This morning as I finished running a few errands the city alarms began blaring ... Okay, Wednesday at noon I thought, I'm running just a tad behind where I wanted to be at lunch time, but ... NBD.

The sky looked pretty ominous. Cool. I like weather. I'm in the driveway looking at all these leaves which are falling from the oak tree. Wet leaves are more difficult to wrangle. I'm wondering if I should wait a few days for them to dry out, or just grin and bear it ... The cover is complete and piling up!

Tree At My Window ~ Robert Frost
Tree at my window, window tree,
My sash is lowered when night comes on;
But let there never be curtain drawn
Between you and me.
Vague dream-head lifted out of the ground,
And thing next most diffuse to cloud,
Not all your light tongues talking aloud
Could be profound.
But tree, I have seen you taken and tossed,
And if you have seen me when I slept,
You have seen me when I was taken and swept
And all but lost.
That day she put our heads together,
Fate had her imagination about her,
Your head so much concerned with outer,
Mine with inner, weather.

Two & L drive up ... She asks me why I'm sitting in the car with the alarms blowing and I tell her "it's noon and it's Wednesday and it's just a safety test ... No reason for alarm (so dial back the drama ... )."  She starts sort of herding me in to the house and we hadn't been inside for more the ten minutes when the wind picked up and everything small became airborne. I stood out under the front porch ... Awesome! I love the way it feels when a storm is sweeping through ... The rain was blowing plus 45°, but no GR, no green air, just wind. It was safe where I stood ... and freakin' electrifying! I know I am such a nerd ... it doesn't even bother me. I came back in and said I think a tornado cell just rolled right over us ... as in not dropping down ... that would have been something else all together.  As  I  heated up some soup and made sandwiches for lunch a text pinged in from C ... It says "I love you".  Maybe more drama, maybe she's legit scared. You never know with girls. I send her a "LY2 and tornado cell past - another appears to be potentially on the way ... just remain calm ... Dad says keep ur head down ... I say send pictures if you see anything awesome."  She sent pictures.

A tornado did touchdown at the High School. It tore up the athletic fields, score boards, bleachers and all ... totally rearranged almost every car in the student parking lot. Her car was fine ... The tree beside it fell away rather then on ... Her row was the only row that didn't get picked up and rearranged.

This is a pretty wacky time of year for tornadoes. Sammy is still tail tucked in the garage with huge eyes. Forecast for tomorrow ... warm and sunny ... perfect raking weather.

54/1000

I feel fabulous!
And ... I am grateful for that.
Everyday I meet or at least see women who don't ... feel fabulous ... Maybe they did when they were younger, but don't now, and probably have long forgotten the days when they did. The thing about feeling really good about things when you are young, is ... you have no perspective from which to enjoy your good fortune. I'm not trying to be all miss rose colored glasses here ... just saying most people have it better then they are able to realise. Seems like we tend to look for what's wrong (so we can fix it) rather then savouring all that is so right. I notice this more in women ... maybe because men seem to expect to find purpose/gratification in their careers and most of the women I actually come in contact with do not work outside their homes, and don't think of how they spend their days as very gratifying. It seems like when they do finish this big dream of tending the perfect family and the perfect home ... once they come to the realisation that everything isn't as perfect in their sphere as it seems to be in those orbiting near them, that they sorta implode ... sorta settle in to discontent with their ordinary lives. And fairly ordinary lives is what most of us have to work with. As I think of a hero ... an extraordinary person ... I guess I think of astronaut/pioneering pilots first. (Alright, and John Wayne.) A hero is an icon ... an image of awesome, beyond-human, proportions ... someone who does amazingly strong and impressive feats ... then they go home and maybe, hopefully, someone rubs the warmth back in to their frozen human feet. It's cold up there atop Mt. Olympus and even over Mt. St. Helens way. Now, im just rambling away from this specific thankful.
I was trying to build a place where I could feel fabulous. A place where I could actually do activities that I find impressive. I like to impress myself.
My husband very sweetly remarked recently that he really likes the way I fold towels (and everything else ... Momma did get through to me on a few domestic skills ... I fold well, and I can organise a closet or a drawer ... and maybe even a garage ... Ummm, honestly, I don't find it very impressive or gratifying!) Well, flying, and the actions which support flying well, was a perfect venue for my easy going, adaptive and yet somewhat stubbornly detail oriented self. Some stuff in flying is just flat out science ... fact. Some of the stuff is ... well, it's like magic ... artful. Okay, here I am getting distracted from this thankful again. Anyway ... I knew my full time role as a mom was winding down and I didn't want to keep the apron strings tied in a perfect little bow. I wanted to begin creating another role for myself. Flight instructing seemed to be perfect ... and maybe it still does. The effort spent on preparing to flight instruct distracted me from the fact that an important part of me was becoming wrapped up, stuck, in this sticky dull fog that seems to be pervasive among women of similar circumstance. It's like we start out super vibrant in our young adult life and then just get dull and all smudgy as we age. Those Oprah type makeovers can enliven the veneer, but this is a dull that seeps all the way in past the bones to the very soul ... and then back out through one's face during unguarded moments.
I don't feel that way.
Part of me ... that part of me that is the real me ... was getting lost in the fog and I wasn't paying attention to that ... I found some excellent flight training distractions to occupy myself with. Then ... I think it was in mid-March or so when I was very amazed to hear that part of me laughing. Yeah, seriously ... Serious Me laughing like I used to and I remembered vibrant. It's pretty cool. I wanted to just stay in the cloud that I had stumbled in to on my way out of the sticky dull fog ... this cloud felt more like a cocoon might ... like a warm bubble bath, or a ... well ... sorta like a flight in IMC, the world is out there, but you are suspended inside a space where everything important seems to be within arms reach, your focus becomes very near sighted for that little while.

Now, for the 54/1000 that I am specifically thanking God for ... I am thankful that I feel fabulous in general. I am thankful that I hear myself laughing often ... even sometimes when it might be inappropriate to do so! I feel happy ... not just happy here or there, but happy everywhere ... pervasively so. I am so thankful for this time to remember and celebrate feeling like me. I'm thankful to be totally alive ... it makes me feel able to love.

Yesterday I read these lines in Elie Wiesel's writing (Dawn) ... ... and she began to speak to me of love. She spoke easily and well. Love is this and love is that; man is born to love; he is only alive when he is in the presence of a woman he loves or should love. I told her I knew nothing of love, that I didn't know it existed or had a right to exist.

Those words stopped me. I wanted to think about those words. I'm thinking about love, kinda in general these days. There is a lot more to love then the love between a man and a woman, but that is a love we try to understand ... that love was intended as a gift from God I think. And then the parental type of love ... again expressed to be a blessing from God, and I experience it as so.
What exactly is love and what are we supposed to do about it ...

I Corinthians 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

... You gotta feel alive to express genuine love in any of its' forms. I'm feeling alive and that is what this thankful is. I'm thankful for the process that resurrected or resuscitated that part of me that was getting left behind in the fog.

Another sizzling hot link to the work of Max Levy with shout out for Charles Davis Smith AIA Photographer

My husband first saw this house several years ago ... And emailed a link to me ... And then called me to check my email. He knew I would love this concept. I like the village type grouping of these structures. I like the indoor and the outdoor conversing ... Love the nod to the old style screen boxes. The materials are interesting ... I want to reuse some salvaged wood and old doors ... Old glass, but re-envisioned. One of my friends has the entire first floor of their home covered by the wood from bleachers from her husband's Jr. High School gymnasium. I like the various types of opaque glass used in old buildings and widely available at salvage yards. I like concrete floors and I like wood floors too.
The furnishings in this house are more austere then I like ... I like super comfy down wrapped cushions ... But that would work well in a house similar to this. I like old and new. It's fun to think about.

Max Levy rocks

I often think of our next home ... I say I would like a small well planned space. I say the house should expand to embrace family and friends. Sometimes I close my eyes and move through the space, feeling what I can't quite see. I know how I need it to feel.

Today I happened on this site just suddenly, I'm not even really on line today ... Just letting a thirsty towel help the blow drier along. Okay ... I'm hiding under the duvet with a towel turbine ... I should begin the long process of drying long hair but I'm thinking about a house and I'm remembering how much I admire the work at Wind Point.

And now these photos hop on to the screen and my iPad lights up!
I like them all. I must like the sensibility of this artist. I like the shadows very much ... Shadows always tell a story, and these I could lean in to hear everyday. These are shelters which nurture. I would like for my husband's study to be multi level and free standing ... as the three structures seem to be ... his books and papers are messy ... they have earned a place all their own. There is no reason why the sweep of an airport beacon can't wash a window like this at night. It's the beginning of a good plan.

Well, I'll link this here under the post title and revisit it often as we make our plans.

Quick look at the weather this morning indicates plenty of time for shopping and housework ... Inside that is. The convective outlook looks like the weather imps have carelessly dropped a green and yellow striped afghan over all the sky I can possible see from here ... later today some pink and red may unfold. Weather likes to be sly ... Area Metars have ceilings everywhere and a glance at a good airport for shooting practice approaches has the current TAF at BKN80 ... perfect ... but why and how big is that hole. Terminal Area Forecasts are built from a picture shot straight up ... may be the only blue in the entire state. I look at the temperature/dew point ... twin numbers ... what's gone up is gonna come down.

So, today. Accompany C to see the orthopedists who will tell her the ACL is good to go pound bb hardwood and the sparkle will return to her baby blues. Then, I do some grocery shopping and pantry restocking ... 6 people routinely swing those kitchen doors open just to see what's good ... I am final string to make what's good happen. And ... I have a few social little things to schedule ... those can really sneak up on me. The Thanksgiving feast is right around the corner ... that's something I need to think about too. Today.

The LXD: In the Internet age, dance evolves ... | Video on TED.com

The LXD: In the Internet age, dance evolves ... | Video on TED.com

Psalm 90 ... We spend our days as a tale that is told ...

(btw ... Tap Post title to link to The Hastings College Choir singing Ives: Psalm 90)

photo from here ~ Dee Brestin Ministries

Psalm 90
King James translation:

 1Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.

 2Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

 3Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

 4For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

 5Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.

 6In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

 7For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.

 8Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret sins in the light of thy countenance.

 9For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.

 10The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

 11Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.

 12So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

 13Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

 14O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

 15Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil.

 16Let thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children.

 17And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.


... The Message translation:

A Prayer of Moses, Man of God

 1-2 God, it seems you've been our home forever; long before the mountains were born,
   Long before you brought earth itself to birth,
      from "once upon a time" to "kingdom come"—you are God.

 3-11 So don't return us to mud, saying,
      "Back to where you came from!"
   Patience! You've got all the time in the world—whether
      a thousand years or a day, it's all the same to you.
   Are we no more to you than a wispy dream,
      no more than a blade of grass
   That springs up gloriously with the rising sun
      and is cut down without a second thought?
   Your anger is far and away too much for us;
      we're at the end of our rope.
   You keep track of all our sins; every misdeed
      since we were children is entered in your books.
   All we can remember is that frown on your face.
      Is that all we're ever going to get?
   We live for seventy years or so
      (with luck we might make it to eighty),
   And what do we have to show for it? Trouble.
      Toil and trouble and a marker in the graveyard.
   Who can make sense of such rage,
      such anger against the very ones who fear you?

 12-17 Oh! Teach us to live well!
      Teach us to live wisely and well!
   Come back, God—how long do we have to wait?—
      and treat your servants with kindness for a change.
   Surprise us with love at daybreak;
      then we'll skip and dance all the day long.
   Make up for the bad times with some good times;
      we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime.
   Let your servants see what you're best at—
      the ways you rule and bless your children.
   And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us,
      confirming the work that we do.
      Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!

Every time I read or hear these words, I remember (and hear with my soul's ears) the Charles Ives piece constructed around these words. It was a difficult piece to sing ... the discordance etched the sanctuary of the soul and chiseled these words in the granite columns most near the communion table. I am so thankful for the music I grew up being exposed to and singing. the artist, James Turrell, works to express an experience with the light one may see with eyes shut asleep ... like dream light ... . Music can be the same thing ... sounds heard in vast silence.
The speaker during the church service yesterday asked everyone to stand while the Word was being read. I like that ... it seems right. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place ... and I could hear the hard edge of voices stacked too close to each other on the octaves ... the tension created among friends who spent hours together everyday first learning to hold the separate notes and eventually offering those notes back in concert. ... I understand "flow" because I sing ... I understand with my skin and with my heart how it feels to "flow" with a group because of musical offerings. Aesthetics ... an expressing of beauty, and I think it is the expression of a soul ... it is the work which might be offered as a seed planted in the garden ... tended by time. It has significance. This Ives piece was completed in 1924 ... I wonder how it was received ... it was jarring for me when I first heard it in 1977 ... and I was as accustomed to shrieking electric guitars as I was to the thinness of a harpsichord. Anyway ... yesterday ... the words were read and the golden shimmering swirls that my imagination spins ... the light my soul knows ... "swirled" me and I could hear (internally) the music ... and the words ... and the breathe and dismay of the singers around me ... and eventually the resolution of this plea ... God, be near with your mercies ... as this tale is told.

A perfect example of 20th Century music, Ives Psalm 90 is a joy to listen to. Charles Ives was quoted saying to his wife that Psalm 90 was "the only one of his works that satisfied him." Ives completed Psalm 90 in 1924.
When composing Psalm 90, Ives used a variety of musical techniques to express the biblical text. From homophony to polyphony, unison to 22 part voicing (within two and a half octaves), and instrumentation including organ, bells, and choir, Ives Psalm 90 is a remarkable work of art. Throughout the entire piece, a low octave C is continuously played, perhaps, to symbolize God's continual presence. The body of the piece is made of dissonant harmonies during lines like "for we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled" and "for all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told." However the remaining four minutes revel in C Major with distant bells ringing in the background. Resolve has never sounded so good.
a review written by Aaron Green
Bold print added by me. C is continuously present ... all the other notes are rooted in that consistency ... The piece is so hard to sing and also at times to hear/listen to because it's just not right ... It's not a foreign tonality that might make sense if I understood the scale, this is an abstract musical palette which weaves a bleakness and the soul of those hearing knowit to be a predictament ... chaos is anchored by the ever present C. Some philosophical or theological idea I've read said, or maybe it was the string theory guy's lecture ... sorry, idk, but ... In the beginning God created order from chaos. And I firmly believe there was time way before this in the beginning expressed by the Genisis account. C major ... no sharps, no flats ... The foundation on which classical musical expression is built.

Inside, the soul is a sanctuary variegated in luminescent twilight rendered vast in quiet..

At twilight, nature is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets. ~ Oscar Wilde

twi·light

1.
the soft, diffused light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, either from daybreak to sunrise or, more commonly, from sunset to nightfall.
2.
the period in the morning or, more commonly, in the evening during which this light prevails.
3.
a terminal (terminal, not like a heart event, or cancer, might be ... Terminal like a place/time where one leg of a journey ends (terminates) and another leg begins ... : ) period, especially after full development, success,etc.
4.
a state of uncertainty, vagueness, (I subtract gloom and add wonder as "I wonder" as "the wonders of God").

Normally, in daylight, our eyes are almost entirely closed, that is the pupil is a tiny dot. Obviously we are not made for that light, we are made for twilight. Now what that means is that it is not until very low levels of light that our pupils dilate. When it does dilate we actually begin to feel light, almost like touch. ~ James Turrell
... This observation rocks! Artist/Observer ... Poet/Witness ... These guys help us "see".
     
“For age is opportunity no less than youth itself, though in another dress, and as the evening twilight fades away, the sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.” ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
     
“I venerate old age; and I love not the man who can look without emotion upon the sunset of life, when the dusk of evening begins to gather over the watery eye, and the shadows of twilight grow broader and deeper upon the understanding." also ~ Longfellow

“The past is the beginning of the beginning and all that is and has been is but the twilight of the dawn.” ~ H. G. Wells

     
“The dream crossed twilight between birth and dying.” ~ T.S. Eliot

     
“It is the gifted, unorthodox individual, in the laboratory, or the study, or the walk by the river at twilight, who has always brought to us, and must continue to bring to us, all the basic resources by which we live.” and      
“A society committed to the search for truth must give protection to, and set a high value upon, the independent and original mind, however angular, however rasping, however socially unpleasant it may be; for it is upon such minds, in large measure, that the effective search for truth depends.” ~ Caryl P. Haskins (scientific researcher of the spoken and written word and a lot of other cool stuff)

     
“Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either.” ~ Henry Ward Beecher (Congregational minister, 1813-1887)



     
Inside, the soul is a sanctuary dappled in luminescent twilight rendered vast in quiet.
... shimmering in luminescent ... casting spirey shadows in ... painting stain glass silhouettes in ...

TED Video ... Talk by Csikszentmihalyi on Flow

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, "a man obsessed with/by happiness" identifies the following ten factors as accompanying an experience of flow
1.)Clear, attainable, yet highly challenging goals.
2.)Concentrating, a high degree of concentration on a limited field, focus
3.)"un-self-consciousness" , the merging of action and awareness ... immersion
4.)distorted sense of time ... everything slows down
5.)direct and immediate feedback and therefore responsive adjustments.
6.)balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7.)sense of personal control over the activity ... your interaction is collaborative
8.)activity is intrinsically rewarding ... a labor of love, or mostly so : )
9.)lack of awareness of bodily needs ...
and 10.) seem closely linked to 3.) absorption into the activity ... Where did the time go!?

The TED talk is a good quick look at the concept. Dr. Haidt's book certainly provides a frame for this idea ... It seems to be one of those ideas which are simply intuitively true once happened upon. We have the book ...FLOW ... May need to get it in my stack.

Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi asks, "What makes a life worth living?" Noting that money cannot make us happy, he looks to those who find pleasure and lasting satisfaction in activities that bring about a state of "flow." ~ TED

"A compliment is something like a kiss through a veil."-~Victor Hugo

Just an observation ... Sometimes It, whatever it is, takes a kick in the britches (or butt, as might be said ... My Granny said in the britches and I like the way it sounds) and sometimes a compliment remembered might provide just the right motivation.
Like most women my age, I would really like to lose a few pounds ... Especially on my mind now as we embark on fudge season (followed by Thin Mint season ... Oh, the irony). Well, this guy I was working with today is some kinda kick in the butt weight loss guru ... He operates a spa and says weight loss/ fitness is what he is awesome at helping people do. After talking to me a bit about my regimen ... walk Sammy and count calories almost everyday ... He said I would get better results from eating a ton more protein then I do and hitting the weight training rather then light cardio. He said if I want to do cardio it should be something other (more intense) then what I'm doing. He asked me how much I want to lose and I told him. Then he asked if that was the weight I secretly wished for and I admitted that it wasn't. He said I didn't strike him as the type who would settle for less then I really wanted. I thought to myself that I didn't used to be, but I asked him if my ideal weight was realistic for ... a woman my age. What is it about life that wrings us out to the point where we settle? I watched the videos of those young cellist play their music and I remember that type of unselfconscious abandon. Those guys are world class cellist essentially reinventing ... daring to explore ... reaching for and celebrating more. I loved the idea of crafting a life built around a consuming passion. I'm just talking about re-envisioning ... these twilighted years. More wonder. All in.

I'm going to give myself a shot as this more protein, more weight training approach. I have a goal and a date in mind. This is right up my alley. A compliment and a kick ... in the britches. If there is a way, I have the will.

Work is love made visible ...

~Kahlil Gibran

I really enjoyed helping out with the Flight Review today.

I have finished the book, The Happiness Project, and like Anam Cara, I know I will benefit from reading it again. Don't you just love a book that requires another look? Here's a quote from pg 224, the chapter titled Happiness Comes From Between ...

... Thereby enabling even longer periods of flow. (Csikszentmihalyi and Nakamura)... called it "vital engagement," which they define as "a relationship to the world which is characterized both by experiences of flow (enjoyed absorption) and by meaning (subjective significance)." Vital engagement is another way of saying that work has become "love made visible"; ...

Page 222 ...
"Work is love made visible." ~ Kahlil Gibran
Echoing Tolstoy ...
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,
even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. (from War and Peace? I really do not know, and haven't found these words particularly cited. ... next up reading for me will be The Night Trilogy Elie Weisel. I remember a few months ago wondering why I couldn't find a book to love to read ... Now I have a lovely stack waiting to be read and at the bottom, a few wishing to be re-read ... then a quick skim through War and Peace to see if I can find these words.)

Click on this post's title to see entire poem presented

My favorite take away idea from this last chapter is ... Dare to craft for yourself a life built around a consuming passion.

Tomorrow I get to fly ... again. Yeah ... it really rocks.

At twilight, nature is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets. ~ Oscar Wilde

twi·light   [twahy-lahyt]
noun
1.
the soft, diffused light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, either from daybreak to sunrise or, more commonly, from sunset to nightfall.
2.
the period in the morning or, more commonly, in the evening during which this light prevails.
3.
a terminal period, especially after full development, success,etc.: the twilight of his life.
4.
a state of uncertainty, vagueness. (gloom)

A beginning ... An ending ... A passage from this to that, from now to something other. A diffused light ... A time to wonder, a time of wonder. The time when the fireflies fly call to their cousins, Sirius, Vega, Rigel, Bellatrix ... light up the heavens.

Einstein quotes

   

“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.”

“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

“There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle;

 you can live as if everything is a miracle.”

"Serenity is often found in an atmosphere where time is of little importance." ~ words in a picture book of the world's beautiful beaches.
I strap on a watch every time I get in an airplane ... I check the airplane's panel clock ... Is it correct? I note time off ... time to switch tanks ... monitor time from here to there while I am having the time of my life ... the White Rabbit sits on my shoulder in an airplane, he never stops whispering in my ear, and yet serenity is that atmosphere.
When not flying, no watch ... the phone can do that for me ... now that I remember my alarm might sound like a cricket! I make it a point to not look at the time while at the beach. If I wake up during the night, and I do, I go sit outside ... looking at the stars, watching the moon's flight ... listening to the surf ... soaking in the salty sea level atmosphere, better then a hot bath!
Serenity is often found in an atmosphere where time ... hmmm ... . Serenity takes time ... Serenity is gentle with time ... Or is time gentle with serenity ... time, lusty and blithe ... This requires some leaf blowing thought.

Avgolemono ("go lemon" soup)

Errands done ... for the morning at least. I have really begun to cherish this time in my life ... where everything seems to happen much slower ... where there is time to enjoy chipmunks antics and subtle changes in the leaves ... time to think about and prepare for the next stage of life. We are pretty sure we will move back to Texas, and find ourselves really giving serious thought to exactly where. Until recently, my husband intended to retire from a "real" job and just do consulting as he saw fit. Now that it is almost time, he is more inclined to take another academic post with the intent to have the summers off for traveling with me. I haven't told him this yet, but I am thinking about trying to "collect" touch and gos in all fifty of the United States ... much nicer then tacky t-shirts or shot glasses! It's a good plan ... We'll see how it works out. He has gotten my attention with a small university in Texas that would suit his needs and has a serious flight program. They specifically train missionary pilots ... and do a summer camp in Alaska. I would miss my long term beach bum plan, but, this just might be the thing ... and, there is a lake right next to the airport ... perfect for sailing and jet skis ... and stocked with fish! He said something about a golf course too. Certainly has possibilities.

I need to crank the blower up in order to stay ahead of the leaves which will blanket the yard. We have what a kid from Texas would have to call a forest in the backyard ... I could walk the entire acre and never lose touch with a tree, very dense. Those leaves remain where they fall, but the oak beside the driveway will shed enough leaves to bury the pavement, if not the garage! I think the tree is probably 300 years old ... colossal!

Last night during dinner, One pinged me with this picture of his dinner.

Beautiful. He was thanking me for the cookbook. And it is certainly my pleasure that he enjoys cooking as I do also. I asked him if he knew anything about that African Safari cookbook and he laughed a bit before he told me that he was looking at it right now. Hmmmm, mystery solved ... my cookbook is his cookbook.
I guess he was about 18 when he first began to ask for a meal from a foreign cuisine to be prepared for his birthday meal ... that was the only gift he wanted. It was so much fun for me to pour over cookbooks in the bookstore searching for just the right book of recipes ... and then, once the recipes were chosen, it might take days to gather all the ingredients. Sometimes we would need a tool for the kitchen that we hadn't missed before ... or some obscure spice which I can no longer do without. The gift he wished for became a wonderful gift for our family ... and that is just exactly the way he is. After thinking about it for a second I realized that any of the cookbooks that are in my kitchen that he wants ... really are his (except Gulf Coast Kitchens;). Some of my favorite recipes are in the African cookbook and I will have a wonderful time perusing with the intent to replace it. I miss cooking with One. I miss him in the kitchen ... he is the only one of my children who loves to cook as much as I do, and the only one who is as (oh, I hate to use the word) persnickety as I about everything from loading the dishwasher just so to organizing the pantry just so.
I told him that I had prepared Green Chili (American-Indian ... My Dad's recipe) for our dinner last night but had tried something new ... a Greek soup, Avgolemono, the night before. I served it with sautéd eggplant and mushrooms ... and humus (his favorite snack)... Oh! And cold cucumber sprinkled with lemony sea salt. He asked for the recipe which is linked under the post title. Mikey liked it. Btw, Rice Select is the way to go on the Orzo ... we've tried several other brands ... . Birthday cake was on the table last night ... The girls made me laugh, asking me if I was going to give them another cake slicing lesson. I will probably never live that one down!

Today I am reviewing the Regs with an eye towards the ground session for a someone's flight review. Part 91, here I come.

2Cellos Wikipedia ... Tap to link

2Cellos

I really like the time change ... I wake up an hour early and luxuriate in bed before the morning rush begins here at Casa de Mia.
Priority one ... Check FL390 for new post ... Uhhh, bummer, no go.
Priority two ... Check Amused for new posts ... and I know there will be a few ...
... and wowie!!! How did I not know about 2Cellos already! Four string genius à deux ... Joy squared! Yes, I can already see that I will have to explore this.

At breakfast I learn that Three has heard these guys and btw I should check out Flute Beat Box Jam while I'm at it.

Now, I have accomplished morning tasks and I sit in the den watching yellow leaves float away from still green trees as I listen to these two guys own their cellos. Huge smile ... No, it's a grin, and it stretches from ear to ear. I search you tube ... These guys rock! I wonder how much is in my iTunes account. I watch a vid about them on tour with Elton John ... Unable to link, but I don't want to have to hunt for it ...

One & Two are gonna love these guys. What a great story! Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser, two classically trained Croatian cellists, post on You-Tube and get a call from Elton John ... And I'm thinking this is where rock wants to logically go ... .

And now, the washing machine has stopped ... my second cup of coffee is a pleasant memory and I know I have a ton of stuff to do today ... wonder what Pandora radio has on these guys ... .

Click the post title to link 2Cellos - Welcome to the Jungle.

"...attention -which derives from the Latin for "stretch toward" - we cannot go deeply in thought and relation. As a result attention is our most essential stepping stone to happiness but now I realize that happiness comes from complicated rhythms ...and it comes and goes...it's not a state of being that once reached, sticks..."
- Maggie Jackson author of Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the coming Dark Age

Stretch toward and complicated rhythms and ... a chilled out pursuit of happiness.

I have about eight hours in that Warrior ... a few in an Arrow ... maybe ten in a Cherokee Six ... Over 50 in a Navajo and my great-grandmother was an American-Indian. Quess what is a kick in the britches ... I need 25 hours in the ... PA 28-151 in order to Flight Instruct in it. It's like it never ends!

I remember when I first started thinking about what I would actually do with my time as my house became empty because all the kids were at school. I was thinking about golfing. I was thinking about getting good enough at golfing that my husband would enjoy golfing with me when he retires ... you know ... You see those cute old people all fit and tanned laughing with each other in the Club House. My husband really likes to golf ... and he is really good at it. Golf was the one PE credit I needed in college. I wasn't very good at it ... it's not at all like pool which I did used to be embarrassingly good at ... but, I did enjoy that summer of golf, mostly because of a flirtation with the golf pro. I putt well enough to not attract too much laughter. I can't drive well at all ... I can't drive the ball at all is more the truth. But, I have acquired a true affinity for retrieving errant balls from the water hazards. Honestly, if it wouldn't embarrass my husband, I would spend the whole time it takes him to play 18 holes just sitting on the edge of the water with a telescoping ball wrangler. I love that. You never know what kind of ball you might snag, and there seem to be tons of them resting in the mud. It's a lot like fishing without the blood. I love it. L says, "No more then three balls per expedition ..." Apparently it's just not cool. I also like to drive the cart ... fast. So ... I thought I'd get the kids to school and go get awesome at golf. "If I work really really hard at it and get really really good at it will I ever be able to win a round when we play?" My exact words ... and his honest response, "No. Never ever ever ... and anyway, the only reason you like to golf is because you can see the planes."

I can't see why anyone would ever want to play a game they never seem to be able to win at. Till now. All it will take is 18 more hours ... in a warrior.

It. never. ends.

A friend brought this to my attention today ...

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Author profile
born February 04, 1906 in Breslau, Germany
died April 09, 1945
gender male
websitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer
genre Religion & Spirituality

About this author:
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor and theologian. He was also a participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, a founding member of the Confessing Church. His involvement in plans by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler resulted in his arrest in April 1943 and his subsequent execution by hanging in April 1945, shortly before the war's end. His view of Christianity's role in the secular world has become very influential.

The Cost of Discipleship
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
(5 stars)
This book is a compelling statement of the demands of sacrifice and ethical consistency from a man whose life and thought were exemplary articulations of a new type of leadership inspired by the Gospel, and imbued with the spirit of Christian civic duty. (Barnes and Nobel site)

L and me

Laying out on trampoline watching Fly Wild Alaska ... Sammy was barred from getting on the tramp though he gets up there with people quite often. I like the show ... Now we have finished the ten episodes and L is as enthusiastic as I about spending time up there. I jokingly say it's the only place I can hide from my kids ... the trampoline is almost a free for all!

Listening

I look so serious. I guess I am pretty serious. I can see that I look older. I'm okay with that.
Our Friday night movie was "In Time" ... Time was the unit of value ... Everyone paid for everything by transferring time ... Scifi ... it was better then I expected it to be. People stopped physically ageing at twenty-five. I remember 25. I like it that people don't stop ageing at a particular time. I think you can see some of a person's life on their face. I'll see if I can find a 25 year old picture ... that was before children, now I have a son that age.

Blessing ... Psalm 25:2 "In You, I trust, O my God."

Monday ... Happy day. I'm so glad I don't dread Mondays, or any day in particular. This is weird enough to note:

My husband stopped teaching Sunday school sometime ago ... for whatever reasons, which I would say from observation, sort of disengaged him from church. He became less plugged in. He also opted to move our family from the big church back to the church where we have worshipped most of the time we've been here in the South. Now we go only to Sunday morning church service. The church is currently without a pastor and the strength and love of longterm friendships lends support. Baptist congregations, unlike some other faiths, are pretty much in charge of finding and "calling" their own pastor. This church is small, and pastors come and go like cars on the Interstate on their way to somewhere else. All that to say this ... when I saw that we were going to stop attending the (big) church, I suggested that we just visit a different church every Sunday ... learn about how different groups of believers approach worshipping God. There are so many different Christian churches. He didn't like that idea at the time. Now, here we are many months later and our youngest daughter wants to know why we haven't joined this little church. And when he answers that question she says wouldn't it be great to visit other churches morning service and see how they do things. I didn't suggest it to her, but I do like the idea of exposing her to different Christian practices and then discussing them with her. So ... He decided that would be okay.
This week we visited a Church of Christ. Our oldest daughter is seeing a guy who worships there. Everyone liked the singing. I like that the sacrament of communion is offered every Sunday. I also liked that the congregation was invited to speak with the Pastor or others about any questions or concerns they might have after the service. This was the weird note ... His sermon was on death! He said he is such a positive, optimistic guy, that he doesn't like to preach on death but ... . The text was from Eccl.12:6-12. I say Solomon must have been the original Goth guy. The pastor organised his lesson around these two questions; 1.) who knows what is best? and 2.) what happens next (after death)? Job asks (Job 14:14) will we live again? and the answer Jesus promises a next life (in John 11:25 among other places in the scriptures).

And for the third week in a row, plus another time from a visitor in our home ... this song was referenced/sung ... Here are the lyrics to the chorus:
Blessings by Laura Story
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Wow.
I'll try to link it under this post's title.

Next week we are going to visit the very liberal Baptist church here in town. Liberal? Okay, twenty years ago when we first moved here a began looking for a church home we visited there. It is a beautiful building ... old, gorgeous. They were without a pastor and the search committee was chaired by a woman (female leadership). They also have a relatively large, I don't know the PC word, gay/lesbian membership. Neither of those Christian subsets give my husband warm fuzzies.
The week after that everyone is wanting to visit a Black church ... My husband wants me to call ahead to the Pastor and ask if that is okay, or set it up with one of our friends who is a member at a Black church. Here in the deep South, Blacks and Whites still worship separately for the most part. That was, and continues to be, a huge surprise to me.

I am very enthusiastic about exploring other Christian faiths and discussing our observations and POVs over lunch. I think it will be a huge help to our children to see the many similarities and also learn about the differences and think about why people believe as they do. I think these visits will challenge and reinforce their own convictions.

Ramblings

At twilight, nature is not without loveliness, though perhaps its chief use is to illustrate quotations from the poets. ~ Oscar Wilde

Today I went to Home Depot and picked out Martha Stewart's Aegean Blue paint for the inside of the drawers. The wood is so old and dry that it seemed to need a coat of something. I've never painted the inside of a drawer before, but I really like it. It's like the chest has a sweet surprise once you really get acquainted with it ... and it's like I am getting truly eccentric! Oh well, no harm. The drawer bottoms are finished with adhesive backed cork shelf liner. I had some left over from the kitchen cabinets. Those drawer bottoms can use some structural encouragement. I really like working with old things ... the qwerks make them interesting. Yesterday I saw an amusing quote:

"The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you are not decrepit enough to turn them down." ~ T.S. Eliot

I don't know how old that chest is, but it's getting pretty close to decrepit. I'm trying to figure out how to nail the top back down without nailing it ... Maybe wood glue and some clamps.

I'm also thinking about something.
Just a quick note here ... Say a person has a gift, a special talent, and they spend their life developing that gift. Hmmmm, like a writer who really just rocks, a poet, a Whitman, a Frost, an Eliot ... but most of what s/he writes is say political commentary ... brilliant, genius, provocative, right on the mark ... uber intellectual insight, but necessarily devoid of something essential. The gift had to cut it's teeth on something, but now all it's molars are in and pearly white. I think people do have special gifts and probably take them so for granted that they don't even really notice them. Or maybe their gift is seen as their right ... something they worked for/at. I'm thinking of talents turned to good profit ... and of talents buried ... . What about talents mis-spent. A gift like that wants something more ... spiritual expression flowing from the soul unconsciously filtered by the intellect ... by practice ... by living well. More then a muse, rather the baring of a soul.

I like music, many different genres ... Some of what I listen to is transcendent, some of it just moves me around. I've sat in the shadows of concert halls listening to gifted musicians practice their art. There is something very different from technical perfection, from intelligent artistic expression. Our souls respond when a gift is lifted up as an offering. Offerings change time. I'll be thinking about that. When you hear or see or feel something which is an offering ... a gift offered as worship ... the soul knows ... and time slows.

A gift ... from God. A gift like that can actually become an offering.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” ~ Albert Einstein

... everybody has a genius gift ... maybe that's true ... .

This year my life has slowed down enough for me to wonder about things like coincidence, circumstance, serendipity. I had time to wonder. It's funny how life can set one down ... I was rushing ahead of myself like a wave coming to shore. I was staying so busy, as I have a tendency to do ... how do people sit soul still. This year I have found that ... time to wonder. Time to be still ... time to remember awe. Slowing down time is a little creepy but also cool. Stillness ... quiet ... came as a gift and made other gifts possible too.

One Christmas I woke up with the measles ... I had just gotten over something then the measles hit. I remember my eyes hurt. Momma kept the curtains drawn, and I just wanted to sleep. My older brother came and sat with me and opened one of my presents for me. It was a vanity set ... hairbrush, comb, mirror ... toilet water ... a beautiful blue velvet box with a silk top. "What's toilet water?" I remember asking him. After opening the little bottle and smelling of it, he concluded that it was some frou-frou to make the toilet smell nice. Hahaha, my mom was pretty surprised when she found out we decided to dump it in the toilet all at once! Lol, anyway ... When I was able to get up and around I wanted to put my pretty things back in that beautiful box. As I opened the lid for the very first time a little ballerina in a tulle skirt popped up and began to twirl ... It was a musical jewelry box ... And there was even a little garnet ring waiting inside. I thought it was a container for the vanity set, but it was a totally different gift ... the most wonderful thing ever.

So ... I'm thinking about gifts. When you're rushing around doing life ... or even when on occassions when life seems to sit you down ... it's easy to miss or mistake the real gift. And it's easy to mistake the true value of a gift. A gift, given back as an offering has the potential to become something truly wonder-filled.

This year has been a time for gifts. Wonderful, wonder-filled gifts. Even the joy of seeing awesome gifts being enjoyed by others ... Fun, like seeing people enjoy their presents.


"It takes a long time to sift through the more superficial voices of your own gift in order to enter into the deep signature and tonality of your Otherness. When you speak from that deep, inner voice, you are really speaking from the unique tabernacle of your own presence. There is a voice within you that no one, not even you, has ever heard. Give yourself the opportunity of silence and begin to develop your listening in order to hear, deep within yourself, the music of your own spirit." O'Donohue

More on that sometime later ... . I have either learned to feel blessed this year or my soul has openned up or grown up to recognise and/or receive. John O'Donohue wrote It takes a long time and I think he is expressing more with the words then quanity. I think this is about quality as well. I don't want to put words in his mouth. It's past my bed time, so ... .

hr 4.5/5 ... Seems like we backtrack a lot faster then the first half ... This bridge is over a running stream, one of plenty crisscrossing the Apalachain foothills. The leaves had mostly fallen covering the rocky trail. It was a bit slippery. 52°F at the top of climb, 3000' according to husband's handheld. We saw an old Baptist church with confederate graves ... the flags were blowing. The building was still in use and unlocked for visitors. There was no electrical power and, I thought this was cool ... two outhouses.

I would actually like to sleep just a tad bit more ...

We found this chest of drawers at an estate sale several years ago. I love the looks of it. I loaned it to one of the kids for awhile, but it has been sitting empty in the garage for at least the past year ... collecting dust and spider webs 'til yesterday when I sanded it lightly and slathered it in tung oil. I did almost finish the burlap lampshade too ... but not the book, I may pick up the book later today. After that little almost big deal yesterday morning, I started thinking about how we select what we think is valuable ... as in where we spend our seconds, minutes, hours ... days ... nights. I always remember the St.Francis quote ... when asked how he might spend his last day if he knew he would die at sunset, he replied, I'd keep on hoeing my garden. I should go find that quote, because I don't think I have it here in the side bar, but I'd like to.
The top drawer in this chest required extensive repair. It amazes me to see the saw bites, chisel marks ... bird pecks ... in the old wood of these chest of drawers that I collect specifically for my nest at the coast. There is just something inexplicably right about old chest of drawers. The three bottom boards to the drawer were falling out, and whooper-jawed. I smiled at the ingenuity of workmanship which went in to making that drawer ... made up as he went along. Like the other chest I worked on recently, this one looks pretty good from the outside, but inside ... lol ... you can see that it's really just a bunch of useful scraps held together with a dream and a prayer. I wish I had taken a picture of that lady's woodpile ... and of the separate pile, too good to burn, waiting for it's purpose. Some of the little pieces of this drawer might have come out of a pile like that back when. These chests are not beautiful in the conventional sense ...

... I like them though.

Here's that lampshade coming along. Between the dust from cleaning and sanding the chest, and the burlap fibers, I was sneezing every few minutes yesterday ... then Sammy would woof and look at me like achooo meant something in dog language. That dog makes me laugh. It was a good day. I started thinking about what's the most fun I've ever had in an airplane and there is not answer to that ... maybe it was the last flight, maybe it is the next flight. This T-6 was a hoot to fly. I flew it with the canopy open ... the air blew the mascara right off my eyelashes. Loops and rolls ... hanging upside down painting the sky with joy. A good flight.
... the best, most fun flight ... it's still out there.

Tomorrow we are going to go see about some leaves. If there are some beautiful ones, and I bet there will be, I'll bring them home and dip them in clear wax. I've seen that done recently, and it's kinda perfect. My little girl would enjoy making that mess.

T-6 really good

Here comes the sun, here comes the sun,
and I say it's all right

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter
Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here
Here comes the sun, here comes the sun
and I say it's all right

Saint/Sinner quotes

The only difference between a saint and a sinner is that the saint has a past and the sinner has a future. | Oscar Wilde
For centuries the church has confronted the human community with role models of greatness. We call them saints when what we really often mean to say is ‘icon,’ ‘star,’ ‘hero,’ ones so possessed by an internal vision of divine goodness that they give us a glimpse of the face of God in the center of the human. They give us a taste of the possibilities of greatness in ourselves. | Joan D. Chittister in A Passion for Life
I am reminded of the biblical use of the term saint in the book of Acts. That it applies to each of us. All who are attempting to imitate the Christ in their lives merit the title of ‘saint.’ Some do it more fully than others and are willing to let go of more to get the job done. | Matthew Fox in Confessions
Saints are saints, not because they are ‘good,’ but because they are transparent for something that is more than they themselves are. | Paul Tillich
The challenge of the saints of the twenty-first century is to begin again to comprehend the sacred in the ten thousand things of our world; to reverence what we have come to view as ordinary and devoid of spirit. | Edward Hays in Secular Sanctity
Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of those who are trying to become saints. Therefore let us be extremely patient with each other’s faults and failures. | Mother Teresa quoted in No Greater Love edited by Becky Benenate and Joseph Durepos
All of the places of our lives are sanctuaries; some of them just happen to have steeples. And all of the people in our lives are saints; it is just that some of them have day jobs and most will never have feast days named for them. | Robert Benson in Between the Dreaming and the Coming True
To be a saint is to be fuelled by gratitude, nothing more and nothing less. | Ronald rolheiser OMI, The Holy Longing: The search for a Christian spirituality
A saint is the person who wills the one thing. | Søren Kierkegaard

"re-blogged" from A-Mused (31 October 2011)'cause I want to think about it later.
(bold print ... me playing with this pile of words as I think about these ideas)


The only difference between a saint and a sinner is that the saint has a past and the sinner has a future. | Oscar Wilde

For centuries the church has confronted the human community with role models of greatness. We call them saints when what we really often mean to say is ‘icon,’ ‘star,’ ‘hero,’ ones so possessed by an internal vision of divine goodness that they give us a glimpse of the face of God in the center of the human. They give us a taste of the possibilities of greatness in ourselves. | Joan D. Chittister in A Passion for Life

I am reminded of the biblical use of the term saint in the book of Acts. That it applies to each of us. All who are attempting to imitate the Christ in their lives merit the title of ‘saint.’ Some do it more fully than others and are willing to  to let go of more to get the job done. | Matthew Fox in Confessions

Saints are saints, not because they are ‘good,’ but because they are transparent for something that is more than they themselves are. | Paul Tillich

The challenge of the saints of the twenty-first century is to begin again to comprehend the sacred in the ten thousand things of our world; to reverence what we have come to view as ordinary and devoid of spirit. | Edward Hays in Secular Sanctity

Keep in mind that our community is not composed of those who are already saints, but of those who are trying to become saints. Therefore let us be extremely patient with each other’s faults and failures. | Mother Teresa quoted in No Greater Love edited by Becky Benenate and Joseph Durepos

All of the places of our lives are sanctuaries; some of them just happen to have steeples. And all of the people in our lives are saints; it is just that some of them have day jobs and most will never have feast days named for them. | Robert Benson in Between the Dreaming and the Coming True

To be a saint is to be fuelled by gratitude, nothing more and nothing less. | Ronald rolheiser OMI, The Holy Longing: The search for a Christian spirituality

A saint is the person who wills the one thing. | Søren Kierkegaard

3 November ... My house is quiet except for the train howling through town. The engineer is all over that horn. It's rush hour here ... and the combination of college students rushing to class, people rushing to work, and freight trains chugging the line between residential and everything other then residential ... very frequently a car gets hit on the tracks in this town. And a life ends ... and the train will move very slowly, balefully whistling sorrow ... and days will roll by with the boxcars until the day that the train begins to move faster and faster and everyone forgets until they remember again.

I don't have to cross the tracks during the morning rush. My one drive takes me out of my driveway, right, left, left loop drop off, right, right, left, through a traffic calming circle and back in to my driveway. This morning I sat in the jeep for a minute after I turned the ignition off. Less then a mile round trip. Someone ... in a hurry ... almost T-boned me today. It probably would have killed me. Maybe he didn't see my little black jeep. He was attempting to accelerate through a break in traffic crossing over a lane to turn into the lane I was using. I could think that excellent reflexes and well maintained brakes saved my life this morning. I maneuvered over to a stop and saw on coming traffic slam on their brakes to avoid the guy ... He might also have been hit right in the door because he stopped sprawled out in the lane to avoid hitting me. One tiny little miscalulation or miscue ... Could have been bad for someone. My morning coffee is suddenly acidic in my tummy.

I don't know why, but death has been on my mind lately. Not exactly my own death, but death in general. And life. I think about how truly precious life is. I wonder if the pace we run at robs us of the sheer joy available in the simplest of things. I'm not afraid to die. I'm actually pretty curious about what comes next. But, I sure hope I don't have to give my life to someone who is rushing through theirs. I truly wish it were possible to tell everyone who I care for ... Wouldn't it be nice if life let you say what you would if you knew it was the last chance to say anything?

I'm reading a chapter in The Happiness Hypothesis titled Divinity with or without God. the author has stated that he is a "Jewish atheist". It was nice of him to share what might be his bias ... or maybe his motivation for spending his life developing this research. I have enjoyed this book very much ... published in 2006, I enjoy thinking about what he might have published since. I've read and thought about many of the works he has drawn on. Forty pages to go ... what will his conclusions be I wonder. His intellectual journey is not dissimilar from my own, but I think we see a very different light at the end of our private tunnels.

So ... today. I am thankful for the smell of my favorite shampoo in my hair ... I'm going to leave my hair down today and enjoy that Aveda genius. I'm going to tidy up my house and maybe work on that burlap lamp shade ... it's hand stitched and looking good. I am thankful for my peaceful home. I'll finish the book today ... reading it will be my treat for mopping all the floors in the house and/or running the vacumn. It's a good day to be alive. I am thankful for the gift of that ... and the opportunity to make so many of the choices about how it will be spent. Choice is a luxury.

Because everything is relative ... Choose Joy

... and to those conversations which life has interrupted if I never get a chance to say ... I would say this ... Thank you for helping me learn about love.

I am just slightly "toasted". Because I'm not a drinker ... One shot of vodka fuzzes me. I like the martini glasses ... They have such a classic silhouette. My husband made a cosmopolitan for me tonight ... I am a big fan of cranberry juice.

Tomorrow I will be able to just kickback here at home and ... honestly, I'm kinda liking that. Everything around here is pretty shipshape ... always my preference. Frequently, my husband alludes to our soon to be next ... time at the beach ... a try on. Last week I met a woman who I liked ... Her husband has recently retired from the airlines ... he is too much in her hair. I think that is kinda sad ... after all those years they should have a do not disturb sign hanging on their door ... she adjusted to half a life alone and now two is a full time crowd.

My husband will never retire. There is no doubt in my mind about that. He is very sweetly offering to hike the trail with me this weekend ... He says he can grade papers coming and going from the trail head ... I will drive us up there ... I will listen to something on my iPod enroute. I said whatever works for you works for me ... and I would like that very much. He is so very supportive of my flying ... it hasn't always been so, and I am thankful for this change of heart. It is very nice to see him ... helping me with this thing that is important to me, but does not actually help our family at all. This is my thing. I am a bit overcome with the sweetness expressed in his support of ... my thing. I resist the MEI which his labors would finance ... He says I may want that after he is gone. I do not want to think about that. In the meanwhile, my husband works very hard to provide a nice life for all of us. He wants me to be thinking about the beach ... He knows I love it there. Almost everyday he says ... Just a few more months and we are there.

Before the first frost

Nobody knows this little Rose by Emily Dickinson
Nobody knows this little Rose --
It might a pilgrim be
Did I not take it from the ways
And lift it up to thee.
Only a Bee will miss it --
Only a Butterfly,
Hastening from far journey --
On its breast to lie --
Only a Bird will wonder --
Only a Breeze will sigh --
Ah Little Rose -- how easy
For such as thee to die!

Perspectives ... References ... Interpretations

Yesterday, flying buddy told me about a TV program she thought I would like ... Turns out there are ten episodes on Netflex. I watched the first two and I did like them. Flying Wild Alaska, now in it's second season of filming, is a "reality" tv show about bush pilots ... Marginal weather, off field landings, contaminated fuel ... survival, both sides of it.
It's TV and everything seems to be over, to way over,dramatized, but it is pretty wonderful to see the flying.

That thing yesterday with KTS verses MPH is bothering me this morning. It's just not good crew work to not agree on something as basic as what the numbers mean. I do not know why there is even an ongoing conversation about which to use.
At any given weight L/Dmax will correspond to a certain airspeed. In this airplane best glide at 1800# 65kts 75mph
full gross. 74kts 85mph
dirty stall speed is given as 50kts, 58mph
On the checklist kts are given in blue ink and mph are given in black ink and (inside). I like the non-flying pilot to read the checklists while the flying pilot executes ... challenge/response style ... I have only seven hours in this little airplane ... I really want the numbers to be consistent, and consistently in kts. Ummm ... The needle on the ASI is thick near the center of the dial and tapers towards the outside of the instrument case ... MPH are given in larger script and are on the outer ring, conversely, kts are on inside ring and given smaller. At first my eye didn't immediately go to the inner ring for speeds ... and tick mark disappear under that wide pointer, but ... I know what a climb attitude should look like anyway. Yesterday I really wanted to push the nose down a tad on someone else's climb out. Vx 66(76) ... Vy 76(87)***all numbers here in this post per the PA 28-151 checklist. These things must be resolved to every ones satisfaction. Or maybe I really mean to mine, when I am in the plane.
Best glide ... Best. Any deviation from best glide will reduce the gliding distance. Too fast = too short. Too slow = way too short. Drag will drag you down either way. Next thing you know you're really short and adding power and porpoising the landing and going around. I'm not having a problem with that. If I am working out anything, and I'm not convinced that I am, it may be a too flat approach. She wants a nose low short final ... She says the Cessna picture is different then the piper picture because of the cowling ... I tell her I am not looking at the cowling ... I am looking to hold my reference point on the runway from my eye view through a space on the window about the imaginary size of my iPhone screen ... Until I transition to a view down the runway ... The eyes are moving and it is truly delightful how much information one's eyes can receive. Her picture has the nose lower and the flare later. It feels like a dive to me. I may have been flaring a bit too high ... I'll be looking at the flare. It's a bit tricky to iron out differences with another pilot ... Especially when I can see my landings consistently working out well. It is her plane. I don't want to be snotty ... .
As I think back over this I see the exact thing that FI hammered on so consistently with me. Which is ... While I know what I think and why I think it, I feel uncomfortable with insisting. I will absolutely insist in an airplane, but it makes me feel uncomfortable. I want to make room for others. I want to be very easy on everyone's feelings. Yesterday, I kept on insisting on something and I don't even remember what it was ... Eventually my buddy said Oh ... That's right and I said sorry, I'm not trying to be right, I just know that is a fact.

50,51,52&53/1000

I flew today.

I woke up this morning knowing that I would fly today. That wakes me up with a smile on my lips before my eyes even open ... these moments I store to savor as seconds ... these seconds hold tomorrow's smiles which may be years in the making ... this year I have learned to count these smiles like little me used to count marbles.
Sometimes I have to get all the way to the coffee maker for a morning smile ... This morning I left my travel cup in the car and drank cold coffee on the drive home as the sun set. It was good. Cold coffee, bumpy air...fall colors on the country road leaves finding their way back down as surely as a little airplane ... a day full of joy ... full of smiles to savor.
Oh and this ... I'm telling my flying buddy 60kts on final or her landing technique isn't going to get the results she wants. It was crazy bumpy today, and while the wind wasn't high anywhere, it was moving around significantly. We were kinda starting to go back and forth on that ... I'm saying you are carrying too much energy down with you ... That's creating this problem ... Long story short she had 58 in her mind for a stalling speed and my advice for 60 just seemed a bit thin today. It turned out to be a MPH vs KIAS problem. I personally am flying a string line down to a specific spot on the asphalt and if it takes more or less umph to keep the slack out of the line that's fine. People seem to fly final with different ideas in mind. Me ... I want a stable picture ... a stable airspeed gives me that, but I am not looking at the ASI much at all ... I am looking at my spot on the runway and all that other stuff that may be getting ready to happen out there. My eyes want a stable picture as surely as my lips want to smile ... and my hand is on the throttle ready for trouble.

So ... Thankful for flying
Thankful for hot and cold coffee
Thankful for time spent with Captain Again ...
And also for the tastiest collard greens ever (even if I didn't recognize the meat used to season them and pig's feet was on the menu ... eeewww ... lol).

Oasis ... More

I am really thinking about this oasis idea, specifically within the Spurgeon context. If my one life could be unwoven and looked at as say, one...a spiritual journey, two...a physical journey, three...an intellectual journey, four...a developmental journey, five...an emotional journey ...Whatever little pieces make up the composite journey. I'm not specifically trying to name those. If my one life moving through time in a linear fashion could be seen as several ... aspects? ... journeying together, helping, enabling, coaching, comforting each other ... . One aspect does inform the other. One does throw the other over it's metaphoric shoulder ... the wounded bits brought along by the stronger bits. Life can not be seen as a journey of the spirit or soul ... it seems to me that all the bits want to exercise, expand, mature. If this one little life were all about spiritual development why would one even need a body for that? Or ... Let's say life is about the spiritual ... then it would seem that all these other aspects must be nurtured to support spiritual growth.
Oasis ... Some hidden very thirsty aspect of me was in dire need of Oasis. That replenished aspect doesn't need to be brought along by the rest of me now. I was wrong about trying to carry my own water. The aspect of me that might carry water was too busy carrying the wounded part. This may make absolutely no sense. What I am trying to express is a lot goes in to living a strong life. Sometimes your strengths need to carry your weaknesses ... until the oasis appears on the horizon.