyone remember the old tv show from the mid to late 2000's called Lost? Me too. It was great. It changed television... forever. You know how some things turn you into a snob? You eat one type of cheese, all other types just don't cut it for you anymore? (get it? cheese - cut it...nevermind) You listen to Daniel Amos, all other music just fades into the background? Lost was that television show, I know its been gone for nearly a year now, but seriously, how can anyone watch tv now that you know what a good show looks like?

When does "Lost, They Go Back" start?

King!

The following is not my post... I copied it from here

"That's My King"

The late Dr. S. M. Lockeridge, a pastor from San Diego, California
said these words in a sermon in Detroit in 1976:

My King was born King. The Bible says He's a Seven Way King. He's the King of the Jews - that's an Ethnic King. He's the King of Israel - that's a National King. He's the King of righteousness. He's the King of the ages. He's the King of Heaven. He's the King of glory. He's the King of kings and He is the Lord of lords. Now that's my King.

Well, I wonder if you know Him. Do you know Him? Don't try to mislead me. Do you know my King? David said the Heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. My King is the only one of whom there are no means of measure that can define His limitless love. No far seeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of the shore of His supplies. No barriers can hinder Him from pouring out His blessing.

He's enduringly strong. He's entirely sincere. He's eternally steadfast. He's immortally graceful. He's imperially powerful. He's impartially merciful. That's my King. He's God's Son. He's the sinner's saviour. He's the centerpiece of civilization. He stands alone in Himself. He's honest. He's unique. He's unparalleled. He's unprecedented. He's supreme. He's pre-eminent. He's the grandest idea in literature. He's the highest personality in philosophy. He's the supreme problem in higher criticism. He's the fundamental doctrine of historic theology. He's the carnal necessity of spiritual religion. That's my King.

He's the miracle of the age. He's the superlative of everything good that you choose to call Him. He's the only one able to supply all our needs simultaneously. He supplies strength for the weak. He's available for the tempted and the tried. He sympathizes and He saves. He's the Almighty God who guides and keeps all his people. He heals the sick. He cleanses the lepers. He forgives sinners. He discharged debtors. He delivers the captives. He defends the feeble. He blesses the young. He serves the unfortunate. He regards the aged. He rewards the diligent and He beautifies the meek. That's my King.

Do you know Him? Well, my King is a King of knowledge. He's the wellspring of wisdom. He's the doorway of deliverance. He's the pathway of peace. He's the roadway of righteousness. He's the highway of holiness. He's the gateway of glory. He's the master of the mighty. He's the captain of the conquerors. He's the head of the heroes. He's the leader of the legislatures. He's the overseer of the overcomers. He's the governor of governors. He's the prince of princes. He's the King of kings and He's the Lord of lords. That's my King.

His office is manifold. His promise is sure. His light is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes. His Word is enough. His grace is sufficient. His reign is righteous. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I wish I could describe Him to you . . . but He's indescribable. That's my King. He's incomprehensible, He's invincible, and He is irresistible.

I'm coming to tell you this, that the heavens of heavens can't contain Him, let alone some man explain Him. You can't get Him out of your mind. You can't get Him off of your hands. You can't outlive Him and you can't live without Him. The Pharisees couldn't stand Him, but they found out they couldn't stop Him. Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him. The witnesses couldn't get their testimonies to agree about Him. Herod couldn't kill Him. Death couldn't handle Him and the grave couldn't hold Him. That's my King.

He always has been and He always will be. I'm talking about the fact that He had no predecessor and He'll have no successor. There's nobody before Him and there'll be nobody after Him. You can't impeach Him and He's not going to resign. That's my King! That's my King!

Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory. Well, all the power belongs to my King. We're around here talking about black power and white power and green power, but in the end all that matters is God's power. Thine is the power. Yeah. And the glory. We try to get prestige and honor and glory for ourselves, but the glory is all His. Yes. Thine is the Kingdom and the power and glory, forever and ever and ever and ever. How long is that? Forever and ever and ever and ever. . . And when you get through with all of the ever's, then . . .Amen!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To hear this 6:30 minute audio message by this amazing AfricanAmerican preacher, use the following link:
http://www.theiowaharvest.com/harvestholler/archives/000085.html

Jesus Christ

Can I offer Him as not the word for the day, but the Word for all time?

John 1:1

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.


You see, when God wanted to communicate to humanity, he came himself, in the person of the one we call Jesus Christ today. He showed us love, showed us grace, showed us holiness. Then he died. Easter is coming soon. Please consider looking into the Christian meaning of the season, not the story, but what the story tells us. His love and death was for a reason. He didn't die to write a good tragic story for us. The resurrection didn't happen just so we could have a cool ending to the story.

Sacrifice.
Justice.
Penalty.
Redemption.



The Twist
from the album "Zoom Daddy"
Words by Terry Taylor, Music by Terry Taylor, David Raven, Jerry Chamberlain and Tim Chander
©1988 Broken Songs

hang on, believe
there's nothing up my sleeve
i've got no magic tricks to save the day
put down the gun
you're not helping anyone
and i'm not about to run or back away

don't walk the fence
then come to my defense
i don't need fair weather kinds of friends around
so watch and pray
as a traitor's kiss betrays
and rest your feet of clay on shaky ground

chorus
and look me in the face, at least what's left of it
tell me you still love me just a little bit
or nail me down, break the skin
hard enough to do me in
but don't leave me hanging
dying and dangling
twisting in the wind

here, touch my side
let doubt be crucified
nailed with your wounded pride
to love's grim altar
here, taste my flesh
my bloody humanness
i am no phantom guest
no skinless martyr

so taste and feel
there's nothing to conceal
you always knew the deal
was sacrifice
stand up, be strong
when all you've got is gone
i left the light turned on in paradise

chorus

and when the walls cave in
and the curtain's torn asunder
you'll know we're near the end
you'll hear me in the thunder
and when the sun grows dim
this will be your sign and wonder
that soon we'll meet again
just like we did last summer

Ice Crashing!

We have a family tradition to hit go "ice crashing" every spring.
Ice crashing gets its name from the event. We jump into canoes and crash into, through and sometimes onto the ice of Lake Couchiching.

Do not be alarmed. The water is less than five feet deep. The ice is usually thin enough that with some hard and steady paddling, a canoe can keep some forward motion.

The tradition comes from the coureurs de bois, the French-Canadian or Metis furtraders. They would hit the ice as early as possible to get their furs through to Quebec first, and thereby get the best price for their wares.

Everyone in our family looks forward to it. Here is a picture of us out just yesterday, though the ice was too hard yet and will have to be attacked again tomorrow!

Happy Anniversary to us!

I love you my dear wife! Seven good years followed by seven even gooder ones, kinda like Pharoah's dream, only different.

Giga, Gaga, Google, and Go-Gos

Remember when a gigabyte was huge? What is that now? A good sized program or so?

Remember when Lady Gaga was a blip on the radar? Now she's a full fledged storm. Will she be Boy George (weird mis-step on the historical scale) or Dennis Rodman(hard working future hall of famer)?

Google. Its a noun, a verb, an economic powerhouse, an enabler, and a dictator. Its ubiquitous and its only 13 years old!

Want to get my little boys jumping for joy? A package of Go-Gos will do it. Why? I'm not sure, except that they are so simple and fun that you can make them be whatever you want them to be

49ers

I could have, should have, would have written about my truly favourite sports team yesterday, however, I thought of my grandfather and didn't. You can find out more information about that team here.

So I thought I'd go with the Forty Niners today instead.

Favourite hockey teams for me have included, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Ottawa Senators. Many of those teams are fierce rivals and yet for me that didn't matter. Today? I know the Rangers goaltender. I know about five Red Wings, likely five Senators, and likely half the Leaf's roster, since I listen to the sports radio station that broadcasts out of Toronto, a station that would not exist if it were not for the Leafs...Why are they Leafs and not Leaves? Never did get that. The main reason I can't pick a team in hockey as that I am really not that big of a hockey fan. Well, I am getting bigger, but I was talking about as a fan, not girth, density and spatial exuberance.

I digress.

My favourite baseball team has always been the Expos, but since they moved to DC, I have to cheer for the Nationals. I have to, win or lose, that will not change unless the team just disappears.

Grade 7 or 8. I first discovered football. I didn't know the difference between the CFL and the NFL before then, but at that time I had the opportunity to interact with a few CFL players who traveled with a Christian ministry, Athletes in Action and came to our school. The 49ers were just reaching their peak at that time in the NFL. Bill Walsh was the coach, they had a shrewd (was it illegal?) grasp of the salary cap, Joe Montana was quarterbacking, there was Roger Craig, Jerry Rice, so many more...but most importantly, they had Ronnie Lott. Same first name as me! Of course you have to cheer for a guy with the same name as you! It also helped that Global Television carried one game a week then, middle 1980's this is, long before NFL network, etc. They usually carried the 49ers because the 49ers were a huge draw. Then the won the Super Bowl (and proceeded to do so several more times over the next ten years), and I was hooked.

Its not quite the same as my fanaticism for the Expos/Nationals. But the 49ers haven't made the playoffs in 7 years now and still, loyal to the end.

What about you? Any fan stories to relate? Who have you remained loyal to? Sporting or otherwise.

Easton

Its a city in Pennsylvania. Its the name of a pirate, an 80's singer, a hockey stick or baseball bat, and the middle name of a writer. Its also the name of a street in my hometown...and the one I've had to live up to my whole life.

The farther back our family tree you go, the more George's, David, James, and Roberts you find. Not many others once you go back more than 80 years. We have a family tree that takes us back to the 1700's and it appears that George Foreman got his childrens' names from my family tree.

The name means "One's from the East", so nothing too dynamic there, but I have come to think that the name means, "do the right thing". I just made that up. I think it fits though. I am thinking of my dear Grandpa right now. He was always "old", as most grandpas are to their grandkids I guess, but he always had energy to work and help and to keep us busy and to be excited about what he had videotaped on tv, or to take another trip somewhere and relive that by showing us the videotape he'd record while driving his home-built motorhome down the road. How we thought those movies would never end...how we love reviewing them now, just to hear their voices!

Does anyone care for Charlie Sheen?

It is sad to think that a fellow human, who has made terrible choices and lives with the consequences, is being exploited as news. It is also terrible that someone is exploiting him by booking him to tour so people can sit and watch while he crashes and burns.

This man has human children. Does anyone care about them? Who will be there for them as they watch the man they call "Daddy" is paraded before them day after day.

Does anyone care?

Comments

I have been enjoying going around to some of the other blogs doing the A-Z challenge. I don't usually check out other blogs. I am not sure why, but I guess its something to do with our painful dial-up internet service but also that time is quite a hard-to-come-by commodity. Anyway, I've been commenting on people's blogs and I must say, it gives me a boost to comment on some of these other posts that some have put so much thought into. Not me. I have not put too much foresight or whatnot into mine. In fact, since its 12:53am as I type this, I'm not even putting much thought into this post.

I digress again.

Comments are like little birds at the feeder. They don't have to come, but when they show up, they always bring a smile. Come now my little chickadees...

Behaviour

Behaviour with a "u"...a perfectly acceptable spelling of the word for those of us unafraid to embrace our British roots/routes.

We took in a class on discipline and behaviour today. Funny how you go in thinking its going to be about children and you come out thinking about yourself... "Why do I?", "Why don't I?", all the questions come flooding in. I had to re-address my long held belief that self-awareness is the key to good discipline. I must admit that I have not really thought about that for a while, however, I reaffirmed it today as a necessity. I must be self-aware to discipline my self, and I must be self-aware in my disciplining of my children. Great to be reminded of. For me that is.

Adam Again

Going for bonus points with the Double A today. I don't really know what this month's pattern will be, but I'm starting out with a band I like but haven't talked about on here.

Adam Again rose from the underground in the mid 1980's out of Southern California. Their first concert at Cornerstone Festival created a good amount of buzz and by the time their second album came out shortly thereafter, they had a lot of anticipation built.

That first record... yeah record, was a funky intelligent, fun album. The first time I heard of Adam Again was on a promotional release from Word Records. The two or three clips from that tape were enough to make me know that this was a band I was going to like. Their words were earthy and filled with longing, but the shadows point to the fact that there is still a light.

Gene Eugene, the driving force behind the band, passed away from a brain aneurysm at the age of 39...my current age, eleven years ago. You can find some of their music on iTunes.

Tossing It Out: Sign up for A to Z Challenge

Tossing It Out: Sign up for A to Z Challenge: "Add your name to the list to be officially included in the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge"

If you want to join this huge blogathon... sign up at the link above. Go to the bottom of the list of names (I am at number 823 I think) and sign in. Should be fun. Now to plan something!

So... I have to start posting in two days anyway...

so I thought I would go way back first...Nobel Prize posting from 2009


Now that the dogs of war are barking on the White House lawn... any thoughts? Wondering where my anonymous commenter stands two years later?