Shalom

"White Ibis Flying"  Henry Domke
His amazing gallery

Shalom ... meaning:

Shalom

peace... 

nothing missing 

nothing broken

wellbeing 

and complete 

may you be well

He who makes peace in His heights may He make peace upon us ...

Shalom

My phone camera fuzzed this photo out some how ... well, this is where I'm at on Sunday evening, except that piece of chair rail is up, completing the line around the room.  Our budget will allow crown molding which I hope to be ready for by mid week.  We went to look at it today ,,, and I admit, I am pretty excited about this.  So ... on my to do list for the next few days ... paint around the ceiling and the base with the dark grey ... then high gloss the trim pieces.  The chair rail needs some of the delightfully paintable wood putty ... love that it is already white.  I have finished all the sanding now ... and the first thing I'm going to do is re set the floor cover.  I acquired several plastic drop sheets while we were out.

Looking forward to hanging some art.

Mother's Day.

 My kids like that I write here. Mostly for later I think. I record some of my memories here so that they might know some of my thoughts ... some of what was saved from earlier in my life, and some of what has become my life now. And ... I'm thinking about "day-dreaming" some wishes here ... like glider stuff, purely personal ... dreams can be powerful, pursuing them brings joy and growth ... okay and a tiny bit of frustration. "Good" and "Bad" seem to be frequently packaged together and it seems that managing those is the material that golden moments are spun from.

I wasn't a kid who played with baby dolls. I did like my little kitchen set, though not nearly as much as I loved the swing set, or my bike later. I wasn't some one who expected to fall in love.  If I wasn't born "fall adverse" I became so further back then memories begin.  Matter of fact one of my earliest memories is standing against  something with both arms up naively/sweetly/diligently  trying to protect my baby brother from falling ... most likely my mom was trying to keep me busy nearby and suggested it.

It's an incredible understatement to express that is exactly what happened during those first seconds after I became a mother. I had no idea there was a ledge there ... No idea that one might fall from there ... Thank God for that, I might have avoided the risk entirely ... .  So ... becoming a mom ... for me began with falling ... in love.  Again, thank God it's a good place, in love, because I've noticed over the years that there are no exits ... once in, you are irrevocably "in".

I think that's pretty neat.  That one may have bonds which won't be broken.  It's a great place to see what true commitment ... and one's best love, best efforts, best intentions ... what may come of that.  I realize that I am extremely blessed.   Being a mother to my family has been the true love of my life ... wish I were better at it ... wish I could be the mom my kids deserve.  They have no idea how much they have helped me along the way on my little life journey.  I know I've said before that I thought I would be rearing them, but it has turned out that they are actually "raising" me.  They are the polishers of my rough edges ... the perfecters of my soul.

Mom

Cleaning the freezer and the refrigerator today ... clean is good, I like it a lot.  


I clean with an alcohol soaked clothe.  Perfect for frozen places ... cold places.   My mother taught me how to keep things nice and the smell of alcohol reminds me of that.  It's funny, the freezer stays pretty orderly ... I noticed a tiny spot of green, as in lime green sherbet.  Don't know how that happens.  These little eye soothers had slipped to the bottom shelf.  I am looking forward to a hot bath and cold eye wrap tonight. ... pretty good stuff ...

Of all the writing I do here it surprises me that it is so difficult for me to write anything about my mom.  I love her.  All the house cleaning skills  I have are because she taught me ... and that pesky perfectionist gene ... could have been from her as easily as from Daddy.  Daddy always gets all the credit.  Poor Momma.  


This is important to me ... tidy ... orderly.  The truth is, nothing feels "right" to me when things aren't tidy.  I know this may be a little OCD, but ... if it were possible I would like for every single little detail to be just so.  I know that is a gift from my mom.  It was so nice to be raised in a home where every little detail was seen to ... no soap bubbles foaming up in the soap dish.  No finger smudges on ... anything.  Momma had a huge commitment to clean.  I've never thought about this before, but ... my momma could focus. 


And ... she rocked the house wife thing.  Now I know how difficult that is ... for me there is a lot of security in orderly.  Mom did a great job of providing that ... her invisible hand prints are all over that! 


So ... rubbing alcohol and Lavin fragrances ... Momma.

Sometimes I think we’re missing out these days by choosing the easy life. Years ago, women wore heels that demanded skill to walk in and treatment for bunions, but they looked great. The time and expense to alter a dress and the discomfort of a girdle were a small price paid for a skirt that swished easily around hips and settled gracefully as a woman sat. Corsages for travel, gloves in the city, real breakfasts, and knowing how to dance all cost time and effort, but they also brought an extra richness and discipline to daily life. Now we settle for sweat suits, crocs, and dancing like we’re having seizures in step aerobics class. For the most part, we’ve also given up lush and difficult perfumes. While I’ll take a pass on girdles, I’d happily trade this whole year’s fragrance launches for a demanding perfume like Lanvin My Sin.


When ever I see bottle of it I stop and spritz it ... I lean in to the mist and remember sweetness.  A difficult ... demanding perfume.  Pretty funny.  Thank you Momma.

precious ...

probably my favorite word ... precious ...

and what may be precious so rarely happens ... but, it did here, on the subway

80/1000 thankful

... for right now.

So quiet in the house once everyone is out for the day ... if I like, only the undulating wave of cool air and that steady buzz with is the absence of sound. In a few minutes I will be finished with my coffee ... so perfect.  I love to drink it in with the quiet while I think about "what to do today".  No written do list, but ... I am thinking about the best path through the day ... house chores, meals ... do I need to run any errands or make any phone calls ... tonight is pottery class - bet all those pieces are fresh from the kiln and waiting to delight us.

I'll find a documentary to listen to for awhile ... the the 70's channel on Pandora a little later ... yesterday I heard an old Aerosmith song (which I remembered almost all the words to - how does that happen?!) and a group called Mott the Hopple (who I haven't recalled since ... High School? ... hearing them made me laugh ... I'm going to try to link a tune ... big freakin'deal stuff back in the day ... lol)

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUUodQKJuhU&feature=related ... may not be the best Mott stuff, but ... day's ah wasting"!

Thankful for the luxury of right now ... the luxury of planning my own day ... pretty awesome.

I kept on dusting my face and goggles off ... but over head sanding is tedious work ... I'm biting my lip here ... pretty much all day long ... thinking about that carribean mud wrap, this was sort of like that ... sorta sorta.  The ceiling came out well.  It looks good now.

The light colored paint on the walls is actually the ceiling paint.  I used it as a primer over places that had been "fixed" and ... some just goofing off to roll the paint out.  The chair rail is down along this wall, and I'm thinking about "pulling it away" all around the room.  It seems like it might make the painting of both the walls and the trim worth the extra effort of reattaching it.  Thinking about that.  The wood is old and probably dry ... I sure don't want to splinter any of it.  Some of the window casings didn't come out well when the windows were replaced, and were a real bite to love back up.  This isn't stock trim ... another foible of an older home ... on the bright side, it is actually beautiful wood and has been doing it's job for more years then I.

And here is the color "up".
I do like it quite well.  The gallon wasn't enough to complete the room ... still have all the detail work to do.  I am sure hoping that the computer aided paint mix will render this exact color.  I have a bit left ... and a bit more large painting to do as well.  It's going to take another quart.  I am ... truly exhausted!   My skin feels dry and ... yucky..  I really like the paint though, and I'm very proud of my work.  I was thinking about that today.  I would rather be flying, but I think I was proud of my flying work ... and being proud of how you spend your time is what really matters.
I have decided to spend some time getting acquainted with the CAP stuff.  I've known one of their pilot's pretty much forever ... flew safety pilot for him once way back before we had an ILS in here ... wow, back before we were using GPS approaches!  Another guy worked where I used to work.   He is no longer there.  Both nice guys.  Anyway, the point is I like the idea of taking kids up on their first few flights ... I like the idea of doing ground school type stuff ... they have a glider which I would love to fly ... the search and rescue stuff I'm not too sure about because I don't know what they do with that.  My understanding is that they put a radio guy and a spotter in the plane too.  I like to do my own radio work, but I could get used to some help with that I guess.  They can do whatever they want to from the back as far as I'm concerned.  These guys spent a lot of time monitoring the gulf oil spill last year.  That ... I could do that.

Well ... tomorrow ... little paint brushing.  And ... then the fun of putting it all back together.  I can't wait to see the art up on that dark background. May need to adjust my frames!

~ Norman Cousins

“Life is an adventure in forgiveness” 


"If something comes to life in others because of you, then you have made an approach to immortality."

~ found online ... idk

“The purpose of education is to enable us to develop to the fullest that which is inside us”


"My reason nourishes my faith and my faith my reason."


"We will not have peace by afterthought."


"Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences."


“The eternal quest of the individual human being is to shatter his loneliness.”




(Biochemistry of human emotions ... advocate of laughter ... The Healing Heart)

sanding complete ... well, almost!

A human being fashions his consequences as surely as he fashions his goods or his dwelling. Nothing that he says, thinks or does is without consequences. ~ Norman Cousins

Woke up this morning with a stuffy nose and a wee headache ... and very very happy.  All the overhead sanding is mission accomplished (duh duh dahdah ).  Heck yeah!  One thing that I both appreciate and in turn am frustrated to the point of numbness by is my husband's "critical" eye.  As I was sanding yesterday I was thinking I sure do hope none of this requires another layer of compound ... 'cause it is such a bite to finish.  Two came in to check on me and brought back her lab goggles ... huge help!  This morning it seems like every time I blow my nose another panel of sheet rook pops out.  Yes, indelicate.  I do know.  My husband said it looks good, translated to my parlance ... I totally rocked the ceiling ... we can practically dance on it! 


Last night, at quitting time, I cleaned my tools and swept up sheet rock dust, limiting visibility in the living room to below minimums.  This morning the dust has settled and I am "fixin" to mop and then cover the floor ... and paint!  I can't wait to see the new paint up.  I am kinda tickled that I am so excited about ceiling paint ... it's funny and sweet ... possibly pathetic, but I don't think so.
I mentioned to my husband that we might want to refinish the wood floors in there while it's an empty room.  The wood floor guy is a long time friend.  I know he will give me the recipe for the varnish.  He laid this floor for us almost twenty years ago and has been back to refinish it once.  It doesn't need sanding ... just a coat of poly urethane I think.  I see him at church every week.  He'll tell me what to get.  Last time he was here his crew painted the floor with a mop.  Seriously.
Husband said, "Whatever you think."  I didn't know that I have a whateveryouthink switch.  That red switch over there, the whateveryouthink switch, we didn't know what it was for ... well, now we do ... it lights me up!

Later that day ...

One entire strip of tape had bubbles in it ... could see them as soon as the paint went on ... bummer

... so ... I pulled it down and re sanded the bed and put it back up ... some of the other seams were not "enviable" either ... they actually kinda sucked.  I was too stingy ... the Tex-Mex word pinche is precisely accurate here ...
adjective

2.

damn (informal) (Mexican Spanish), bloody (British)
adjetivo

1(México) (maldito) bloody (muy_familiar); lousy (muy_familiar)

todo por unos pinches centavos all for a few measly cents

2(Centroamérica) (México) (miserable) wretched

3(Centroamérica) (tacaño) stingy; tight-fisted

1[de cocina] kitchen hand; kitchen-boy

2(S. Cone) (oficinista) minor office clerk; (criminal) small-time criminal

3(Caribe) (México) (granuja) rascal

1(And) (jamelgo) nag

See that's what I'm talking about ... nuance ... a language with texture ... 

So ... mas mud.  Over the areas where I could see the tape I applied another coat of mud.  I would really like to sand it tonight before I go to bed ... hope it is dry.  It would be so excellent to finish painting the ceiling tomorrow.  Fresh paint looks so nice.  Still tentative about the dark wall paint ... we shall see.  I'm actually very interested in what we think of it.  

And ... I have decided to do a horizontal tone on tone wide stripe in the foyer using this ceiling paint, which is a matte finish, and the exact color in an satin finish.  It will be very subtle.  

Not a huge fan of actually painting ... I'm having a minor allergic reaction to paint ... it makes my tongue have little red dots that hurt ... and also bothers my sinuses.  The house is well ventilated, but I think over the years maybe I've just built up to a reaction.  Not enough of a problem to keep me from doing it. Anyway, I'm pretty close to having every paintable surface in the house redone.  

It is interesting to come back to a place ... in this case specifically a rather large sheet rock patch and see how much better your team is able to do then you were back then.
This is sheet rock work ... the mud, while lots of fun to slather on actual represents how much sanding you will be doing to get a seamless finish.  It is impossible to write or even think about this without sounding a tad prissy.  But ... sheet rock done well is very prissy work. Good sheet rock very softly requests finesse ... brutishness simply won't cut it.  This is patient work ... fortunately that is my strong suit,  patience.  I apply the least bit possible and let it dry completely ... I may or may not sand between application of wall mud ... joint compound.  I don't wear a mask while I sand, though I know I should.

In the corner, near an AC vent, I find tiny fissures popping the paint away from the wall board. Tiny spider veins which I eventually figure out are a result of rust ... growing ... on the nail heads which originally hung theses walls.  Rust on metal ... moisture ... condensation from the vent my husband says.  I say this corner of the house is a cold spot.  This corner is my perch ... the rest of the house may be warm from a clothes dryer which seems to run almost continuously ... or the oven ... or the dishwasher ... this corner is an oasis from all that.  The cool is good ... it comes at a cost.  I turn the sharp edge of my hand tool perpendicular to the fractured surface ... a probe which becomes a blade ... layers of painted surface slide away.  The surface of the wall underneath has a layer of powder ... exactly like baby powder, and I smile as I recall Two dusting the fish aquarium with sweet Johnson & Johnson talc ... she wanted the fish to smell good ... what a mess, like this is a mess.  I wonder if I should replace the wall in this corner.  There is the tiniest bit of dark dry ... maybe mildew, I don't know.  I slide the tool in to it and it falls away like a morning shadow.  The board underneath seems un-compromised.  I decide to work every loose bit away and decide what to do when I see what is left.  I'm thinking about what my friend said about am I a perfectionist ... and I'm thinking about what my husband said about how much money this is saving us ... he named a number ... it doesn't seem like enough to me ... and I'm thinking that a sheetrock professional would not do the job as I do it ... someone who feeds their family with their hands has to keep an eye on the clock.  They make choices that I don't have to make.  My husband says this would be a two day job ... max.  He says the guy would come in and do the mud and leave ... go to another job.  I conclude that I would be a perfectionist were perfection an option ... the wiggly line where wall meets ceiling is imprecise.   It will bother me when the paint goes on ... and no, that blue paint tape doesn't help much at all ... .

Maybe it's because I am reading HOUSE (Kidder) that I am thinking of this ... maybe it's just how I tend to be ...

As I am working along I don't hear the clock ticking, I just want to finish the task at hand as well as I can. I like that I am doing this work rather then paying a stranger.  It will take a while longer but ... it will be done as right as I can get it.  

I'm thinking about how the building of souls is a bit like this.  Tiny cracks ... caused by what ... oh, yes that ... and ever so carefully the damaged material is identified and cleared away ... the rusty nails holding the whole shebang together ... hmmm, what to do?

I know what I am going to do.  It may not be the right thing, but it is the best I know right now.  I am going to sand the rust away from those nail heads ... and I'm going to seal them with clear nail polish (Or maybe the turquoise that I'm sporting on my toes).  Then I am going to apply the sheetrock compound and finish it out so smooth that no one will every know it was in need of repair ... maybe even better then new.  Then ... I'm going to paint it.

taken yesterday ... might let ole Sam come in and help me with the sneezing
he is amused by loud rock and roll music
... an excellent helper

image from Pinterest ... idk
this cross section is a tiny representation of the "shell"
 the shell is a relatively insignificant vessel for what is contained
this is beautiful, but if it were all I could see ... I would have no clue of what "it" is or might be.

I am thinking about how in a relationship ... any relationship ... we "see" something or somethings specific ... here ... like this quote:

"Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend."  Oliver Wendell Holmes

I am exactly me (though that is constantly becoming) and you are exactly you (again "alive" and therefore modifying for lack of a better description), yet when I "see" you I see ... only what you can/will show me + only what I can/will see and that impression  ... I "experience" within my limitations and filters.  And then ... I bounce back to you something.  
If you are gratified by my response to you ... that quality within yourself that I am responding to will be nourished ... and strengthened.  We shape each other with our interactions.  We draw out and strengthen bits of each other, sometimes to our edification, sometimes to our detriment.  We take that "revised" self on to other interactions.


Any quality or characteristic, either "good" or "bad" when stroked will increase.


We had a cat who was most excellent ... except in relationship with our youngest child.  She was very afraid of the cat and would shriek and run away when accidentally coming upon him ... he would stop whatever lazy cat game he was indulging himself in and give chase ... swiping at her as though she were "prey" ... she drew out the predator in him ... she acted like a mouse and he responded by becoming a terrifying jungle cat.  She helped him feel powerful and he liked that.  He was just a house cat to the rest of us.
So ... that is a negative example.  I respond to your ______________ and your _____________ becomes more apparent in our interactions. And ... in your interactions at large.
The positive examples are so easy to see ... 
I express gratitude and you become even more generous with me.  
I admire your _____________ and your ____________ becomes more evident in our interactions.  
Maybe that "strengthens" you in a soul nourishing way, maybe it just "puffs" you up which would be detrimental.
I look at a person and see a very small part of who they are or potentially are ... as looking at a very big picture framed in a tiny frame ... everything outside the frame is un-seeable to me ... I see the person only as what I see through my very limited perspective ... those aspects are magnified. 
Hmmm ... I see a "different/not like me" man and I somehow believe "this is what/who/how a "that" man is ... I see "That" man through my tiny "that" frame ... yes, everything I thought I would see is right there and ... maybe I look no further ... for all kinds of reasons both good and bad, I look no further at "this" ... "That" man is only "that" to me and his "that-ness" grows in our interchange ... he takes his "that-ness" on to the next interaction.  I help tell him who he is.  He is helped towards his "that-ness"  as he sees what I reflect back to him.  He helps me see myself a certain way as well. That is something about why we value ... how we value ... that may be something about cherishment ... about respect.
If we like how this "seeing" makes us feel ... we may continue to look.  If we don't ... we may look away if we can.  Laughing here as I think, because ... maybe we have to keep an eye on "that" ... that we watch so that we can ... hmmm "see and avoid" in doing so "that" is paid attention to and becomes even more prominent.  I think we do somehow enhance qualities in others ... I feel more like me with some people then with others ... and sometimes I am "on guard' ... sometimes I am chilled out nd sometimes I am not.  It is easy for me to think of people who  always, invariable feel good with.  And ... there are people who are simply difficult to be around ... maybe we do not bring out the best in each other ... maybe we do ... easy is rarely a place to grow I think.  No ... that is not right.  I have friends who challenge me to be my best version and are also very very easy to be around.  But, it is true that making the best of "difficult" has value too.


Here ... we converse and you indicate to me that you are my friend (or enemy) ... friend means something particular to me ... does it mean the same thing to you ... accepting a stranger as friend is a shortcut to somewhere else ... it is a shortcut to where I "need" a friend ... it is a shortcut to where one may act out their version of "friendship" and ... that place is unknown. I think even our most intimate "friends" are strangers because we "see" them in a limited way ... and we enhance what we see ... we draw out what we are able to look at.  I think I would like to "see" the people I love ... more ... through a bigger frame.  I love the line in Avatar, the movie, "I see you" for this very reason ... we all want to see and be seen ... we need each other to help us see ourselves ... we need each other to help us "find" our better selves.  


Well ... this is some rudimentary cogitating.  I am thinking about this.

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born - Anais Nin 

~ Henry Domke

definitive carrot juice recipe

Juicer ... love it ... yeah, more "old" stuff  ... lol.

Here is the definitive carrot juice recipe

Carrots (enough to produce four cups of juice)
habanero pepper
dash of ground cinnamon

serve over ice with strawberry garnish

I've been "puny" all week ... we'll see if this kicks it up a couple of gears

I am dipping in to my emergency supply of coffee ... Cafe Du Monde coffee ... I love it, but it leaves a coat of something on my teeth ... I am distracted from the early morning shot of joy by that observation and it's buddy "what else is it coating" ... pepto cafe.  Those Cajuns know tasty.

It is raining here ... so no walking this week and I have missed it.  I have also not been to the pottery studio except for last night's class.  We learned how to glaze and also how to operate the slab roller.  The "paint" is in large buckets and we mix it with a concrete stirrer attached to a hand drill.  Then ... it is cleaned by dipping it and pulling the trigger in a deep bucket of water right next to the glaze storage shelves ... electricity and water ... the cord dangles right over the bucket.  Have to say it caught my eye.
So ... now I have several pieces glazed and ready to go on another trip through the fire.  The glazes have really funny names.  I had trouble holding the name in my head while I searched for the bucket ... one of my choices may have been named twilight tornado ... they were teasing me because I kept on mumbling names of seventy rock bands and titles of old hippie music ... . Which reminds me, Kate Campbell ... in an intimate theater setting this week, her "concert" was a chat and sing thing which was kinda perfect.  I'm not from around here and had never heard of her, but thoroughly enjoyed her music and her sensibility.

I Will Be Your Rest  may have been my favorite from those she shared.  I'll make a try at the lyrics:

When you have fought every good fight
tried with all your strength and might
but can not lift your sword
and that dragons at your door...

When the tempests toss you from side to side
you can not find a place to hide
listen for my voice
in the middle of the storm ...

I will be your rest
I will calm your fears
I will be your peace
I will dry your tears

I will be your song
when you can not sing
I will be your breathe
I will be your rest ...

I don't early know how to describe her sound ... closest i could find would be a sort of a woman Southern Man, Neil Young sorta vibe.  She is genius on the piano ... that's my opinion, my husband said he liked her guitar tunes best.  I don't know if she was here visiting friends or making new ones ... just glad I got to hear her.



I have noticed just here lately that I am starting to recognize that I am "old".  It kinda amuses me.  I look at those recent pictures ... definitely old looking ... we go to Starbucks and all I want is "my" coffee ... none of that weird fluffy stuff ... my right hand aches a bit and I wonder if that is the beginning of arthritis  ... spell check made that right for me, but I better start getting familiar with those words ... . I just feel differently lately ... like in my soul ... stuff just doesn't really matter very much like I know it did a year ago.  I feel myself shrug ... whatever ... .  As I sit here thinking I see that I don't have any lists ... I have been a big list maker in the past ... the what I am going to do today kinda list ... I guess I have coffee on a shopping list, but ... not written down anywhere.  Nothing is important enough to write down.  I am in a maybe I will or maybe I won't kinda mode.  It's easy for me to remember last April and May ... now here we are a year later ... it seems like a different life rather then just a different year.
So ... I heard her singing those words ... when the tempests toss you from side to side and you can not find a place to hide ... listen for my voice ... in the middle of the storm ... .  The thousand pound machine touched me softly, like piano music always does do ... and these words made my heart leak ... old.  Old like the faucet in my bathroom that needs to be turned off just so ... or it will leak.  Old.  Leak creak weak ... bleak?   Lotsa eak/eek words.  You know what?  Seriously ... old doesn't bother me at all ... it comes with tired ...

I will be your song

when you can not sing

I will be your breathe 

I will be your rest ...

Different topic.  I have almost finished looking at Pride.  Pride is the most interesting "vice" to me ... that's what I've discovered.  I think pride may be "the point of sin origin" ... just one step too far on a good track and ... over the edge on a downhill slide.

I am also doing some studying on, hmmm, difficult to quite label, 'cause even the words are loaded.  So easy to misconstrue meanings and significance ... anyway, something about a woman's "place" in life roles.  I'm finding that the picture of a woman is framed by a picture of a man and precisely visa versa too.  I am thinking about how much we "shape" ... define ... emphasis ... minimize ...  each other.   

"Without wearing any mask we are conscious of, we have a special face for each friend."  Oliver Wendell Holmes

I won't be writing my notes on that here because I think everyone needs to make the journey to their own conclusions.  Am am trying to work out what I think of these words:

"The second basic truth is that the woman, as the same Paul reminds us, is the glory of man (1 Cor. 11:7).  This passage has often been misconstrued as teaching a hierarchy from God to man and man to woman.  But this is not its point or purpose.  The question is that of the relation between powers, and of mediation.  The text I want to focus on here is the one about glory.  Following Barth (and others), I have often recalled that glory is revelation.  God glorifies himself when he reveals himself as he is.  Jesus Christ glorifies God when he reveals him to us as the God of love who is also the Father.  We ourselves are called upon to be the glory of God as we are his image as we show by what we are who is the God to whom we bear witness.  In this passage Paul then adds that the woman is the glory of the man: she reveals him; she shows what a human being truly is.

If we relate this to the temptation, we learn that by what she says the woman brings to light the fundamental reality of Adam.  She shows him to be weak, undiscerning, fluctuating, ambitious, desirous of equality with God, etc.  She simply reveals this.  Both are equally at fault, and the condemnation (as commentators and theologians should remember) is more severe for the man, since he is given no hope, whereas the woman has a double promise and carries a double hope, namely, that she will transmit life and that her posterity will crush the serpent."

Jacques Ellul, The Subversion of Christianity, William B. Erdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI 1986, pg. 76

Thinking about it.  

today ... prepping to paint

The job grew as they tend to do and now it's "quittin' time" ... we are going to a concert tonight and I have to wash sheetrock dust out of my hair ... ugh ... sheetrock.  My husband has been home working with me today and it was good to work together. We are repairing some overhead fault lines.  Overhead sanding is the worst! It's going to look great when it's done though.  I have a new album on iTunes for us to listen to.  My husband sort of likes country music.  Just sorta ... this is Lionel Richie's Tuskegee.  Yesterday best old friend called to tell me "De, you gotta get this ... " and I had enough credit on my account to accommodate a purchase.   Yeah ... it's a keeper and I was pleasantly surprised today when my husband recognized Willie singing with ... EASY ... like Sunday morning.

new paint color ... it really is grey ... dark grey

Taken in 1981 at bil wedding

taken this weekend in backyard watching "24" 31 years later