"Well" Done !!

The well is all drilled!!

It is only 200 feet with 5 gallons per minute. That's excellent in the well world. Hopefully Thursday or Friday the excavator and pump guy will come and set the pump, hook it into the power and tie it all into our water line. Woo Hoo! I am feeling seriously relieved.

Josh and Will got 2 of the 5 windows in today as well. Lookign good.

They Arrived!

The well drilling guys arrived mid day today. After 3 hours (including set up and all) they are about 40 feet down and hope to hit the bedrock soon. Guess it will take awhile to get to that 200+ level. Note well the protective hay bales around the drilling site.

All I want for Christmas is one nice well...

Ok.... not exactly true.... I would like some packages to open on Christmas day... but... I will be glad when the well deal is done. As of yesterday they were drilling about 1/2 mile down the road from me.... their 3rd well over 500 feet deep in one week. One was over 700 feet! Those are fairly rare around here so let's hope they are getting those deep ones out of their system and ours will be a nice 200 -300 feet with great flow. They now say they likely will drill ours on Tuesday.

Our porch sill replacement project is all done. That is a great relief. The siding & window work was also begun but is now stalled for a few days due to Glen's brother-in-law's being in a coma. Glen has needed to spend time out east with the family.... understandably so. Hopefully this next week will see the well and the siding /windows done (or almost so).

Meanwhile, preparations are on for the Christmas Fest here tonight. Expecting over 30 people I think. Hope we can park all those cars. Looking forward to food and fun with friends.... tonight and over the next week at various celebrations.

Deep Wells....

So the well people called today and said they hope to be here late Tues or Weds. They were a bit delayed in doing a nearby well (just over the Wendell line) b/c it went 700'. Yikes... that is almost 4 times deeper what I hope we have to go. For those of you unfamiliar with wells..you pay for the drilling... by the foot! Well, I hope ours is closer to 200'! I wil be so Glad when it is over. It feels like a cloud hanging over us... a huge unknown.

Regarding Ice, Door Knockers and Staying Put

My strategy for today's storm was to stay put, catch up on calls and paper work and do a bit of Christmas wrapping until after lunch. I supposed this would allow the ice of the night time storm to melt with the rain. That apparently accomplished, about 2:15 PM, I was packing my bags when a knock came at my kitchen door. This knock on an icy day brought back a memory of another icy day a few years ago when a nice young southern man, just out of the military and dressed in his black leather jacket and dress shoes, got lost on our road. He too had knocked. He was driving a truck, a brand new, small metallic grey Toyota as I recall. He was stuck. He was unaccusomed to snow and ice, being from the South. So, on that occasion, he pushed while I drove, we spun his little truck right around in the road and I drove it down the steep twisting road and past Patsy's for him.

Today the one knocking is a bearded man dressed in blue pants and a shirt, work boots and wearing no coat. It takes me a moment I but recongize him, a town highway worker. I swing the door open. Yes, it is true, he reports, the sander itself is stuck on our road and his truck radio doens't work in this territory. This time the knocker uses my phone and calls for help. He is not lost. He is accustomed to snow. I will not drive his beast, nor will he push. A rescue truck will come. It will take over an hour he explains. It is not warm enough to melt the ice on the road and the sand keeps getting washed away by the rain. Two thoughts flash through my mind: "I think I will just stay home." and, "All that sand and salt is being washed into our precious stream...better line that road with hay bales, fast!" I only speak the first as I wish him well, close the door, turn up the music and throw another log in the woodstove. Time to make a fresh pot of tea.

They Came, They Dug, They Left

While I was down in Amherst today Clark Excavating came and made a path and dug a pit for the drilling rig. Not sure what day the drilling will be...but...the process has begun. Oh, yes, they did put a silt screen between the pit area and the wetlands. Phew!

Our Tree at Night

This evening some photographers who are more experienced than Cabs were here ( namely Shnitzel, LR6 and Jet). Hence, thx to Shnitzle, I now have this night time, no flash, pic of our tree.

Our Garden Tree

This seemed like a year to make a departure from our usual family tree decorated with years of collected ornaments (mostly the kids'). With them both not living here this year, nor here to decorate, I wanted to do something different. So, we have a garden theme tree of sorts. It is decorated with several pink/white hydrangeas, pink berries, feathered birds, butterflies, and glass grape clusters along with lots of glass balls in silver, white, pinks and cranberry. There are several strands of clear mini lights of course. Oh.... and it is fairly huge... over 10' tall and 7' diameter at it's widest point.

Winter Wonderland at Night

It was absolutely beautiful outside tonight. Here are a couple of pics to prove it.

Surely Helps Decorate - Arthur Supervises

My 19 month old Maine Coon kitty, Surely, likes to help with whatever I am doing. This time, she climbs the ladder to help string Christmas tree lights! Her big "brother" Arthur, supervises from below.

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree....

Today was the day to cut our Christmas trees... trees plural b/c Ben and Jess cut their tree too -- a first for them as a married couple as their tiny apartment last year just had room for a bough. For us... it is our biggest tree ever... huge would be a more apt description! It snowed a bit, creating a perfect atmosphere for the occasion.

Marilynne Robinson, Calvin etc....

For those of you wondering about the progess of my Robinson essay reading... and questioning why I have not written more about it.....
Well, I have had a really packed 2 weeks so I switched to "lighter" reading, hence I have begun Robinson's first novel, Housekeeping. Thus far it is captivating.. and so.. I am off to read some more.
ttfn

WooHoo!!! Hurrah!

At 7 AM the excavators arrived. Yes, it was snowing! They dug out the septic tank. Then they dug another big hole about 4' deep to find the leach tank. They told me old systems almost never pass... but once they saw it.. they seemed impressed. The inspector came and meaured and made notes and checked everything out...even verifying, by eye, that I really do NOT have a garbage disposal (a big no no with a septic system). The septic pump guy came and cleaned everything out.

After all was said and done... IT PASSED!! The town still has to accept the report for it to be official..but the celebration on our end has begun.

The fire pit needs to be put back together and the lawn will need some re-seeding...but...that's small potatoes compared to the total mess we would have had if we needed a new system!

BIG DIG: done !!
NEXT: the public hearing for our well drilling, required due to stream on property
WHEN: Thursday 8PM.

Big Dig Delayed

Soooooo.... no photos tonight. The big digger is parked here but the digging won't begin until 7AM tomorrow, Friday. Seems the digger and the driver of the digger got bogged down today working on a leaking water line job.
So... huge day here tomorrow.

A whole bunch of trash got taken to the dump today tho. That feels great.

Big Dig Phase One

NOTICE: The Big Dig of Shute-Ho begins tomorrow.... in less than 12 hours.

The big scooper will arrive and attempt to locate (by means of a snake thru the septic tank??) and uncover our leach box. Yippee.... I can't wait to see our leach tank!! Imagine.... the anticipation and paying all that money to see our very own leach tank.

The inspector will come to view it as well... yippe yipee yipee... on Friday AM after the septic is pumped. Phew! So, for all you praying folks... pray hard that the inspector approves heartily of what he sees in our leach box.. or else we will be finding more exciting ways to spend our precious greenbacks on new and inventive methods of poop dispersal.

Stay tuned for more titillating updates (and hopefully pictures) of our excellent adventures in Shute-Ho.

The Un-Well

That is the big news for this week.

Our well drilling has been delayed at least until after Dec 9 because the conservation commission came out and said that we need to go thru a hearing process. This is required, they said, because of the little 1' wide stream that runs along the edge of our property and the wet area that feeds into it. Likely we will have to line the edges with bales of hay and such to protect it from any soil run off. This truly pristine water (as it bubbles right out of ther ground 100' away!) runs along our sanded and salted dirt road, directly into a beaver crap infested dead pond... so we must be very careful to not disturb the eco-system.
:-/

The public hearing about our well is now set for Dec 8. I had to call the excavator and driller and delay their arrival and then file more paper work at town hall and get a list of abutters and send them all notices and place an ad in the local paper...yada, yada...

Moral of the story is.... let's see...
Don't buy property with water on it unless it is large enough to swim or boat in so that at least you can offset any permit hassles with pleasures. How's that?

Any-who, sounds like the decent weather is going to hold a bit longer for the project. Here's hoping!

Thanksgiving 2005

A few inches of the wet white stuff greeted us on the morning of Thanksgiving 2005...giving it a "Merry" Thanksgiving feel. Despite the sloppy roads the gang all made it up the hill and down our road to enjoy our meal together.We were joined for dinner by Aaron, Jess, Ben, Michael, Carol (Greene), Julie, Kristin, Nathanael, and Katherine. It was a lovely day and evening. Pete and Pam joined us for desert and after a long tough competition, Pete eventually won the game of Name that Tune, with Ben following close behind.

New iBook Arrived!

My new G4 iBook arrived yesterday! WooHoo.. I now have lots of memory, a bigger screen, speed and even a space bar that functions too. Imagine that!! It took about 45 mintues for the total set up. Thx to Apple and a very handy Fire Wire cable, everything was transferred from my old G3 to the new baby in 28 minutes! Wow... gotta love Macs. Hope to have time this weekend to explore iLife, iWorks and MS Office. I imagine I will never fully master them, but I hope to have some fun with them... and... oh yeah... be productive with all my files and book keeping for my practice too. Right, of course!

Just Another Day in Shute-Ho

Yeah... just another typical day up here in Shute-Ho.... cutting down the woods, raking, digging ....
Normal stuff with normal people.

hint: for a closer look at the normal Shute-Ho people click on pic #1.
hahahahahaha

Happy Happy Happy

So this AM I woke up early.
Feeling it only right that I put that extra time to good use, I ordered my new iBook.
It should be here next week. Yipee!
Imagine........ (said gazing wistfully off at the sky..)...yes imagine....
a space bar that works every time...
and speeeeeeeed!
woohoo!

It is DONE!

Yeah.... woohoo... my grading for Dean's Book Fall 2005 is done!

Calvinism Preferred Over the "New" Social Vision??

Wow..I am reeling from what I heard from Marilynne Robinson on Sunday and then what I read today in her book of essays: The Death Of Adam. Robinson is an advocate for the ideas of John Calvin! In one essay: Puritans and Prigs, she first explains why the Puritans had nothing on the prigs of today! She goes on to explain on why the Calvinist doctine of the total depravity of man, is a leveling and freeing doctrine which is preferable to the social vision of today. She says today's social vision is nothing new, likening it to Stalinism and Leninism. She says Calvin's doctrine that we are all sinners gives us excellent grounds for forgiveness and self-forgiveness and is kindlier than any modern day expectation that we might be saints. She describes the social vision of today is an unsystematic, uncritical, unconscious perfectionism. She comments that the zealots of today are marked by priggishness.... zealots who in actuality develop class markers and "defend magnimity while asserting class advantage" -- "there is simple snobbery." (pg 162)

Later in the essay she writes: "Calvinists spoke of an elect, Leninists and suchlike have spoken of an elete. The 2 words come from the same root and mean the same thing. .... Our elites (today) are simply, in one way or another, advantaged. Those of us who have shared advantage know how little it assures, or that it assures nothing, or that it is a positive threat to one's moral soundness, attended as it is with so many encouragements to complacency and insensitivity." (pg 167)

Ok, well, this is such an inadequate overview of the essay that I am afraid an apology must accompany it. Robinson's writing is something that has to be experienced. She didn't win a Pulitzer for her novel Giliad or become an instructor at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop over 15 years ago, without excellent reason. I hope to digest more in the days and weeks to come. Stay tuned.

Why the Church Needs Calvin...

So on Sunday I went with Sarah and 3 others from First Church Hadley to hear Pulitzer award writer Marilynne Robinson speak at the UCC Church in Longmeadow. I thought she was going to talk about her book -- perhaps do a reading from her latest book Gilead. But no! In her afternoon talk she spoke to well over 200 people (a number of UCC pastors) about the declining numbers in the mainstream protestant churches and how the pastors need to stop being embarassed by Jesus and the Scriptures..that the pastors need to be concerned with the Blandness Factor in their sermons etc. It was pretty hard hitting....very intellectual and very Biblical. Also why they do NOT need to get lost in the: form a mega church, hire a band, dance in the aisle or tear out the pews... relativism.

In the evening she did a special dinner session for pastors and their guest. There were only about 20 of us there. She talked about Why the Church Needs Calvin. Turns out she is quite a Calvin Scholar and talked about the Congregationalist roots in Calvinism and how progressive Calvin was in his advocacy for a people group in France that was being terrorized and burned in the streets and other ways his quite progressive theology challenged the church of his day and endangered his life. It was packed full of information.... ties to Jonathan Edwards were also brought into it.

I understand her talks from this weekend are going to be made available on the church's web site. I will post the link when they are uploaded.

Anyway, I was amazed. Gave me much to consider and read up on.

The Bugger is Done!

After about 10 hours of work...the bugger is done. Now we can enjoy toasty days by the fire. Friends and family are always welcome! Picture #1, Baird around hour # 9, grunting and groaning thru the fireplace retro-fit installation. No wonder the installation guys charge so much and say it is like threading a needle blind. Picture#2, but the results are sure worth it.

My Kitty's Home

My little kitty Surely, age 19 months, is back home afer a little "surgical proceedure" and an overnight stay at the vets. I am supposed to be keeping her somewhat quiet, not letting her climb, jump, etc. HA! That is absolutely hopeless in this house and she is is such a money! I hope her sutures stay in place and heal very quickly.

My Mom's New Place

Most of you probably know that we moved my mom into elderly housing last weekend. Here are a couple of shots of the move in day. Pic #1, my brother Hank and his son Michael. Pic #2, my mom and me. Hank, Michael, Aaron, Jess, Ben, my sister Linda, her bf Jim, Baird and I were all there.

Aaron Ousted by Anderson!!

Aaaahhhh....Aaron Brown has been outsted from CNN by Anderson Cooper! I mean, I liked Anderson Cooper's 360 show at 6PM and I liked his coverage of Katrina..but...I really liked Aaron Brown's "quirky heady" 10 PM Nightline. During Katrina Cooper and Brown did a 2 hour 10pm-12am show that was a great combo..but then..the President of CNN-USA decided to keep Anderson in that slot and bid adieu to Aaron Brown. I discovered this huge disruption to my news life just tonight when I tuned in. Brown is.... GONE.... gone from CNN altogether. My "nightlife" is just not gonna be the same. Brown was more of a serious news show. Cooper is more of a news magazine. Guess I'll have to tune into BBC more.

PS someone's gotta tell CNN that the background screen flashing around behind Anderson and his guests is way over the top UGH!

Worship of Religion?

How willing am I to allow God to show me anything new? Do I think I have my Beliefs all sewed up? Am, I threatened by or defensive/ resistant to anything different from what I know and already understand? From what I feel safe with? If I am secure in my faith yet want to always understand more of the truth (after all I will never know it all in this life), then I should be willing to walk into the mystery, the unknown, the different and not be fearful and rejecting, right? Fearfulness and defensiveness spring from our uncertainty, I think. If I am too rigid in what I understand to be the truth then how am I any different that the Jews in 30AD who thought they had truth all sewed up...and then.... missed the Messiah. What pieces of God's truth am I missing?

I was reading an OOZE article today and this part caught my eye. A teacher is speaking to his followers about worshipping the Book rather than the Author of that Book and being too set in our limited interpetations:

“The harshness of the truth I speak to you; even now they worship the Book. They worship the words that speak of the Creator, as though such words were equal to the very essence of the Creator. Herein lies their sacred idolatry: they worship their faith, not the Creator who gave them faith. They place their faith in words and pages, not in the Creator who inspired the writing. They ascribe absolute truth onto mere words, and then settle for the truth they render from these words.

“Forgetting their ancestors who sought the Creator, they interpret the Book to explain the Creator. Forgetting their ancestors who knew the Creator before there was a Book, they claim the only way to know the Creator is through their rendition of the Book. They assert that knowledge of the Book is a prerequisite for communion with the Creator, yet it was communion which first brought the Book to life. They proclaim that the Book must be understood for faith to take root, yet faith is what gave root to the Book. The Book tells the stories of men, women and children who knew the Creator before the Book, and yet they claim the only way to know the Creator is through the Book.

“May it dawn upon this generation that the communion they seek with the Creator transcends even the scope of the Book. May they embrace and value the book above all others, yet not derive and measure the soul of their faith by their limited interpretations.”

complete article at:
http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=1053

Bob Cat Crosses Our Path

Coming home today after church a bob cat crossed our path in Hadley! I think it was the first time I have seen one down in town. We used to have a smallish one here in our neighborhood when we first moved up here but this was on the divided part of RT 116 in Hadley, not up here in Shutesbury! It was quite large, too. It crossed the road, went off to the edge by a tree, turned around, sat down and looked straight back at me! I wish we could have stopped and snappped a picture but I am sure it would have run off if we even slowed down. My guess is they are probably attracted to the UMass horse/sheep farm on the other side of the street.

Wisdom the the Day

Lesson for today: don't pay Verizon Wireless thru their web based, WebPay. They can't find my payment from 6 weeks ago. It took 4 phone calls today and I still have to submit a fax of my bank statement for "review." The payment verification number I had was for some reason "not needed." This was after they shut my phone off and charged me $15, plus full payment of what THEY said was due, to turn it back on. My persistance today at least got the $15 credited to my account. Now to find the payment they lost.....and get that credited.

Today's Input

Today I did some reading here and there..between this and that. The this and that was mostly related to time over in Dalton helping my mom move into elderly housing. The big move day is this Saturday.

Here are a few samples of my reading feast:

Neil Cole- author of Organic Church (which I recently ordered) was interviewed by Next Wave this month.
http://www.the-next-wave-ezine.info/issue83/index.cfm?id=6&ref=COVERSTORY

In this interview he says many thought inspiring things. Here is just one part:

I think we are making a shift from the day of the ordained to the day of the ordinary. A day when common Christians are empowered to do extraordinary things for God and they are no longer going to wait for their pastors to say, “Go.”
I think the layers and layers of decision-makers between God’s people and God will be removed, so that God can have direct communication with His people without any filters, without any middlemen to interpret. When we reach that state we will see massive global implications.
I think God is setting us up that way. Some of the trends that are happening today are global in scale. They are not just regional or national, but all across the world people are saying and discovering these things. That has never happened in history, except maybe in the first century. We are on the verge of seeing something akin to the Book of Acts happening in our day, if we are faithful to God’s voice.

AND
Darrell Gruder - big missional church guy from Columbia Theological in GA - book I'm reading is called Missional Church.

In Chapter 7 he discusses - Leadership: Equipping God's people for Mission. Therein he provides a pretty heavy critique of modern seminaries and what they prepare pastors for. He proposes a complete overhaul of the pastoral education process including an extensive period as a novice, living in community and practicing the spiritual disciplines. He describes the church today as being on the margins, in exile ... which he says we should embrace and stop trying to reassert ourselves as the ones on top. He says we need to get past the solo pastor mode and rediscover the laity, teams and apostolic leadership which he says focuses on creating more leaders and on leading the way... actually practicing the mission... doing the service.... (not simply teaching and preaching to the converted and the interested). He describes church as a community... as a group of pilgrims, a journeying people. Well, as you can see.... in that one chapter alone he says more than I can possibly summarize here but, that gives you just a taste.

THEN
Tonight at Josh and Carrie's we listened to a sermon by Tim Keller (Redeemer Church, NYC) on Serving. That was powerful too. Too much to write but..worth listening to:

http://www.redeemer3.com/store/index.cfm?fuseaction=category.display&category_ID=11
See heading: Serving. Title of sermon: Blueprint for Revival - Social Concern

That's all for today folks!

ttfn

Digging Again

I am digging again. I am back into reading stuff I was reading 2 and 3 years ago, before I got sidetracked by a huge trash heap that had looked like an answer to my search but which almost swallowed me alive. Alas, never take the easy road. That should have been my perpetual motto. Before that diversion, which brought me as close to spiritual death as I have ever been, I had a 10 year detour in mediocrity. Alas, I find myself digging back over 20 years to something which nourished for a few short years.

I began reading the OOZE site again and following links. I found Simple Church at http://www.simplechurch.co.uk/
Lots of interesting stuff there. Small, intimate, service (mission) oriented, simple... that is the spritual community for which I yearn. I felt that 20 plus years ago with the Elderly Care Mission Group I was in back in Ipswich. Probably the greatest time of spiritual growth for me. And we actually accomplished something outside ourselves too..something for others... a 32 unit elderly congregate housing project. The vision for that mission came from Church of the Savior in Washington DC. Small groups formed around both inward and outward missions. IBC in Ipswich was an imperfect implementation for sure, but it was radical non-the-less.

Spiritual mini-movments, is what Barna (in his new book Revolution) calls these smallish trends where people experience tremendous growth. He also says that when people who have experienced this try to bring it back, into their local churches (to which they desire to remain faithful) they are told not to try to introduce foreign elements into the church agenda. Imagine that!! Yup.... been there done that; except in my case it was met with: Oh, yes..wonderful...bring it on...we want to unleash you... and so I invested a tremendous amount of energy over several years and along with others, developed a mini-movement of sorts, within our local church. Then the church leaders got nasty. This was clearly NOT on their agenda. Among other things, it didn't fit with the single point leadership structure they were simultaneously putting in place (under the table). Got to keep the ole boys in thier leadership roles. It also wasn't safe nor controlled. Oh well, water over the dam. Barna could have saved me a lot of trouble if he had come out with his findings a couple of years ago. If I had beleived him. Ha! Guess I should have known it was too good to be true.

So, I have no idea where this is leading me. I will continue to search. I know I am drawn to the emerging church stuff and the simple church stuff and the missional basis of "church" and that I think the current "modern" model of the local church (based on modification of the Roman church) is hogwash and quite unlikely to be at all effective within the next 25 - 50 years. Thanks to Barna for the recent validation.

Well, I continue forward, eyes on the path yet gazing ahead to the horizons.

Nowhere to File This

I am spending some time this AM reading blogs and such. Joined the Ooze Community and was reading their blog. First entry there was this little piece below. Seems like a hoax but it is not. I investigated further. It is for real. I have nowhere to file info like this in my brain...so I will blog it.

Sunday, October 30
Some tragic news.
University Baptist Church, Waco pastor Kyle Lake died this morning as a result of injuries suffered in an electrocution during a baptism at his church in Waco, Texas .This is very tragic news for his wife Jen and his daughter and twin sons.
Please do whatever you can to pray and find ways to be supportive of Kyle's family. Kyle had written Understanding God's Will and the just released (Re)understanding Prayer: A Fresh Approach to Conversation With God.

I re-read this several times. Unimaginable! He was 33 years old. He was a leader in the emergent church movement. He was simply adjusting a mike while in the baptismal. Thankfully, the young woman he was about to baptise was not yet in the baptismal, but still.... what a horrendous memory!

Skinless Backs and Pure Wind

Political language, verbal manipulations, give "an appearance of solidity to pure wind."

That is one phrase in a piece by Hunsinger that Chris TN put on Broken Glass today. It gave me much pause to consider the ways I have seen spin, propaganda, deception... aka "Political language" used to give the "appearance of solidity to pure wind."

Pure wind. It sounds a bit blissful perhaps? That's not the truth of the matter. I re-read the phrase and ponder it, as I simultaneously watch hurricane coverage (for the umpteenth time this season) and again see the horrendous damage that pure wind can do...yes....the deception of spin, political language is indeed a dangerous thing. Anderson Cooper said it well tonight: it can peel the skin right off your back............. yesss........... I do understand.

Last night I stumbled upon and watched a special called: The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off, a story about a 36 year old "man" who allowed filmakers to follow him for the last months of his life. http://www.channel4.com/health/microsites/B/boy_whose_skin_fell_off/

Johnny Kennedy had sufferred from a horrible genetic disease since birth, EB, where the skin doesn't stick to the body and continually peels off. A truly horrible condition. There was one particularly intense scene in the film where his mother is changing the bandages on his back -- a terrbily painful process that had to be repeated every week for decades.

The image of the skinless back is fresh in my mind.

The skinless back; the damage that deceptive language can do.

Skinner Mt on Friday 10/21/05

On Friday I joined Jess on a hike of Mt. Skinner in South Hadley with the 8th graders from Great Falls Middle School in Turners Falls (where Jess is student teaching). Ben and I helped Jess and the teachers chaperone the 100 or so kids. It was a bit more rigorous than I expected -- I had never climbed Mt Skinner. But the weather was perfect and the views were great. I was with the slowest of the slow hikers, bringing up the rear with 4 kids who barely made it. They were slow for even me, sitting down at every rock out cropping and wondering how they had become convinced to come on this hike! It took us 2X as long as it should have but in the end we made it! Yeah!

More Flooding October 15,2005

We had terrible rains last week, on October 8 and it caused local flooding. Then it pretty much rained all week. So, this past Saturday, October 15, when it again poured all day...there was more flooding. Here are a few shots from the Leverett/North Amherst line.

Jess's 21 Birthday Party

Last Night - Friday, October 14, was Jess's 21 BD party at our house in Shute-ho. Ben was the event planner and BBQ chef extradonaire, even in the pouring rain. It was a great time with friends and family. Here are a few shots.

Jess's BD!!

Today was Jess's 21 BD. The family went to dinner at Smokin' Lils and then Jess and Ben met some friends at the Tunnel Bar both places are in in Noho (tunnel bar = high end bar in in the old rail station tunnel). Jess also got to do her very first full day of teaching today....on her 21 BD. She was a math sub all day at Great Falls Middle School (where she is doing her student teaching). Cool coincidence.. .. first day teaching on a special BD!
Happy BD Jess XO!

Thinking of Writing and Looking Back

Today, due to the rain, I decided to do indoor work which this time meant cleaning our bedroom: sorting through stuff, cleaning stuff out, washing curtains, and getting out the winter down comforter and flannel sheets. One shelf had a few older journals of mine. Since I am thinking more about writing for publication these days I decided to take a glimpse at the oldest one there...from February 1985. The first entry had a lot to do with baby Jessica, who was then just over 3 months old. Since her 21 birthday is in a few days, I thought I would blog some of my old journal entry from Febraury 4, 1985 which I had entitled "Interruptions."

"Interruptions'' That's my life these days. I got this piece of paper out to write on over an hour ago. Just as I looked for a pen, Jessica woke up from her nap. She has had a fever yesterday and today. I got her up and changed her. As I washed my hands I noticed how dirty the sink was so I washed it, which then led to cleaning the toilet and tub. In doign so, I noticed the shower curtain was slimy on the bottom so I took it down and put it in the washer. By then Jesscia was tired of sitting in her baby seat watching me clean so I took her down stairs. As I started to put her into her swing so I could write, she began whimpering and I realized she was hungry. So, now, having fed her and put her down for another little nap, I found a pen and sat to write. Then, I was not sure what the date it is today so I had to get back up, go into the kitchen and check the calendar. Now that I finally sit to write I am not sure I can recall what promted me to decide to finally begin this journal today. Pretty soon Jess needs to be awakened as I will be taking her to the doctors..and the wash will be done. Yes, this is how my life goes, especially since the arrival of Jess. Most of the time I just flow from one task to another and then, the day is over and it is time to start supper.

Well, after that intro, Jess slept a while I suppose, or I wrote fast, because I had time to write 2 pages before rushing off to the doctor's. Jess had a bit of the flu as it turned out. Most of the entry was about how I was trying to decide what I wanted to do about the career track verses being more available to my children. Guess the answer to that, 21 years later, is now obvious. :-) I never did go back to any regular agency work where I could work up the career ladder, etc. No regrets tho.

Writing

The latest thing in my head is that I am trying to more seriously get into writing. I met 1:1 with a Christian writer who coaches, I went to a 2 hour workshop by a coach who specializes in professional social work type writing, I bought some recommended books and a web based market guide for 2006....and I have tried to begin my first article. It is a daunting process....lots of detials and marketing oneself to get anything published. We'll see where it all leads.

Rare Abdominal Birth

In my Deans Book course we are studying all about genetic engineering, as we are reading Remaking Eden. One thing in the book is that technically men can gestate babies if an embryo was to be implanted in their abdomen. This is based on the fact that in some rare cases women have gestated babies where the embryo implanted (accidentally) in their abdomen instead of the uterus. THEN... just this week.. . one of these very rare cases (with a woman) happened in Canada. Here's the link for the story includign photos of the baby and the mom!!
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20050926/miracle_baby_050926/20050927?hub=Health

The Generosity of a Cat

So today Surely, age 17 months (my Maine Coon) has demonstated a new level of moral development: generosity. Yes, it is true. This week we bought her a couple of very real looking little mice filled with cat nip. She has been playing with them incessantly. This AM, I discovered she had put one in my purse. Thinking it was only an accident, I removed it and threw it into the living room for her. Now, two more times, she has re-inserted it into my purse! She wants Mommy to have her mouse today :-)

Garlic and Art.......

This weekend is the Garlic and Arts festival in nearby Orange.Yup, it's true.
I think I first went there..mmmm...did we go 5 years ago, Jet? Then 4 years ago Jet and Beno were there together. Then 2 years ago they went there, right after getting engaged at the cliffs. Now they will go again, both days, to play and to work and to display the first B&J Greene product I hope.
I will go with Polly and Cheryl.
Hope the weather holds out for it!!

Video Screening Night

Fun time screening "Evnetually" by Ben and Jess as well as a few other shorts by the likes of Ian and Aaron and even Spike. Great food and a wonderful time around the campfire. Thanks to all who came and made it memorable :-)

Labor Day = Labor?

So this is Labor Day weekend, eh?

I guess that means day to labor. It started out that way anyway.Today, Saturday, started bright and early. We went to the Williams' house and unloaded stuff from their cellar that we had put there a few years ago. Brooks,Mindy, Jess and Ben helped Baird and me. Mindy and Brooks had some yummy food for us too. Mmmm.... We brought all of the boxes and stuff up to the garage, vacuumed & cleaned it up, put it in our vehicles and took (most) of it to a storage garage in Amherst. A bit of it went to the dump and a few things came home. We also took stuff from the Amherst garage to Jess and Ben's for the art room and work room in their cellar and dleivered Aaron's bike to his place. Aaron's at the Honors College orientation this weekend.

Now it is 4PM and I am getting started on some projects that I want to do this weekend.
There is labor and then there is labor. Translated: some of it is actually fun and even rewarding.

Hannah's at Nyack Now!

Niece Hannah Schmidt flew into town from Tokyo last Monday eve. After 3 days of visiting and shopping, I took her to Nyack College on Friday, Aug 26, 2005. The drive to Nyack was quite pleasant... almost 3.5 hours. I left the college at 2:15pm, after settling her in and getting her books, ID etc. But...once I crossed over into CT I was in a 45 mile back-up! No kidding , it took over 2 hours to get the 45 miles from the NY/CT border to New Haven. I tried 2 different routes too..both were bumper to bumper 10-20-25 mph. Summer's last gasp...people headed to the CT coast I guess. I've never been in such a long back up. Oh well, thank goodness for air-conditioning and a good stereo.. I even had 3 cookies from the Nayck cafeteria. Soda would have been nice...but then..there was little opportunity for any rest stops, so just as well that I forgot to pack my cooler.

At Nyack, a number of upperclassmen were on hand to welcome and move in the new students. My fully loaded car was unpacked and all her stuff was up on the 4th floor (with no elevators) in less than 15 minutes. It was unbelievable. Everyone was very friendly. It was great to see, since this is all new to her and she is so far away from "home." Her room is a corner room, with 2 views of the Hudson. One view is posted here. The other view is of the orange bluffs along the river north of town. Wonderful!

The final photo here is of Hannah and her new friend and room mate, Maritza. She lives about an hour away in NJ and her family is Mexican.

Going back to NYC (sort of)

So tomorrow at 6AM I will head back down to the city.... sort of. I will stop just north of the city in Nyack to help our neice Hannah move into college there...it's her first year. Big move (from Toyko!) ....lots of anxiety today. Hope I can help her feel more settled before I leave mid day / early afternoon. I want to stop at IKEA in New Haven on my way home, if traffic doesn't make me drive off into the ocean in Bridgeport. Rt 95 can be a real bear.. especially alone (no co-pilot) and on Friday afternoon no less.

Flyin' and hoppin' day

We flew, almost literally, over to the Berkshires today.... first lunch with my mom (and Hannah). Then shopping there with Hannah. Fast stop at Bridgman's ended up taking over an hour b/c, despite a phone call this AM, the person who knew where Hannah's boxes were tucked away was not home when we arrived and had not pulled the boxes out. The delay yielded a nice visit, an ice cream sandwich and pickings from the garden, tho!! Not bad :-) Then we sped our way to Hadley for supper at Panera with Baird and more shopping. Spent about 2 more hours but we got about 80% of her list for college done. Amazing!! The shopping spree and picking out dorm stuff got her psyched about heading off to Nyack on Friday. Tomorrow is a day filled with other stuff...work and etc. So, banking and more shopping on Thursday, in between clients.... and then... Friday AM...off to college we go...he ho he ho......

Back Log

Wow.... I haven't posted in over a week on this blog. Opps. I have been posting on Broken Glass instead, I guess. This has been a busy week... helping J and B move into their new place. Also J and I went to Tower Hill Botanic Gardens Friday (photo 1) and then yesterday the family went to NYC, East Village area on a day trip (photo 2). So, lots has happened in addition to the regular day to day, work, eat, sleep, do laundry etc.

Tonight was a going away party for Laura D at Glen's house (photo 3). I have known Laura for several years. She and I worked with the youth at FBC together, among other things. Now she is moving back to the Boston area to share a place with her "sis" and to work for DSS. Gotta go where the jobs are I guess. It is sad to see her leave here but the Boston area has a lot more to offer her in many ways. We can always visit her there! Yipee....someone to hang out with in Boston.

Baird went to Boston tonight in fact.... to Logan Airport to pick up his neice Hannah. She is coming from Tokyo to go to college. I will help her get everything ready and I will take her to Nyack, NY on Friday for her first year of college. Jess's new school program in Athol ( thru UMass) starts that same day! Yup, it's another full week!

They are BACK!

Hey....it's true...Jess and Ben are back...yipee! They got into town a bit after 11PM Friday...after leaving Whitewater at 3:30 AM, WI time. That's like 18.5 hours on the road but they made it! After a bit of sleep and a big breakfast in Shute-Ho this AM (with the Aaron too) we headed down to the new apt at The Brook and began to clean and move some stuff in. Michael, Baird and Ben, along with some help from Ian too, got 2 car loads and 2 van loads out of storage! Jess and I got quite a bit of the kitchen unpacked and set up. Wow! More tomorrow with friends and family all pitching in and a cookout with Wisconsin Cheese Burgers after.....whohoo.

Greenfield: Closed on Sundays

I think I will make a new sign for Greenfield:
Greenfield: The Town That is Closed on Sunday.
Baird and I drove up there this eve to go to this little Mexican place with tables outside and it was closed..as was most of the town, so we ended up at Wendy's!!!! Imagine that!

Hey..good news..the 7 Russian sub guys got rescued today after spending 3 days deep underwater, snagged in an old finshing net off the coast of Japan. The Brits cut them loose. It was 5 degrees celsius in there....imagine, 3 days, all dark...laying still on the floor of the mini sub..breathing lightly to preserve the remaining oxygen...(right). I am having a mini panic attack just thinking about it!

As for the U.S..well...the shuttle is suposed to land in 6 hours! Pray is goes well this time.

That's about it for things on my mind tonight :-)

another week....

Thus ends another week. Hot...steamy...August. Today was really good....coffee with Laura D, who has decided to move back to the Boston area (Somerville) with her sister and work for DSS, then lunch with Polly and Pam (fun time at Bertuccis), and then LAOS meeting with 2 from the exec. committee (they both liked my ideas..we'll see where it all leads...stay tuned), and finally "coffee" with Baird and Ian to chat...mostly about how to get Sufjan Stevens here to talk before his Sept 7 concert at Pearl St. There was a client in there somewhere too. The only downer of the day was email from the "office" but I am putting it behind me. Life goes on, thank God. This AM, before I ever saw the "jab" email, I was thinking how folks leaving FBC is sort of like the dispersal in Acts... the people were driven out ( they by outright persecution) and it led to even more spread of the Gospel. Parallel: those of us who have begun to spread out feel the losses but we are also making new connections we might not have otherwsie; we are meeting new people from other realms of the Christian family within the Valley and it has been nothing less than reaffirming and even downright inspirational at times. In some cases we have even already been able to connect our new connnections with other new connections. Articles like the Harpers one are affirming on an even larger scale. So, all around....good stuff. Hey...Jess and Ben's new apartment is basically all set too...so...one more week to go and the next phase will begin for them. Yahoo!

The most astounding thing of the day was my BIG paycheck from one of the insurance companies: here attached. Worth framing I think.

Sunday at Franklins

Hey, so today (this afternoon) a bunch of us were at the Franklins' for a little talk by Erik Panikian about the eucharist ( views of Torrance et al) and food and chat. Mostly is was the "college" Sunday School folks. It was great to see people there (we were: the Franklin's of course, TerryNelsons, Terry sisters, Ruberos, Aaron S and Aaron B, S & S Broyles, Leah & Scott (the Steiger folks) and Baird and me. Too bad it rained all morning so it was too wet to hold the event outside but we got to enjoy Glen's garden a bit afterwards.

This AM I went and dug up the plants in the sidewalk boarder garden at Fairview. It was raining (good for the plants/bad for me). This eve Baird and I went to get them and bring them home. I dropped a bunch off at Glen's though (a big clump of hosta, all the day lilies, the iris, the perennial geraniums and 2 astilbes.) Hopefully he will get to plant them soon b/c they are not planted to withstand a long delay.

So in less than 2 weeks Jess and Ben will be home! Yipee!!! Tomorrow AM I go fill out paper work for an apartment. Hopefully it will go thru so that can be all settled.

Ya never know.........

So, ya never know what's going to happen next. Today we moved the stuff OUT of Jess and Ben's new rental house (we had moved a van full in already and were planning to move more IN today). So why OUT, you ask? Well, they had an arrangement with the home owner, an elderly lady, whose "needs" apparently have changed since May and she no longer wanted to "share" the living room, dining room and kitchen, as agreed on the lease, and.... things got real sketchy. So, when the opportunity came to "agree" to nullify the lease, Ben and Jess said : "Get us out of it and get our money back!" Which I did. Meanhwile, I had thought I was cleaning the place for Ben and Jess but it turns out instead I had voluteered about 30 hours to help an elderly lady clean her place for the next boarders. Oh well, I guess if someone in her situation had asked me if I could possibly help them clean up after messy former tennants in prep for new ones, I probably would have said, yes, ... even if it wasn't my kids moving in.

I AM going tomorrow AM, though, and taking my plants back (that is kind of a pain but she is not a gardener and would let them die so....)

Everyone seems relieved more than anything else, and thankful to not find this "issue" out after moving everything in and school had begun. But there are a few unanswered things now...like..where will they live in 2 weeks?? Hmmmmmmmmm........

Baird and I looked at another place for Ben and Jess today....a townhouse condo, lots of room, nice location... so we'll see if they "get accepted." Above, is the view from the patio of the POSSIBLE new place....

Man 'o man...the rental market is really competitive here, especially right now with school beginning in a month!! I called 18 places to find one we would even consider liveable and that was still available.

So, here's hoping and praying this one works out somehow!! I'll let ya know.

Hummin' Along in Shute-Ho

Not much new here I guess. I've just been hummin' along. I have been putting some time into getting Ben and Jess's new rental house ready for their return in a couple of weeks. The elderly lady who owns it had a pretty big project there after the last renters left and so I have been helping clean etc. Aaron also tore out a "wet wall" in the kitchen for her, exposing yucky mildew and a leak from the upstairs bathroom. The leak now is apparently repaired & it is drying out. Aaron will replace the wall next week.

Today is Ben's 22 BD. He and Jess entered the 24 Hour Film Challenge at the Milwukee Art Museum. Their film was chosen as one of the one's to be screened tonight so they are over there for his BD. Quite a fun and unusual BD! I can't wait to see the film. I think we'll get a projector and have a screening here at the house when they get home.

Baird went to NYC Tues-Weds. He visited his friend Matt, met a couple of artists, did some photography and filming. Cool stuff. Ask him when you see him :-) That's it from here......

TerryNelson shindig

Had a great time at the TerryNelson shindig tonight! It was fun to blend some worlds and introduce a few people to each other, as well as meet some new folks. Tom Fisher and wife Clara Jo were there (my God's Politics, Laos connection) and I introduced them to Ian (and at my urging they had recently met Chris as well). Then, I met the Steiger Ministry couple, Leah and Scott. She went to Amherst High and ...Yale Divinity and he is doing his PhD on Barth. They are members at Grace and are doing some cool stuff around the Valley. They met a bunch of us folks and the Fishers for the first time. Loeschers were there and I got to talk to them about Laos (now they know I am on the Board) and introduced them to Fishers and the Steiger folks. Ron was on the original Laos board, for years and Leah;s mom is on the Board now... so that was cool. Anneli's Dad was there too and Aaron and he talked about film and Baird and he talked about maps and such. Looks like Baird will be getting some cool maps on CD from him. Everyone was asking about Jess and Ben and look forward to them coming home :-). That includes Josh and Carrie and Andrew who were there too! The gathering was a very interesting coming together of several Christian realms and was quite exciting for me .....a glimpse of things to come perhaps??????

The Connecticut Trip Earlier Today

Little Alison (almost 3) my grand niece (?) was a lot of fun to have around. She is very talkative and creative. Lindsay and Steve were also there today.

Baird & Lewis

Baird & Lewis had a good time talking computer talk, & about Ancient Rome and various languages Lewis is studying on his own these days.

Nana and Lewis

The party today was a celebration of Lewis's completion of the 2 year program at The Porter & Chester Institute ( in computer tech) and Nana's 82 Birthday. Here the 2 of them are.

Nana's Childhood Home

Photos from our Connecticut Trip

These photos are of the house where Nana grew up in Winsted,CT and which her parents owned from the early 1900's until her mother died, when I was a child (early 1960's). They raised their 10 kids here, through the Depression and all. Nana also lived here while my dad was in WWII, in the Philippines, with her mother and my brother (then a toddler), and Nana's sister and her baby. The house fell into disrepair in recent years but recently someone bought it and is renovating it.

Off for the Day

Woke up at 6:15 AM to one of our cell phones beeping due to a low battery UGH! Oh well,I needed to get up by 7AM anyway.
B and I are headed out to the Berkshires to pick up Nana B and then down to CT to Linda's for Nana B's 82 BD party and Lewis's graduation celebration, too. Then back up to NoHo for the TerryNelson open house...BIG day. Lots of driving..but at least the car has good AC. Maybe there will be some time to blog and post photos tonight...if not..then tomorrow. Have a fine day everyone!

Phoenix Nixed

Hey, so I am glad that Jess and Ben nixed Phoenix and went to Whitewater. Yeah, it's been hot in WI but I heard this story on WRNX today and Googled it...here's what I found on the web about the Phoenix heat this week alone:

From Phoenix, AZ
The Valley's deadly heat wave continued to claim more lives as the metropolitan area recorded yet another scorching high on Thursday. The latest deaths occurred Wednesday night when a transient was found dead in Phoenix and a 97-year-old Mesa man died in his bedroom. However, the monsoon season finally has arrived and officials hope it will put an end to the number of heat-related deaths, mostly among the homeless, that began Saturday and ratcheted up every day until Thursday.

Still, day after day of such extreme heat takes a cumulative toll on the body and the damage can't be undone overnight, said Jeff Taylor of the Phoenix Rescue Mission, which has opened its campus during the day to give refuge to the homeless.
"When you're out in the heat, once you're thirsty, you can't catch up. Your body needs time to come back," Taylor said. "It's going to be at least another couple of days. They're in bad shape."

No new deaths were reported Thursday. But, by then, 20 people in the Valley - 14 of them homeless - had died from the heat. In all of last year in Maricopa County, 21 people died from heat exposure.

Thursday's high was an above-average 111 degrees that nearly eclipsed the record 112 set in 1927. Today's high is expected to reach 108, capping more than a week of searing temperatures that prompted heat advisories and excessive-heat warnings. At night, temperatures haven't dipped below the low 90s.

BeDe Backgrounds

Tonight I wanted to paint, so I painted about 30 BeDe cards with background colors: gold, blue and /or orange in swirls and dots or blotted with saran wrap or smudged with paper towels. Nice start. Now...what to make of them...hmmmmmm...another day...time to rest now.

Cool Running Hot Summer

cool running=decent movie
a family favorite.
hot summer + nights
= Scott on common
+ shark tales
with fishB8?
no way-
night sessions
run cool
in hot lot
at east gate
of academy of MA

Back From Visiting

I am now back from visiting Nana and Connie. Aaron came with me this trip. It was Aaron's first time to the nursing home, where Connie now resides. Connie seems a bit more "with it" and a bit less depressed than he was at the hospital over the last month. But, his spinal abcess contiunes to cause too much pain for him to sit or walk so he has now been confined to bed for over 2 months. He's lost quite a bit of weight. His kids have looked into a homeopathic medicine that is derived from oregano. It is a lotion, drops and pill combination 3 times per day (with meals). They started him on it today. Might as well try it; traditional western medicine seems to have no real hopes for getting rid of that nasty abcess. Nana seems pretty good. She, Aaron and I all went out to Paul's Restaurant for dinner. Her 82 birthday is this coming Friday, 7/22/05. I need to call my sibs and seeif we can all go over and tkae her to dinner or something.
That's the update form Shute-ho for today.

Saturday: Fairview Work Day

So today turned out to be a work day at Jess and Ben's new house in Amherst. We are trying to get it looking a bit more appealing before they come home. :-) Baird and I headed down there mid morning with the intention of spending a couple of hours doing the much needed lawn and yard work . After a few fiasco situations...such as the lawn mower leaking gas all over the driveway....we did get the yard pretty well cleaned up. Baird mowed (with a neighbor's mower in the end) and weed wacked while I dug up grass, planted about 3 dozen little day lilies (dug from my garden at home early this AM) and raked. The neighbor LOVED the new look of the place. That was encouraging. I called the landlady in CT and talked to her about the lawn mower and told her we cleaned up, planted some flowers, etc. She seemed delighted to have people who acutally care about the place. In the end, we got home in time to make dinner and crash. Now we are listening to the band Garbage, on the TV. Interesting........

Time Stamp

Ok...at Ben's request I have re-set my time stamp to America-New York (instead of just EST, which kept switching back to pacific for some odd reason). Let's see if it stays put this time :-)

Views from Madison Wisconsin

Jess and Ben on the plaza in Madison that overlooks Manona Lake. Convention Center/patio design was by Frank Lloyd Wright but was built fairly recently.

On Friday we went over to Milwaukee and checked out the Historic Third Ward, cool shops and ate at a great Milwaukee Ale House on the canal. This is a view of the canal walkway near the Ale House.

This shows some of the gold leafing detail on the Thai Pavilion.