Just a pretty idea ... I don't think I have a place in my house for even one more chair, but I'm thinking 'bout restoring and selling them.  Problem is, by time I put them all back together, it's hard to let them go. ... tomorrow is garage sale day ...

Red Bull ...

Skydiver Felix Baumgartner breaking the sound barrier - Red Bull Stratos

while we're talking about vapor clouds ... 

and this, just because they remind me of one another.

thunder, lightning, thick cloud, trumpet blast ... smoke, fire, trembling mountain, sound of trumpet (louder and louder)

Certainly God would have better stuff then these wonderful bad boys ... when I think about loud clouds ... and arrivals, I think of stuff like this ... but better.

photos found via google images ... 

Twin headboards complete.  Check.
I think I'm going to take a break from fabric things for a while ...  I need to get up the steam to sew those curtains and bed skirts.  I have two books that I want to read right now ... plus I am trying to write some on that book idea.  Little bits of it fall together.  I think about it while I do something else and then I make the notes.  I don't think I am a writer of books ... . It's not that it's too hard, it's that it's not that interesting.  Now ... it's time to get the house ready for Christmas ... time to start thinking about meals and other things that might make the season nicer for my family.  Like ... a big stack of fire wood, or paperwhites pushing up through the soil and stretching fragrant white.  I think my house is used to being cold enough for a cyclamen ... one of my favorites.

~found photo ... sorry, no credit, but the note said it was taken from  35,000 feet ...  a position of privilege I think, wonderful of them to share the view.  This would be the receding edge of the eclipse ... or the dawning of a new light, complete with the optical reminder of "rainbow".  I like the photo quite a bit. 

Exodus 20:21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

I'm doing this thing ... following this guide I found on-line of "reading the Bible" in one years time.  I like that it's on the laptop ... easily accessible.  http://www.ewordtoday.com/year/

Anyway, today's reading is a bit riveting. I like the whole epic story of a man (Moses) meeting with God.  Really ... wow.  And, it could have gone differently ... as I read it I see choices being offered and selections being made.

There is a certain darkness.  There is certainly a darkness ... a thick darkness ... which seems to blanket the doings of mankind.  I think we are accustomed to "looking" in the dark, so much so in fact, that "dark" seems ... normal.  It seems normal until it is suddenly darker, like too dark to see what we thought might be "the way" or ... until it is suddenly lots brighter, as with a flash of lightning in the deep of a storm ... it illuminates for a second, and we see things as they really are, but the image is gone before we can truly process the information ... it tends to "highlight" how truly dark our darkness is, rather then lighting ... the way. I look out my window and wonder.

~Mathieu Neuforge

http://www.biblestudytools.com/passage.aspx?q=exodus+19;exodus+20;matthew+18:21-34

These verses are wrapped around the Ten Commandments, and as I read this today, it seems to me that the people were actually invited to come up on the mountain ... also.  There were instructions about preparing themselves and an admonition not to step a foot on the mountain until after a long blast from the horn ... an all clear sort of thing as I read it.

Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.

I'm going to say God really did show up on the mountain ... and I'm trying to imagine ... thunder, lightning, thick cloud, trumpet blast ... that's what it says, then ... (people tremble ... I get that ... Moses led the people out of their camp to the foot of the mountain) ... smoke, fire, trembling mountain, sound of trumpet (louder and louder) ... then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him ... and told Moses to come up, which he did and God said ...  "Go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the LORD and many of them perish. 22 Even the priests, who approach the LORD, must consecrate themselves, or the LORD will break out against them."  

now, to me, that sounds like a group invitation on to the mountain with advice to be "orderly" not to force their way through to see the Lord ... even the priests (who approach the Lord) must consecrate themselves, or ... . then this:  

23 Moses said to the LORD, "The people cannot come up Mount Sinai, because you yourself warned us, 'Put limits around the mountain and set it apart as holy.' " 24 The LORD replied, "Go down and bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through to come up to the LORD, or he will break out against them." 25 So Moses went down to the people and told them.

to me it sounds like Moses is reminding God (really?  that seems so odd ... ) about the restriction, and it seems to me that he (Moses) forgot the part about ...
Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain.
  
Did the ram's horn blast?  We get the loud trumpet, but where's the ram's horn? And what's the deal with a ram's horn anyway?

To me, with no intentional irreverence, it seems that God opts for a different plan and I think it was because "the people weren't listening or weren't ready ... or I don't know, and I don't even think I know, I acknowledge that I don't know ... I wonder if it was exasperating for God and He was like ... okay, just go get Aaron and tell the people to not force their way through or ... there's going to be trouble.

What if ... .  

I am thinking about a trumpet blast (in fact a whole series of trumpet blasts) which is (are) to happen sometime later.  It is prophesied about in Revelation and there is some "going up" happening there as well ... .  The words in the last book of the Bible convey similar images to these found in Exodus and portray (by choice) mankind dwelling with God.
Well, I'm thinking about that ... lots of thinking about that, cause it's very puzzling.  Umm, the choice part is clear, the sequence of events is puzzling. What ever happened to the sounding of the ram's horn?

thunder, lightning, thick cloud, trumpet blast ... smoke, fire, trembling mountain, sound of trumpet (louder and louder)

honestly, it sounds like the landing of something I really want to see ... it sounds really cool ... okay and scary if you're not used to stuff landing ... it's going to be awesome!  And then ... it gets even cooler ... it gets ... holy.  

I remember when we worked the Friday night over night shift ... volunteering for a crisis intervention hot line.  I would sit in that room near a phone and look out into the impermeable dark  ... it felt like everything "out there" was totally dark and these tormented souls would reach out towards the tiny bit of light flickering in that room (we kept in on otherwise we'd fall asleep) ... twirling the dial, reaching through their dark for at least the warmth of another soul ... it's so hard to feel all alone in the dark.  Just the idea that some invisible someone some unknown somewhere was willing to listen helped them push at the enveloping darkness.  There is all manner of darkness out there.  Sometimes it really creeped me out (still does).  Sometimes it felt like the entire world was ... dark  ... and it felt like that darkness could easily overwhelm the tiny fragile light of that room. 
I can feel it still.  I don't mean that in some weird psychological way ... what I'm saying is I have anxieties about the choices we have made ... and the choices that brought us to this place where those choices were/are made.  This little goofy blog is inadvertently attracting a (relative)ton of "hits" via a search for True North, interest stirred up by the recent LINCOLN movie ... and I think it's because the idea that "we" are "off course" resonates out there in the thick darkness, the swamps threaten.


Exodus 20:21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

God was found in the thick darkness.

That's what I'm trying to think about today(while I work on upholstering headboards, and mop the floors in my house, while spaghetti sauce simmers ... while the leaves pile up from that tree at the end of the driveway ... all that, all the sweet luxury of that).

I don't think it is realistic to try to seal my life up from the dark.  I think dark is a given and has been for quite some time.   I think the plan might be to approach God ... thick dark is what we have to work with/in and we are called to live as children of light.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. ~ Ephesians 5:8

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. ~Isaiah 9:12

That's the course of hope ... that, I think, is True North.
...................................................

con·se·crate/ˈkänsiˌkrāt/

Verb:	Make or declare (something, typically a church) sacred; dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose. (in Christian belief) Make (bread or wine) into the body or blood of Christ.
Synonyms:	dedicate - sanctify - devote - hallow - bless

     “Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” ~ John Muir ... also this:

"We all flow from one fountain Soul. 

All are expressions of one Love. 

God does not appear, 

and flow out, 

only from narrow chinks and round bored wells 

here and there in favored races and places, 

but He flows in grand undivided currents, 

shoreless and boundless 

over creeds and forms 

and all kinds of civilizations 

and peoples 

and beasts, 

saturating all and fountainizing all."

~ John Muir, Badè's Life and Letters of John Muir: June 9, 1872 letter to Miss Catharine Merrill, from New Sentinel Hotel, Yosemite Valley
US (Scottish-born) conservationist & naturalist (1838 - 1914)

And ... the chair is finished!

this chair has a secret (back view)

Yes, I love it!  And there was enough fabric left over for a pillow ... I do love the clean lines of this chair.  Next up, those two head boards.  Have almost finished one and it's super cute for C.  L has everything ready for putting the frames back together, now we are waiting on me.

This made me laugh this morning and I thought to ask for a before and after picture to remember it by.  It's been that perfect sort of cold in the house lately, without the heater on bed covers feel so excellent ... that kind of cold.  Last night I showered and washed my hair getting ready for church today and I turned on the space heater in the bathroom to knock the chill off the air, but I was still in a hurry to get my hair dry and get to bed with those sheets as crisp as a Fuji apple ... and my down comforter and two : ) new feather pillows piled up on my old feather pillows ... like snuggling in on a cloud.  Bliss.  So I sort of blow dried my hair and wrapped in up loosely and went to bed thinking happy thoughts.  During the night my hair came down and it was all over the place ... uber bed head this fine morning.  I slept so

soundly and I woke up happy and ready for some hot coffee ... sat around in the dining room just goofing off (a whole bunch of doves were picking round in the front flower bed .. so sweet to see them) for probably a couple of hours ... maybe ... anyway at 15 minutes before it's absolutely time to leave for church I realized that I better get with a plan.  I love to wear my ropers around the house like house shoes ... comfy ... that seemed like a good part of the hurry up for church plan to me.  I thought tights and a sweater dress sounded okay ... a jacket ... a bit of hair brushing, tooth brushing ... maybe some mascara ... lip gloss.  Two poked her head in probably to check on my progress, but she asked, "How do I look?"  patting her non-existant tummy.  "Super cute" ... always super cute, "How do I look?"  She said, "Oh, uh uh Momma, not the boots."  And I just started laughing.  I think little old ladies should get to wear whatever they wish ... God looks at the inside and all that ... and I have been feeling particularly little old lady lately. "I mean it," she said, "put some shoes on!"  And still laughing, but slipping out of my boots, I said, "I think you are my mean daughter." She didn't turn around to look at me, just said, "No, I am the nice one ... those other two would probably let you out of the house looking like that!"  I love those boots, but  have to admit the shoes look better, at least for church.

chairs

Finished this chair ... almost finished I need to attach the seat and put those little wood buttons in the screw holes.  This chair has the jade stain ... will try to get a picture in better light to show what that looks like.  This is that polka dot fabric ... golden dots.  For some reason the chair reminds me exacty of broken in cowboy boots ... feels great.

Now I am working on this one ...

this was the first chair I bought with the intention to redo ... it's from College Station, and it was the first project I completed in upholstery class ... it got broken one day when I was away and when I saw it I just put it in a closet ... poor little broken leg

... now I know how to repair it!  

so today I striped all the old fabric off ... tons of staples and way too much glue!  It made me smile to see how much better I am at this type of thing.  I sanded all the wood and tomorrow my husband is going to help me put the leg back on ... it will need the day to dry.  On Monday I am going to refinish the wood and on Tuesday I will staple the new fabric in place ... it will appear all striped from the front and the bird fabric will be picture framed in the back view.  That fabric is really neat, colorful.  I love it.  Better picture in a few days.  Re-doing this chair feels really good.  I watched the Ken Burns doc on National Parks today ... very cool.  V is asking me to think about home schooling her beginning  next Fall.  If we decide that is best for her I'm pretty sure we will have a very mobile classroom.  She wants to see the Sequoias and I do too.

Hunting ... for sewing stuff

... for fabric to sew up the curtains C wants, also the two bed skirts.  She is hoping for that Bella Notte look so I have been looking for some very light weight fabric ... bordering on flimsy ... and easy on the pocket book because ruffles take a lot of yardage and I may be getting ready to make a big mess.  So found that today in a fabric barn in Eclectic, Alabama.  It's not really a barn, I don't know why they call it that.  The building was once a hotel built in 1914 ... it burned ... the brick shell remains and tons and tons (bunches) of bolts of fabrics and sundries are stacked, piled, tossed helter skelter under the tin roof or in some places a more refined tongue and groove ceiling had been installed somewhere along the years.  I wondered about snakes while looking through just the top layer of fabric.

I bought 19 yards of off white fabric (a buck a yard), and several yards of that edging (20 cents a yard) the coral "cotton ball" trim 10 yards (89 cents a yard) and 3/4 of a yard of this striped fabric (10.95 a yard).  I have plans for all but the coral trim.  I just liked it enough to begin making plans for it.

We drove over and saw a lot of interesting stuff along the way ... I thought I'd take pictures of it as we came back by on the way home, but we chose a different route.  Was glad to see this field on the way home.  L stopped so I could get a few shots.

 These bales are box car sized.

~found photo ... micro photography

Roasted sweet potato salad ... my made up recipe

First of all ... very tasty

Peeled, cubed and roasted four sweet potatoes (lightly coated in olive oil and sea salt)
Cubed one fresh pineapple ... does not taste the same as canned
sliced as thin as my mandolin would allow ... two small white onions and one shallot
the irregularly shape fall of from the onions, shallot and pineapple I put in the food processor ... with
a little olive oil
some apple cider vinegar
a bit of fresh orange juice
what was left of a bunch of parsley
what was left of a bunch of cilantro
a good squeeze of spicy brown mustard
and pulsed to dressing
marinate all in refrigerator over night and toss on toasted/salted pumpkin seed be fore serving

now I see that red onion would have been pretty as an ingredient and also red pepper

Many of the recipes I read while searching for a sweet potato salad recipe had red pepper and green pepper in their salad.  I would have used a half a red pepper had I had one on hand.  I've have sliced long thin strips ... it would have been a good addition to this recipe.

Cornbread Dressing Recipe

Basic Cornbread

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup cornmeal (yellow)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (Which I don't keep on hand so I sub 1/2tsp of white vinegar to every 1/2cup of milk)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Pam spray heavy black skillet ... middle shelf when it goes in.  My Gran pre-heated her skillet as the oven heated: I do that also.

In a large bowl, mix together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, buttermilk, and butter. Pour the buttermilk mixture into the cornmeal mixture and fold together until there are no dry spots (the batter will still be lumpy). Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.

Bake until the top is golden brown and tester inserted into the middle of the corn bread comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the cornbread from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes before serving.

If you like it's easy to add "special" ingredients.  I frequently add sharp cheddar cheese (grated) and jalapenos.  You might want to sub a bit of bacon grease for some of the butter ... or add already cooked bacon bits.  Cream cheese can be added to replace butter ... freshly grated parmesan ... rosemary, basil ... dill ... garlic.  Open to variation!

Just plain ole is what I use in our cornbread dressing.  For dressing I add sautéed onion, shallots, celery, water chestnuts (I like pecans too, but I think I'm the only one who does so I omit them) ... I've seen corn kernels, red pepper, jalapenos ... oysters ... mushrooms ... Daddy was in charge of the dressing as I grew up and he added all kinds of stuff, sometimes placing several different bowls of dressing on the buffet with little sign cards ... super sage, oyster deluxe, spicy especial.  I add chopped up boiled eggs too, and the pan drippings from the turkey ... plus toasted bread crumbs, some raw eggs (omitted this year and I didn't miss them at all ... still an excellent texture, not sure why they're part of the recipe, but I'm probably cutting them from mine), and chicken stock ... season with poultry seasoning and sage, salt and pepper ... bake.  I don't know how long or how hot.  I usually put it in with whatever else is cooking (in a smaller roasting pan - covered) and I just check on it until it looks done.  Basically to "cook" the raw eggs.  It should begin to pull away from the side of the baking dish and "dry out" to the right consistency (like mashed potatoes).  It goes in with the turkey as soon as I can pour pan dripping off of the turkey for the dressing and the giblet gravy ... may cook about an hour(?) or less.  My dad mixed the ingredients with his hands and just keep on pouring chicken stock in to it until it was "well saturated" ... speaking of which, I believe I have seen bourbon infused (delicately) dressing too.  Have fun with it ... that's the main recipe!

picture before everything was all stirred together and popped in to the hot oven ... I put this in when I took the cover from the turkey ... last thirty minutes.

Because I was thinking about honey bees and their "super" yesterday, I liked the coincidental opportunity to snap a shot of this little guy. He landed on top of the car as I was trying to help C out after her wisdom tooth appointment.  I was wondering if the bee had enough umph left in him to want to sting anyone and thinking she wouldn't even feel it ... she was feeling no pain.  Her dad said she does "happy lopey" just like her momma.  

This pinged in today and I found it amusing and somewhat alarming at the same time.  Boy do they have my number!  AC/DC ... cooking ... great programing.  I have never purchased a cooking app ... didn't even know such a thing existed ... nor have I bought TV shows on iTunes, we use Netflex and Hulu I believe.  I'm working my way through all the Ken Burns docs right now, so I can't imagine needing iTunes TV ... but if I did I would certainly be shopping for some kinda discount!  Wow.  At first glance I was like, "WT?! AC/DC holiday music?!!" lol ... just happy and not even lopey.  Easily amused my brother would say.

Lunch today .. noteworthy because of the Kimchi
Here we have red kimchi ... very spicy, and white kimchi which seemed to me to be similar to "pickled". Yes, the chicken is a tad burned, I was busy visiting with Two in a different room when the smoke wafted me back to "cooking".  Apparently this fermented Napa cabbage may be eaten alone, as a side I think, or it may be a main ingredient in any number of Korean dishes.


found here David Lebovitz  ... a list of ingredients, but the recipe you'll want to tap the link for ... he does a vey fun little talk before the recipe.  And ... I think he may have the answer to "What sounds really worth the calories for desert?"  I bookmarked the site, something I almost never do.

Kimchi

1 large Chinese or Napa Cabbage
1 gallon (4l) water
1/2 cup (100g) coarse salt

1 small head of garlic, peeled and finely minced
one 2-inch (6cm) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
1/4 cup (60ml) fish sauce
1/3 cup (80ml) chili paste or 1/2 cup Korean chili powder
1 bunch green onions, cut into 1-inch (3cm) lengths (use the dark green part, too, except for the tough ends)
1 medium daikon radish, peeled and grated
1 teaspoon sugar or honey

I did like the kimchi as a side item ... got busy looking for a recipe to try out and came up with this soup.  Delicious!

mondaymorningmusings ... or hey, watch it with that stinger

One and I talked, well, we sorta talked, yesterday.  His more then a girlfriend was in the room with him, it was over the phone, and ... I, while alone and thus able to direct my full attention to him, was a bit in the middle of something.  I pushed "pause" on the Civil War doc (Ken Burns) which was playing on Netflix and set my note book aside.  He was saying something about his living situation at law school, something about the guys are making different arrangements next year, their final year.  Hmmm.

I thought he was getting ready to tell me that he is preparing (me for him) to move in with his girl (and maybe he is/was ... still unclear on that).  I said I would hope for him that he will cherish "his love" enough to not subject it to a relationship with a back door.  At this point in his (adult) life I defer to his judgement as he makes life choices ... he said that he values my perspective.  I think I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion and he was unable to redirect me because he selected to begin a private conversation when he wasn't alone.  I'm not very good at nuance over the phone, and his follow up txt indicated something more/else.  He says we need to sit down together and talk.  We are  about 1200 miles away from a face to face. Skype?

Anyway ... a couple of things I wanted to note this very fine morning (clr/45F here) ...
As I told him, I am perfectly willing to support them (the FIVE) in the decisions they make for themselves, but I do appreciate the opportunity to offer my grey haired perspective to the process.  He was quick to assure me that he wasn't calling to ask my "permission"  ... I laugh right out loud ... I've known him all his life, I know he's not going to start asking permission at this late date!  I'm guessing it's not even in the gene pool.  Truly, I am just relieved that any of them will seek counsel, and that mine might be included.

As we ended our little phone talk, he began to not understand my train of thought ... and by then I was driving and talking on the phone, something I really don't like to do.  I told him I'd give some thought to what I wanted to say ... to make my position clearer ... and, this is what I think for me, not for him, not for anyone else.  Maybe I am still trying to refine exactly where I am on this ... for various reasons it is quite a bit on my mind of late.

So ... here's where I am at:
A person is delivered in to a situation which they had no say over (birth).  And ... the somewhat empty slate of them begins to fill up.  They begin their lives with people (their family) who they probably had no choice in.  Or maybe they did, I do not know when a soul is created and/or what might be before birth. Because I believe there is life after the end of the earth suit (death), it makes sense to me that there may also be life before birth ... ummm, yeah, I know that's a idea on the edge of a cliff, totally unsupported by anything knowable ... but, I do believe what the Bible says of the life of Christ;  He existed before, and unconstrained by his human body, as surely as He exists now.  Maybe our little souls do select the circumstances in which the time of "life" is played out. Maybe there is seating some vast somewhere and we sit quietly and watch until we can stand it no longer and we bound from our seats imploring God, "Put me in there ... I believe I may make a difference during that time with those people... let this one life I get to live begin right there!" Maybe.  Nothing I've seen specifies otherwise.  If life is about the choices one makes, why the apparent huge disparity of options?  Maybe there truly is only one important choice to be made during one's life time ... that is a different topic.

All that to say ... you "get" the start you get with people chosen (let's say) by God.  (Or randomly if you prefer. I do not have faith in "random", but I do have faith in God.)  I start with "these guys".  Then, later, I begin to select "friends".  In my case, my first friends were my brothers.  As life has been lived I see how fortunate I was to enjoy the companionship of siblings as friends.  Tommy has known and loved me for a very long time.  He is my oldest friend aside from being my brother.   So ... circumstances placed him in my life, and I also chose him as "one of my people".  Family ... then friends.  Family, I think of  as "given" to be "my people",  friends, I have as "chosen" to be "my people".  Later you choose a "super friend" (lol) to be a life partner and maybe you extend your family with them (babies).  Their birth family and your birth family support the "super-friendship" to varying degrees (in-laws).  Ideally, you and the in-laws choose each other as friends or at very least as family ... sometimes that does not happen, and I think it is by choice either way.  I already know that I will chose to love my children's super-friends as closely as I am able to as my very own ... they will be "my people".  And perhaps some glad day, also their individual super-families (grandchildren).  I didn't think about it like that when I was busy falling in-love.  I never thought one bit about what the family (the in-laws) I was committing myself to in life journeys  with  might be like.  I saw only the "super friend" aka husband.  Later I noticed that he came "wrapped" in family ... who were potentially  to become my family and family for our children ... they were potentially a lot more important then I realized.
My husband believes there is one single person on the planet whom is your "other half".  I don't.  I think you are an entire soul when you are born.  I conclude that because on judgement day you are alone with God for the evaluation of your ... choices.  God didn't seem to cotton much to Adam and Eve blaming each other in the first accounting.  And ... as I live my life, I have never felt responsible in my soul for choices my husband has made purely on his own ... I have felt bad for my part in some of his actions which I "encouraged",  I have felt bad for my part in some of his actions which I didn't "discourage", and most especially those which I remained silent on for whatever reason.
I do think the role of friends is to offer support/shelter in its many forms to one another ... even more so, to "super-friends".  Super-friends formally stand before God promising to cleave (to adhere closely; stick; cling (usually followed by to ). ... to remain faithful.
Super-friends make promises that close friends seldom consider though frequently actually do support (to the extent of the friendship).

So, this is taking a while!  I don't really have time for all of this, this morning.
Family
Friends (friendship/companionship)
Super-friend (marriage/intimate(intertwined) companionship)
Super-family (for me, first my children, then their super-friends/super family, aka grandchildren)
somewhere in there are the in-laws, the nieces and nephews ... they should be chosen, they should become friends, they should become family)
Church friends (again should be "like" family, hahaha and they sorta are, like one big dysfunctional family)
People we are closely associated with via situation ... neighbors, co-workers ... our "village" ... I think that's a funny word choice.

[Notes from Four Loves, C.S.Lewis:

The especial glory of Affection is that it can unite those  who most emphatically, even comically, are not; people who, if they had not found themselves put down by fate in the same household or community, would have had nothing to do with each other. If Affection grows out of this - of course it often does not - their eyes begin to open. Growing fond of "old so-and- so", at first simply because he happens to be there, I presently begin to see that there is "something in him" after all. The moment when one first says, really meaning it, that though he is not "my sort of man" he is a very good man "in his own way" is one of liberation. It does not feel like that; we may feel only tolerant and indulgent. But really we have crossed a frontier. That "in his own way" means that we are getting beyond our own idiosyncracies, that we are learning to appreciate goodness or intelligence in themselves, not merely goodness or intelligence flavoured and served to suit our own palate. (pgs. 35-36)

I thought this was interesting.  Making room for people not exactly your flavor ... Two encourages her siblings to date alot of different kinds of people and learn cool interpersonal stuff from the time spent.  It's easy to be seduced by one's very own flavor ... but ... well, I think it's very important to bond with "your very own flavor" ... come home to that, but don't limit all your doings to just what's comfortable and easy ... . Be open to a range of personalities, love easily ... that's what I would say to my own children. As this next quote suggests ... 

The truly wide taste in humanity will similarly find something to appreciate in the crosssection of humanity whom one has to meet every day. In my experience it is Affection that creates this taste, teaching us first to notice, then to endure, then to smile at, then to enjoy, and finally to appreciate, the people who "happen to be there". Made for us? Thank God, no. They are themselves, odder than you could have believed and worth far more than we guessed. (pg. 36)]

I think I chose (and continue to choose) my friends.  I guard my heart there initially, because I see friendship as a commitment.  Obviously I see super-friend as a huge, life altering irrevocable commitment.  Family ... commitment. Super-family ... total commitment.  Hmmm ... church friends ... should be a commitment there.  We should support one another, but we seem to do a lot of picking lint from each other's souls only to find that was actually a thread left hanging by the Master weaver.  People around our lives ... I take a do no harm stance there ... let them come and go as they wish ... offer "support" in the form of small kindnesses as one can ... they are not my people, but they are people.

And ... I am totally out of time here.  For now.
I offer that I think treating one who may be one's "super-friend" as less then that irrevocable commitment may irrevocably damage the super-friendship.  I think it's important to be clear on what is being offered and what is at stake.  The people I consider friends ... hold my heart ... not just tiny pieces of it, their hands are on the whole thing.  I become "unguarded" in those friendships.  I think one should cherish and offer cherish-ment to people who touch one's heart, and those whom entrust their heart to another's care  ... and most especially so with their "Super-friend".


I do believe we are obligated to  "make a difference" and "let a difference be made"  for/by those people in our life.  I think love obligates us.  I think we are more obligated where there is more love, where the heart is involved.

Super:
a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, with thebasic meaning “above, beyond.” Words formed with super-  havethe following general senses: “to place or be placed above orover” ( superimpose; supersede ),  “a thing placed over or added toanother” ( superscript; superstructure; supertax ),  “situated over” (superficial; superlunary )  and, more figuratively, “an individual,thing, or property that exceeds customary norms or levels” (superalloy; superconductivity; superman; superstar ),  “an individual orthing larger, more powerful, or with wider application than othersof its kind” ( supercomputer; superhighway; superpower; supertanker ), “exceeding the norms or limits of a given class” ( superhuman;superplastic ),  “having the specified property to a great orexcessive degree” ( supercritical; superfine; supersensitive ),  “tosubject to (a physical process) to an extreme degree or in anunusual way” ( supercharge; supercool; supersaturate ),  “a categorythat embraces a number of lesser items of the specified kind” (superfamily; supergalaxy ),  “a chemical compound with a higherproportion than usual of a given constituent” ( superphosphate )

(in beekeeping) the portion of a hive in which honey is stored.  (funny ... My Honey in the midst of the hive of life)

su·per·fi·cial/ˌso͞opərˈfiSHəl/

Adjective:

Existing or occurring at or on the surface: "superficial damage". Situated or occurring on the skin or immediately beneath it. Superficial does not touch one's soul ... one's heart.  Friends ... shouldn't be superficial.  You shouldn't have to guard you heart with friends ... most especially with your super-friend.