We got another 1-1/2 inches of snow. The total so far for the season (in the valley, at least) is 7 inches.
Think we'll go to the Baptist Church this AM. We've not been for a long time. It isn't a format i care for, and (yep i'm bad) when i think of that service, all i can think of is an hour of sermon. That's simply too long for me! They have about half an hour of music and announcements, too. It just doesn't feel like a "finished" service to me when the pastor quits talking and simply says, "Have a good week!" But we do enjoy his speaking, and it is one of the ones we said we'd attend sometimes.
The Lutheran (these days the one we attend is "the Lutheran" as opposed to the one we were kicked out of) is planning a joint service with the Presbyterians in a couple of weeks. I think that is cool. I'm very much into being ecumenical (united). Not that i think it is entirely possible. Folks have too many differences of opinion and preference of style. But i like it when these churches can at least dialogue.
There is a boutique in town, today being the last day. It is a bunch of different products, mostly from folks off the hill. We are planning to stop by. I was thinking it costs $5 to get in, and $10 to get in for Elsa and myself was too much. Turns out it is only $3 admission, and there is a two for one coupon, so we could have gone, but neither of us were that much into it. But today is "local's day" so Duane and i can go without paying admission. I don't know if we will buy anything. I think i need a better Christmas list in hand before we go. But i haven't any idea what to get the nieces and nephews, so maybe this will help me have some ideas.
I really need to get farther on the projects i'm doing, too. I did some while home last week, but once Thanksgiving is past, i begin to feel a sense of urgency. I'm trying to "scale down" Christmas gifts and giving, but that means i try to make many of the gifts, and that can become its own pressure. I've not sent out Christmas cards or letters the past couple of years. We really need to do that this year. I wanted to get the letter ready last week, but got distracted with other things.
We saw Harry Potter yesterday. I think it is very well done, tho it has been a while since i read the book so i didn't catch if they deviated from that. The whole Harry Potter thing is quite an issue for some Christians. Quite another discussion.
Today i am thankful i can breathe! Night before last i woke up gasping for air because my nose was plugged but i kept trying to breathe thru my nose. Mouth breathing in this dry air is really uncomfortable, so i guess i knew i had to breathe thru my nose, but simply could not do it. Starving for air is uncomfortable! I'm so thankful that this is not a problem for me normally.
I'm thankful i had such a nice visit (if short) with my sister Elsa. It is delightful to spend time with her. And i'm thankful she's willing to come, because she's somewhat allergic to our cats, although i do try to be sure the house is well cleaned before she comes. And the room we put her in is blocked off from the cats, but that means that it doesn't get much heat. It gets cold in there!
I'm also thankful for a (mostly) warm house and reliable transportation in our snowy weather! :)
(P.S. - "normal size font" looks really small to me when i post, but the next size up, "large" looks much too big. I'm erring on the big size.)
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Someone i know (who is very young) posted this on Facebook recently (the second sentence is from a comment to the original thought):
random thought, when I was a little girl prayed that I'd be able to get married and be a mother before Jesus came back...He must be coming pretty soon!!! :D
It's really close! looking like it will be in this generation! That's you and I.
The invalidity of the logic of this argument as been bugging me for days. It is like saying, "I had toast for breakfast . . . this afternoon the President decided to bomb North Korea." It is an argumentative fallacy, a non sequitur. It bothers me sometimes, that certain churches don't encourage logic in their thinking.
But, of course, part of my difficulty with this is simply envy.
Duane is away now, he left not long ago. He has a SAR training this AM and then he is off to OC for a Karate Tournament. (He never competes anymore. He is going down to assist with the running of it. I think he judges some, but mostly he is one of the folks doing the work to organize.) He'll be home tomorrow evening sometime.
I'm going to a cooking demo at The Copper Q. The store is quite expensive (and exquisite), but these cooking demos are free. They do take a donation (which they donate to local concerns), but most people put in a dollar or two. There are two today, one at 10.30 and the other at 1.30. I'm going to get there about 9.30 (take a good book) because i'm meeting 2 other women there. Want to be sure we get seats! When i went before there was only standing room.
I bought the stuff to make more cards, but haven't done so yet. I did work on a couple of Christmas ornaments yesterday. I don't know why fall is when i go into "high gear" with creating. Maybe because i might have someone to do some of these things with this year. N said her daughter would love to do creative projects.
I've so many projects in the works right now: Bibs for the coming babies, and the second blanket (i think i like this one too). I want to work on some quilting projects and a duvet cover for our bed. The art project for our wall and multiple different Christmas ornaments. Oh, and cards. :) I don't usually let myself do this because i have a tendency to start projects and not finish, so i usually try to keep myself at one or two at a time. We'll see how this goes.
Gotta get up and ready to go.
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I was on my way out on Wednesday evening when i saw this in the parking lot at work:
It is a mama duck with three ducklings. My office is on a busy street & the mama had been out in the street with these three. A lady from an apartment complex next door shooed them into our parking lot.
She wanted to catch them & take them to a nearby duck pond, because, frankly, they were going to get smooshed in the busy street. Lori & i tried to help. We got the ducklings, but i messed up catching the mama. Once the babies were caught, she flew away but kept circling the building. The lady who shooed them said, "Oh well, i can take the babies to the rescue place & they'll raise them." Lori & i strongly felt that they shouldn't be taken away. As a compromise, we left them in an open box in the parking lot (it doesn't get any traffic after hours) to see if the mama would come back. I haven't heard the outcome yet.
I left when i did so that we didn't all get in an argument about this. I am an animal lover, but not to the PETA extreme. I may have strong feelings about something, but i'm not going to argue with a stranger over how to handle the ducks. I already felt that we messed up & the babies shouldn't be taken from mama. I meant to call Lori on Friday & find out what happened.
I've been thinking about something i think is senseless. In movies or on TV sometimes someone will make someone else angry & they yell, "I'll teach you!" and then they shoot them dead. "I'll teach you?" Seriously? Teach implies that they can learn & change. Killing is kind of closing the door on teaching.
Duane sometimes gets upset with our cats or animals in the neighborhood. He wants to "teach them a lesson" but, i'm sorry, animals don't learn unless you can catch them at that very moment. Otherwise, it just isn't happening. Even then it is questionable. If i see a squirrel chewing on the wood of my deck, i can make him stop by squirting him with water, but i'm not sure it "teaches" him not to do it.
We have "taught" our cats to not shred toilet paper or paper towels by putting those items in a place where the cats can't get to it. That won't ever stop them or truly teach them when they have a chance to shred that. You can't teach a cat not to knock things off a table or shelf if they enjoy doing that. You can only teach them that if they are caught they will be punished.
We had loud birds screaming outside our window very early this AM as the bird feeder is now empty. Duane thinks that "teaching them" will be to never put out food again.
We attended the Methodist church this AM. Of all the churches we have visited thus far, i think i like it best for form of service, music, & length of service. It also was friendly. I doubt i'll ever really want to "join" a church again, but this is one where i wouldn't mind attending semi-regularly. Thus far. Once is not enough to know, i suppose. Also, i'll be frank, much as i liked a number of good points, the sermon was a bit on the "fluff" side for me. Now, it spoke to me very much (about letting go, rather than bite down & hang on like a dog on a chew toy), but she carried the analogy all the way thru & only minimally touched on the scripture. I think i would find that irritating if it was a weekly occurrence.
I threw in some pics from when Eva & i were down by the Santa Ana River. Here is another one as well:
It shows how much snow was left on Mount San Gorgonio on 7 July. Having snow still this late in the season is unusual. We had a hot week last week, however, & nearly all the snow is gone now. Our high for the year so far was 84F yesterday. Lows are still around 50 at night. We got some rain off & on for a few days, & so it has been more humid than is normal for us.
The AM i was to put Eva on the train to San Diego, Duane woke up & said, "I miss her already & she's not even gone yet." Which kind of makes me wonder about re-visiting the adoption issue, but i don't think we can.
We talked about it, & there are simply too many obsticles in the way of us adopting. My energy is one. Eva was very self-entertaining. I didn't "feel like a mama" while she was with us. She was a guest, tho perhaps younger than most that we have. I didn't tell her to help me with making dinner, or that this or that needed to be done. She read books & went places with us & demanded little to nothing of us & we demanded little to nothing of her. Parenting would be very, very different.
She's back in KY now. It was fun to have her while we did. I hope she knows we care, for i've a feeling that might make a difference to her in the next year or so. Her family is going thru so much.
The bumper Duane ordered for That Jeep finally arrived. It is very heavy & has a hitch mounted in it. We have had fun trying to get it attached. (Well, Duane mostly.) He broke off an internal nut when trying to force a bolt inside. I kept telling him the bolt was too big for the hole & he kept stubbornly trying to make it work. I threaded one of the smaller bolts right in & it fit fine. His side got stuck & it broke something internal he can't fix. I'm having a hard time not saying "I told you so!" (I think i have, a couple of times now.)
I think everyone is out enjoying summer, although So Cal has been very hot the last few days. No one seems to be posting on blogs or FB or commenting. I tell myself, "they have lives" but i'm lonely. I miss folks. :) Our cell phones were off for 3 days (we think it was after a lightening strike). Just got back coverage yesterday, but now it won't let me call anyone as "the network is busy." We are considering changing from Sprint (after almost 10 years) to Verizon. We'll see.
This was posted on FB by a massage school where i took some classes long ago, so i leave you with this final thought for the day: Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.
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It has been a busy week with Eva here. Elsa came up on Friday night & will go home later today.
We've taken pics, but i've not put them on my computer yet.
I'm pretty tired.
Yesterday Duane got a response from the Lutheran church. It is almost incomprehensible. I posted it at my other blog & will write of it later.
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Can i be brief? I'm not sure.
We missed church all the month of June until today. The first Sunday after the excommunication, i simply wasn't in the mood to go to any church, anywhere. The following Sunday Duane was away for a SAR commitment. The one after that was Father's Day & we never attend either that or Mother's Day (although Duane was off the mountain that day, too).
So today was our first day at a service for the month. We tried out a small church that is affiliated with Assemblies of God. Very passionate church. I liked that there are a lot of children there. I don't think either Duane or i would be comfortable attending there often.
The truth of the matter is that we like liturgical services. They are what Duane was raised with. They are part of a healing in my life coming out of an unhealthy church background. They feel "safe" to me - i know what is going to happen when & what to expect (except when G was doing the service!). And, frankly, most Protestant churches that are non-liturgical feel incomplete & unbalanced to me. The lack of the liturgy is such a loss. Also the loss of regular communion.
So, "home" is probably not to be found. But that's ok. Church hopping feels fine for now. I'd like to get involved in a "small group" so that we can meet others & perhaps make deeper connections. But, maybe in time.
Maybe, because the page is so wide now, this will look brief! :)
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One long, long post, or a bunch of little short ones? Not sure you (my reader) have a choice. It is my tendency to not write for a couple of days & then do it all at once.
The quality of light in Southern California is really incredible, often. Right now the coastal areas are having "June Gloom" in the mornings. Marine layer moves in & the mornings are cloudy & grey. But then the sunlight comes out & the flowers seem to glow with an internal light. I took the camera down with us this week to try & catch some of that. I'll be honest, the pictures are a poor representation of the original. I love blue morning glories! They are just amazing. In some light they are a deep blue & in other light a glorious purple. (I also hate dys.lex.ia! I can't begin to count the number of words i've had to "fix" so far.)
I have fond childhood memories of big mimosa trees. They grew in a way that made them very easy to climb.
I remember the beautiful blooms.
Somehow, California mimosa just doesn't have the same quality for me now. It looks paler & kind of scrawny.
But maybe that is just lost childhood.
Bougainvillea seems especially to glow in the June sunlight. I didn't begin to capture that here. This is just one of the colors. We also have a beautiful red/fuchsia & deep purple. Well, there also is a salmon/coral color, but i'm not particularly fond of it.
Impatiens from my MIL's yard.
Sweet William from a planter at my MIL's house.
I didn't get any of the qualities of this flower i wanted to catch. I should have tried from a different angle, but i was in a hurry.
The original Mother's Market was on 17th Street in Costa Mesa. I lived 2 blocks away & often walked there to shop, long before i ever began seeking "healthy living." That store was there 27 (? i think) years. It was not all that well set up, but they did the best with what they had. They have built other stores in Southern California since the first one opened. I think there are now 6. But the original one has just moved into this, the new store. It is on 19th Street, about a mile from the old one. I think they will do well. They seem to always have a lot of people there.
My pics of the inside were too blurry, except this one. I love the colors of the produce. (Well, it is a bit blurry, too, but i like it anyway.)
But i hate the parking lot! Here is just one (out of about 8) pic i took of why it is so awful. That darn truck is almost 3 feet out into the driving lane. But the parking spaces are much too short. As well as being too narrow. The parking lot is a nightmare to navigate, but i knew it would be. It was just the same when Border's Books was there. Worse now, because there is always a crowd at this store.
We've not heard anything from the church. I don't know if we ever will. Today was suppose to be the "Ladies' Luncheon" & my intent was to go. Not every month, but this first one because i didn't want to allow myself to feel that G had "shamed" me. However, the person i was going to go with (who strongly feels i should go & hold my head high) is not going. So, not going to happen. I don't think i could just walk into the group without feeling someone still liked me.
Mine is an eclectic blog. I read a lot of blogs & some are specialized (Gluten-Free eating, or infertility, or health, or decorating, etc.). I don't want a specialized blog. I like writing about all kinds of things. I like showing pics of our area or Orange County, or wherever. That is why in February i started the I looked for love blog. Not that i wanted to isolate/separate my journey of faith or talking about my view of God or Christianity from my everyday life, but because i could see that talking about faith or belief was threatening to overwhelm my ability to write an eclectic blog. As i'm not as well-rounded as the Pioneer Woman, it made sense to me to start another blog. At a blog that is bigger than mine, i suppose it would be a tab, a list of something else in my life. But in my little life, it is just another blog. (Also, if i'm looking for something specific, i find PW difficult to navigate.)
Yesterday at I looked for love i got the most encouraging comment from LutheranChik.
She wrote of "religious xenophobia" which i thought a very, very good term. Too many churches tend to label other churches as the enemy or foreign. I think having his children bicker like that would be painful to God.
This is a closer view of the drive down on Tuesday. We are in the clear lanes & paid $2.05 for the use of them. That was one day it was definitely worth it!
Yesterday i got a surprising phone call.
Years ago, Jan & i were roommates when i was just out of high school. We were only roommates for about 9 months because i wanted to move somewhere that i could have a cat & i rather wanted to live by myself. But Jan & i stayed in contact, more or less, for years. We might not hear from one another for a while, & then when we did it was like no time had passed.
But it had been many years since i had heard from her. She never married, but she had a daughter & when her daughter was about 3 years old they had a house fire. I spoke to her once after that & somehow we lost touch, tho i tried several times to find her both before having a computer & once i had one & could do online searches.
Wednesday night/Thursday AM i really didn't sleep much, & while browsing online i thought to try again. I checked Facebook, & low & behold! There she was! (FB does have its uses, much as i dislike it sometimes.) So i sent her a short message. She responded & said to call her this weekend, giving me her phone #. I sent a longer message, telling her what was up with us & gave her an email address & phone #. She called yesterday. We chatted for about half an hour.
I have to say i find her completely unchanged. Now, i know that there must be some changes. It has been a long time. She stayed on in OKC for a long time. But now she is back in MT. Her voice is exactly the same. Her commitment to God is the same. And her lifestyle much the same too.
Jan is as much of a free spirit, or gypsy, or "Christian hippy" (depending on your viewpoint) as anyone i've ever known. Now, whether or not this is true, i remember her ready to do anything at just about any time. If you wanted to go on a day hike, she was ready. Go to Yellowstone for the summer? Pack a bag & a couple of boxes & she was ready to go. (Each time, after praying for direction, of course.)
I was just the opposite. I wanted to "settle in" to a place & not move again for, oh, say 20 years or so. (The place where Duane & i were living in Costa Mesa had been my home since my junior year in college. I'd been there almost 15 years when we moved.) Moving is a big deal to me as i've china to box up, & books & books & books, & linens & keepsakes (although we have a minimum of those displayed). I have let go of things more as time has passed, but i still have a tendency to hold on to things.
I'm a "stay at home" girl & Jan was always an "adventure girl."
Her faith was always amazing to me. She just told God her needs & somehow what she needed came thru. I've essentially never had such an experience. But, then, i do tend to worry. And sometimes i think my "needs" were not exactly basic. Jan moved to back to MT to take a job that then didn't work out. So she's doing this & that. She said it has been so exciting to see God provide for her that she almost doesn't want a regular job, she's happy just waiting to see what God will do.
A few days ago she wanted to go to Bozeman for the afternoon (she's in Billings now, 143 miles away; we lived in Bozeman when we were roommates). She didn't have the money for gas. She mentioned it to God & forgot about it. An hour or two later a friend called, said he had $40 for her because, "God wants you in Bozeman this afternoon, Jan."
Part of me thinks - has always thought - that is what the Christian life "should" look like. Maybe it is. But i have grown enough to know that i can't make myself squeeze into that mold. It would be like trying to wear a mask all the time. Maybe that is what i "should" be like, but i know i can't be. I also know that God accepts me as i am, even if i can't walk with as much faith as Jan does.
But i will always admire her strength of faith.
If i can find a pic (& scan it), i will.
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For the past 2 days or so, our internet connection has been wonky.
Things will load ok for an hour or two, maybe. Then they won't load at all. Very limited on what we can do. I've found it frustrating (& have much more empathy for you, Amrita - this happens to you all the time?). Don't know what is going on. Had a tech to the house yesterday & they are doing "maintenance" in our area, but they say our house isn't effected. ???
I tell you, anyone really wanting to screw with this country doesn't need to use all the scary things the media talks about. All they have to do is go thru a major area/city with something that will send out EMPs (electromagnetic pulse) & whooey! Most cars won't work, traffic lights, phones, probably no cell phones or computers or anything else we use to stay connected these days. Can we live without our technology?
Of course, i don't know the first thing about this really. I don't know if it could be done like i'm outlining, but my fears are not so much about explosive stuff, but about messing with our technology in place & limiting our ability to function.
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We sent a letter, well more than a letter, to the pastor, G, & to the three elders of the Lutheran church. Have had no response yet, but didn't expect to so soon. Duane thinks we probably won't get any response at all, but i think they will respond. If nothing else, probably an official letter stating that the elders are upholding the pastor's decision & maybe some gobbledy-gook on why it was justified.
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Duane is off the hill. He planned to be gone all weekend, first with a SAR training & then some race in Holcomb Valley. The SAR training was postponed as they have a real search to conduct today. (Five months & no searches, to his disappointment, then this one happens the same weekend as a planned training.)
It looks to be sad, however. A 58 YO man was reported missing on Wednesday, but no one knew where he was or where he'd gone. Yesterday his vehicle was found in the desert. This may not be pleasant for Duane's first official search.
He is gone next Saturday, too, as he has a Karate tournament he is responsible to help with in OC.
In fact, the whole summer seems to be filled with weekends where he is doing training or something. I'm not complaining, not really. I miss him, of course. But with my own functioning so limited, i often feel that i'm preventing him from being more involved & doing fun things he would enjoy. So i'm glad that he's got something to do that he feels so strongly positive for.
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I've only got Rebecca one more week! AARRGG! I'm going to miss her a lot.
I've appreciated her so much for the past couple of months. I enjoy her. She "gets" me. She enjoys doing the work i have for her. She's been responsible & i could depend on her.
I've some ideas on what i plan now, but Duane & i need to re-assess having someone here so often. Rebecca is worried about me & had a friend come to see what she does. I appreciate that & that friend really wants the job, but i kind of wanted to take this next step on my own. I'm not even sure exactly what i'll do.
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One of my knives was broken this week. I think a cat probably knocked it off (while we were down the hill) & it broke at the first screw/dowel-thingy. The blade comes cleanly off. It isn't a knife i use often, but i checked into the warranty of the thing. It is only covered for "manufacturing defect" so i don't think broken counts. So i looked at the replacement cost of this knife - $70 - ON SALE !!!
This knife set was a wedding gift, so i had no idea that the giver spent something like $300 for the set. I'm shocked. I don't think i adequately appreciated it before, & can't share my appreciation with the giver as he died a couple of years ago. (Yes, i do remember most of our wedding gifts & who gave them.)
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Going to town in a little bit. I've ordered 2 books & they've come in. One is Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions, which i have so wanted. I don't remember what the other one is. Guess i'll find out when i go to get it. :) I don't often buy books anymore, & rarely buy them new. If Duane complains, i'll tell him it is my BD gift for my BD this week. :)
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Well, yesterday we were ex-communicated from our church. It was rather a shock. If you want to read about that, this is the order of those posts: One, two, three. The first two are long. (There are more than this on the subject of our problems with the church, older posts.)
I didn't say this there, but one of the things the pastor G has frequently said from the pulpit was how that so few churches honor Jesus anymore. At one level, i didn't believe this, but i heard it so often it began to take root. One thing blog-reading has done for me has to help me negate this thought. I read blog after blog after blog of wonderful folks trying to honor God, love Jesus, love their children & their neighbors, & the world.
Duane is off on the second of the Seven Summits hikes. I'm sure he will be more careful this week. We've a memorial service to attend this AM. It is for one of the Lutheran members but is being held at the Catholic church as the Lutheran is not big enough. We will attend this to honor someone we loved & support his widow, but it is almost certainly the last time we are involved in a service with this particular Lutheran church. (G is doing the service.)
As a kind of weird aside, i'm not sure i've got anything appropriate to wear to a memorial service. Big Bear tends to be extremely informal. So, i'm not going to wear the black dress i have. I do have black pants & tee shirt, but that seems a little over the top. It occurred to me that wearing black pants & white shirt would be entirely appropriate for this particular church.
Dear friend Jessica recently posted on purple blooms in her area. There are so much more. Duane took a few pics for me the other day, but i've not loaded them yet. There was a gorgeous purple bougainvillea blooming. Also a tree called "Purple Robe." And others.
Here in Big Bear we have purple/lavender, too. The lilacs are close to blooming. My wild onions are purple. And we have lupine (wild) blooming, too.
Our spring was nearly non-existent. It looks as tho one of our peach trees died over the winter, which has me puzzled. We certainly had lots of snow, but the cold didn't seem that extreme. It seems to me that we have gone directly from late-winter, early-spring to mid-summer. We had a harder winter than normal, it seems we may have a hotter summer, too. The hottest it has been since we lived here was 91 F on 4th of July 2007. One day. There have been other warm days, of course, but nothing like the extremes other parts of the country have. Now, on 5 June, it seems summer wants to make up for that. Yesterday our high was 77 F & the low overnight was only 41 F. While 2 weeks ago everything seemed about 3 weeks behind, we now seem to be about 3 weeks ahead.
The other possibility is that i'm noticing the heat more this year. Just as i was having trouble regulating my temperature (getting chilled too easily & difficulty warming up) thru the winter, i seem to not be handling the warm weather very well. Not bad in Big Bear, but when we go to OC it has been unpleasant. And of course, it is easier t warm up (blankets) than to cool off (cold shower?).
It is too early to know if we will have apples, peaches or pears. I think the apples/pears are a good possibility, the peaches not so much.
I haven't any other pics to share (yet) today, but Duane just sent me this from the top of Gray's Peak. He called, too. He thinks he can meet me at the memorial service.
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Ok, i bit the bullet & talked to the pastor about what happened Friday. It didn't go very well, in my opinion. I thought i could be brief about it, but i can't, so i moved that part over to my other blog.
We did do a little garage sale-ing yesterday, we went in that Jeep. Yup, after about 5 stops it didn't want to start. It took Duane about 20 minutes to locate the problem & fix it. (We ARE fortunate that way; he's good.) I'm not sure he is likely to get me out in that Thing again. Not until he has a complete set of tools to fix it, anyway.
Duane took a tumble yesterday on his climb. Or, actually, on his descent. He called himself "stupid" & said he was kind of showing off. He had been the fastest to make the ascent, & was coming back down - partially running to pass some other folks, & lost his footing on a rock & scree. He scraped the heel of his L hand, & jarred his L & R wrists & mildly scraped his R elbow.
We washed it & dressed the wounds (myrrh oil & manuka honey). His L wrist didn't bother him much at first. But later it began aching. We tried icing it & i gave him some aspirin, but the pain increased & kept doing so. Finally, near 7 PM he decided that he needed to get it checked.
BUT, he carries Kaiser insurance. The nearest Kaiser facility that would be open by the time we arrived was 1-1/2 hours away. So, down the hill we went. He's had Kaiser insurance since Feb 2009, but this is the first time he's used it. (We may revisit the whole idea of Kaiser because of the distance, except, i don't think there are any BB docs on the other insurance he could get, & we still might not be able to use BB UrgentCare or ER.)
I will say, i was dreading going there on a holiday weekend, but they were very efficient & not too many folks were there. We were in & out in just under 2 hours, so we arrived home not too long after midnight.
It is strained, not broken. (Broken = bone; sprain = ligament; strain = muscle/tendon) We are thankful. They gave him a wrist brace to prevent him from overusing it for a while. He also got Vicoden (he'd never had it before). The Kaiser doc told him he shouldn't do aspirin. (Sorry, Tylenol & Ibuprofen are horrible too, in my opinion.) He took one last night & hasn't seemed to need it since. Also, now that i know that the problem is muscle/tendon (tho i'll make sure he sees the chiropractor this week to check that everything is in place) i can do massage & use my favorite pain cream on him: Boswellin Cream by Nature's Herbs (you can find this at a much better price elsewhere). Good stuff!
These are the pics Duane took from the top of Bertha Peak. More to follow, i'm sure, as he does six more summits in the area. One will be Sugarloaf, the tallest peak around Big Bear Valley, & at least one will be in the mountain range seen in pics 3, 4, & 5 - the ones in the background with snow still on them.
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I've been rather discouraged this week. Tired. Not felt like "fighting."
As is a common thing for me when i feel this way, i've not been eating very well. Usually when we're in OC, i eat really good stuff: Organic meals at Mother's (health food store); salads; organic, vegetarian, gluten-free pizza. Usually.
This week i ate junk. And i felt like junk. I was overly emotional & cranky. By Thursday when we were to drive home i was utterly exhausted. Thursdays i'm usually very tired, but this was beyond that.
I doubt i've ever felt quite as much connection to what i'm eating & how i'm feeling. It was good, actually, because i often feel that what i'm doing makes no difference. I often feel too, that i couldn't be "worse" in functioning. This made it clear that what i'm doing DOES make a difference, & that my functioning, poor as it is, could be worse.
So, was i tired, cranky, & unable to "deal" because i was eating poorly, or did i eat poorly because i was tired, cranky, & unable to "deal"?
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I was suppose to do massage as fund raising at our church's rummage sale this weekend. I did it last year.
We went early Friday AM to drop off our donations of extraneous clothes, appliances, etc. I told them i'd be back around 10 to do the massage. I rushed home, walked Rebecca through what i needed her to do, packed up all the supplies i would need, made a sign, loaded it all in the car, & went to the church. Rebecca was worried about me, for she could see how tired i was already at 9.30 AM. I didn't worry too much, tho i was very tired, because i knew doing massage would make me feel a bit better.
I arrived at the church & the lady in charge said, "Stop! Don't unload!" She told me that the pastor had checked their insurance & it wouldn't cover me working & so i couldn't do it. (They didn't do this last year?)
Ok, fine, except i have my own insurance that covers that. They are far more likely to be sued for someone tripping on the cracks in the pavement than for the things i do (the incidence of a massage therapist getting sued is something like 1 in 200,000). If i had been called to discuss this, we could have worked it out. Even if they didn't want me to do it, did they have to wait until i was there ready to work to be told not to do it?
In short, i was pretty angry. I tend to get very cold & silent when i'm angry. I have a hard time having an appropriate response at the appropriate time. The pastor was there & spoke with me briefly a couple of times, but said not one word to me on this.
I do have compassion for the lady running this. She is elderly, & has been in charge of this for many years now. She doesn't want to be, but there has been no one to step into this place. She gets stressed & i'm sure it would be easy to overlook something like this. But frankly, i feel disrespected.
I've written extensively about this church thing at my other blog, if you are interested in that. (I'm still writing that post, but it should be up soon.)
We had several people ask where the "masseuse" was & if she would be here this year. We explained that i wouldn't be allowed to do it do to insurance issues. People understood that, but were disappointed. We did talk of me doing it just for the church folks in the office, but i said the pastor would have to be asked. I didn't say but my intent was "If YOU want it, then YOU ask. I've no intention of discussing this with him."
Boy, i sound cranky today! But something good came out of this!
There is a program called "The Seven Summits of Big Bear." There is a young man, resident of Big Bear, who has just completed climbing the seven highest peaks in the world (Everest). A couple of years ago someone came up with the idea of climbing seven of the summits around Big Bear. I think last year was the first year they did this.
Today is the first of the 7 Summits.
Duane felt committed to helping with this rummage sale. We have helped for the past 3 years. Frankly, the men don't do much but sit around & talk, unless someone needs something loaded on a truck. Duane is not like that. He walks around & talks to folks & is friendly. He helps wherever needed without being asked (or searched for!)
I'd encouraged him to do the 7 Summits anyway, but he was going to do the rummage sale. Except after yesterday he lost any enthusiasm for it. So he left early this AM to do the Bertha Peak. I'm glad he is going to do this. He will probably return around noon, or even earlier, if he still wants to go to the church sale.
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I've got the knitting group in about an hour, so i'll see how quickly i can do this!
A dear friend of mine, Jessica, has begun a blog. You can go encourage her at His Scribe & give her some support as a new blogger. She has such an interesting story to tell. When she was a child, her family sailed around the world to protest the bombings in Japan. They did that as the result of the aftermath they witnessed first hand. She is also a published author, with her book that is best known carried by Dobson.
She asked a couple questions about blogging & i answered extensively (probably much more than she desired). Doing so helped me to define a bit better what i want & desire of my own writing. One thing that came more clear to me is that i really like it when other folks respond to my comments on their blogs. It makes me feel heard, & that i'm appreciated when i speak.
Honestly, when i comment i often feel a bit stupid - thus my tendency not to comment much. If i comment at a blog that doesn't respond to those comments ultimately in time i begin to feel that i'm not being heard or (this comes from my background - & believe me i fight with this feeling, but it seems to be innate & so i have to counter it) that they'd really prefer me to just shut up & go somewhere else.
I have decided i'm going to make a greater effort to respond to comments in my blog. Early on, i thought this was just kind of fake 'cause i didn't feel i've words to respond well. Also i thought it kind of conceited of me to think that anyone would want to know my response (again - my background & yes i'm fighting it). But i have found that the blogs that really draw me to go back again & again are ones who respond to my comments & create some dialogue.
So, i'm going to make a greater effort to respond! (I'll probably feel rather stupid doing it, however, & you'll have to forgive me if i sound banal & trite.)
On a housekeeping thing, i don't have comment moderation set up until a post is 4 or 5 days old. Then it will require me to "approve" the comment. I haven't gotten spam on new comments, but i find i get a lot of it on old ones. The post on "colds & flu" have an average of 4 drugs in Canada/viagra/junk - selling stuff a week. So, if you do as i do & get behind on reading, your comment may not show up right away.
We attended a new church yesterday. It is a Baptist church so (no offense anyone) i didn't expect much from it. The last Baptist church we attended (there are two up here) really set off the radar for both Duane & i & i found that doctrine makes a huge difference. I was pretty discouraged last week after visiting a Presbyterian church (there are two up here) & had been looking at the background, history, & philosophy/theology of several of these churches. I find that man-made doctrines make me sad & discouraged.
So we were pleasantly surprised by this particular church. Not that we'll immediately make major changes. We joined the Lutheran church (there are two up here - we joined the more conservative one) rather quickly & didn't note the problems with which we now struggle until we had been attending 18 months or more. Based on that history we won't be jumping too quickly to make permanent changes. But Duane found this new church rather exciting as a possibility (as did i) & it is much more than we expected. I'll probably write on that more extensively at the other blog.
I'd been planning to transplant my herb garden for a while now. My sis is a much more accomplished gardener than am i. I took advantage of her being here this weekend to help me. If i get real ambitious, i'll do a second post with pics later today.
We transplanted the lettuce (which is much too straggly & the arugula died), sage, rosemary, thyme (parsley didn't need to be moved), oregano, & mint. We seeded some tomatoes & lettuce. We planted garlic, some of which had sprouted, & transplanted some wild onion growing in our "lawn." She had given me some peppermint a while ago. It was doing ok but not great. We put it in a different pot. She also brought me some spearmint & we potted it. I'd repotted some sweet basil last week (tho it isn't doing very well - i seem to kill basil easily) & so i sent home with her some other basil i'd bought but not planted yet.
I left both the onions & garlic outside, but brought the rest of the things inside. The temps are still in the 20s at night, so my delicate herbs wouldn't survive outside. The onions were already thriving outdoors. Also i've heard that garlic likes cool weather. I know from reading that garlic should have been planted months ago, but i thought i'd give it a try anyway. I just learned from reading that garlic tends to sprout at temps from 40 - 50 F (which is usually the temp of our kitchen, so most of what i have does tend to sprout). So some of what i planted had already begun to sprout. It is worth a try, anyway.
I also, by accident, did something that might be good. I had so old bay leaves here. I forgot i had them & bought some more. So rather than throw them out, i saved them to use in my replanting, just thinking they'd be some extra "compost." However, my sis said that's probably a good idea as they might help fight off bugs. I looked it up & bay leaves have anti-viral & anti-bacterial properties as well as being something that some bugs don't like. I've been having trouble with lots of little nasty gnat-like insects in my aloe vera plant. Sis had said neem oil was suppose to help, & also a trap with vinegar in it. The vinegar trap had drowned lots of them (& i need to throw them away & set another) & i finally remembered to buy neem oil this week. We used some in all the plants we repotted. I can't say if it helps, yet.
I may learn how to garden, yet!
We so enjoyed our visit with Sis #2 & her friend, F. (We didn't take pics of them.) Duane said this AM when he woke, "That was a fun weekend." It was.
I've quite a bit to do today, laundry & clean up that i didn't do, but we had such a good time. The ravoli that Rebecca made was absolutely delicious! She also made an apple pie, because that is F's favorite, & it was wonderful. They brought pumpkin pie (Duane's favorite) & we also did sasprilla floats & coffee floats. Everyone had their favorite. :) For dinner Saturday i made brisket & veggies in the crockpot & they said it tasted good.
Hope she comes back again soon!
Gotta run for my knitting group & other errands.
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