January Thaw?
Jan 30th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas


It was warm out today. After the LightChildren finished their school work they went outside and jumped on the trampoline. I love that part of homeschooling.

Python-a-Thon
Jan 29th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

So for a multiplicity of reasons I am indulging myself in a day on the sofa watching television. I discovered that BBC-America is running a Python-a-Thon. Eight hours of Monty Python’s Flying Circus that began at noon today. While funny, they are even more bizarre than I remember. I can’t decide if they were on drugs, or brilliant, or both. In any case, we’re all enjoying it.

One thing that has really struck me during this extended bit of television watching is the commercials. I’ve been noticing how filled with fear they all are. That fear is selling these days. Fear on the internet. Fear about having accidents. Fear about whether or not one has the proper insurance. Fear about one’s body. And it made me start to wonder if all the drug companies who sell anti-depressants are somehow in cahoots with the ad agencies. Hmmm??? Well … that’s silly, but fear is definitely for sale on the airwaves and I don’t think it’s funny at all.

I’d Rather Not Know …
Jan 23rd, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

So LightBoy took the reins this evening. He cooked dinner for us this evening. We had a lovely gourmet feast. It consisted of frozen chicken breast patties, sugar snap peas and bread. I was refused my request for milk because we were low.

I was called to the set table. Dinner was on my plate. I sat down and gave my wonderful son many compliments on this fine cuisine. As we clasped hands around the table and prepared our hearts to say a blessing for the meal so lovingly prepared, LightBoy said, with a big grin on his face, “You know the two knobby things on the bottom of the toilet seat? If you put a ketchup packet underneath each one and someone sits on the seat, they’ll squirt ’em on the back of their legs!!”

I just don’t want to know how an almost 9 year old boy comes by this particular piece of information…

Frodo and Samwise
Jan 23rd, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

I got back yesterday afternoon from my weekend retreat. I spent it with a bunch of women. First, I have to do something important. I have to say this, out loud, in public: My mother was right. I told my mother last Thursday that I was going on a sewing retreat for the weekend and she said, via e-mail, “I admire you throwing yourself in with a bunch of women for a whole weekend. I couldn’t do it. Maybe I couldn’t do it with any unknown group. I find myself getting impatient with many people’s denseness more and more lately.”

I should have listened to my mother. But I don’t want to focus on the issues that she was right about. It is sufficient to say that she was right. I did have an enjoyable time and I got a lot of sewing done and made a lot of progress on a couple of quilts that have been burning a hole in my brain.

One of the things I’ve learned about myself over the years, is that in some settings I’m a multi-tasker. For instance, if you ever come to my house and see me cleaning my kitchen with great vengence, I’m probably angry about something and need to move in order to think and process. So I clean, and think, and talk (perhaps yell … perhaps). Depending on the issue I may even move on to another room.

Another thing that really facilitates thinking for me is sewing. It frees my mind to have repetitive tasks. Quilting is an art form that involves many repetitive tasks. I was paper piecing yesterday. This is an activity which is particularly repetitive (and I had 50 blocks to make), so my mind wandered quite a bit. I found my mind wandering, as it sometimes does, through the paths and bogs and heaths of Middle Earth. The Lord of the Rings has fascinated me and captured my imagination since I first discovered it as a teenager. I’ve read it in whole or in part countless times … and when the movies came out 4 years ago … well … I was captivated all over again. For the first time ever before or since, movie makers got a book right. Well almost … they forgot Tom Bombadil and some other large-ish parts … but did you see Minas Tirith, Rivendell, the Mines of Moria? Overall (in the movie), Peter Jackson achieved what no one has ever done; taken a complex book and really put it up on the big screen.

In any case, I got to thinking about Frodo and Samwise. Frodo was given an almost unbearable burden. One that took him on a journey fraught with danger. This journey caused him pain and he suffered wounds that would never quite heal. Samwise Gamgee was his faithful friend who stuck by his side at every turn, the friend who had his back, even when Frodo didn’t want anyone to have his back. The journey began with just the two of them and they picked up the Fellowship as they travelled for a while. But eventually it became clear that the only course for Frodo would be to travel to Mt. Doom with his painful, heavy burden, alone with only Samwise for company on the slow, tortorous journey. The Fellowship with Gimli’s ax, Legolas’ bow, and Aragorn’s sword was left behind to wonder and wander for a bit. Actually, for the remainder of the story.

I spent a good deal of time thinking about the Fellowship … Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, Meriadoc, Peregrin. Without the Fellowship to distract the Forces of Darkness from Frodo, he would not have been able to complete his task. Even tho, the Fellowship had been broken up and redistributed throughout Middle Earth, everyone had different “jobs” to do. Those were necessary in order for Frodo and Samwise to get to and then up Mt. Doom. I’d always grieved the break-up of the Fellowship, but now I saw it was a necessary evil.

So as my hands did their work; the stitching and cutting and pressing, I realized that there are some journeys on which we must travel somewhat alone. I’ve been on one or two; as have we all. And somewhat painfully, I’m standing watch while other friends travel a similar journey now. But when we receive an all but unbearable burden and find that our journey’s path takes us up the steeps of an all but impassable mountain, it’s good to know that we have a fellowship with their metaphorical axes, and bows and swords, fighting to keep the forces of darkness distracted long enough so that our wounds, while painful, won’t cut quite as deeply. To know that we have friends who are searching the horizon for signs of our presence, who will light the watch fires when a battle must be fought, who will send in the eagles to pick us up when we can go no further. I realized that if it weren’t for these small “f” fellowships, many journeys would end in disaster. That we manage our journeys up and down our large and small mounts of doom, precisely because of these small “f” fellowships of which we are all part. We who are in the fellowships must do our parts, not really knowing what those roles are or why, or how our role will effect the outcome. And of course, the truly nice thing about all of this metaphor is that we do not have to pass out of direct contact as Frodo and Samwise did when they were engulfed in their struggle to achieve the summit of Mt. Doom.

The Problem with Pain …
Jan 20th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

… is that it cannot be actually shared or taken on by others for even one moment. That is perhaps the most agonizing part for friends and relatives. They must stand at a slight distance, knowing the agony,but only in part, weeping. Cycling through the hours of wishing they could take the pain on themselves, make things better, and the bitterest pill of all is that there is nothing to be done, except stand against the darkness … pray our friends into the light … and extend hope.

Love/Hate
Jan 20th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

Here are some things I love about blogging. I get to think. I’m a lot like my dad. I like to think and I love to write. I don’t know if he likes to write. But I do. So I get to write and I know that people will read it. Sometimes they even like what I write. Or they challenge me and get me to think more clearly or fine tune my thinking. These are good things.

Here is the one thing I hate. Once I push the “Publish” button I feel like I’m back in college in a class (as a student). I just stood up to give an oral presentation and discovered I’m not wearing any pants. Now, please, my readers, do not go too far with that mental image. But I’m trying to deal with that tension.

I think this is what it stems from. Many of you know LightBoy. You may have noticed that he has a certain tendency to let whatever thoughts that are in his head come out of his mouth with great enthusiasm. Yes … well … never let it be said that apples fall far from trees. And when I was a child those traits were much less tolerable than they are today, especially in little girls. My grandfather was fond of fixing me with his steely blue eyes, and very sternly saying, “Children should be seen and not heard.” repeatedly.

So it comes as a great surprise to me that the words I write are not constantly offensive to almost everyone. Except LightHusband; he is biased and I pay him off. But … still … everytime I push the “Publish Post” button, I feel as tho I’m out waving in the wind, waiting for someone to take shots at me. But I love to write … But I hate to publish. Love … Hate. Unbearable tension.

So you may have noticed that I created a psuedonym for myself. I may change it. Right now it’s Celtic and means The Lady of Light. That seemed sort of fitting. I’ll see how it feels for a few days. I may change it to something else, or decide that I’m just being terribly silly afterall.

That’s It!
Jan 20th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

“… the inability to foresee potential negative outcomes …”

I read that phrase somewhere yesterday. I don’t remember where, so I can’t properly quote it to you. But it stuck with me.

“The inability to foresee potential negative outcomes.”

We had quite a conversation over at my BrickFriend’s establishment earlier this week about the evils of the marketing machine in this country taking advantage of the poor and disadvantaged causing them to want things they cannot afford. In the case of the African-American underclass, it’s “bling.” He wrote quite a piece and then the comments are all quite good. But (as my dad was fond of saying at dinner) “something” was missing.

That was it. The poor and disadvantaged in our country and particularly the poor, disadvantaged, from the inner-city do not have the ability (or are not taught, given … whatever) to foresee potential negative outcomes. So they remain easy prey for shysters and their own proclivities for “bling” or simple human laziness. They cannot foresee the potential negative outcomes in “easy” credit, and 7 year payment plans for crappy cars (even if it is a knockoff SUV), or that $600 a year is far too much for a $10K life insurance policy. They cannot foresee that those terms are a form of imprisonment. The elderly usually cannot either.

We wonder why there needs to be more enforcement of the laws, or more laws. I think maybe we just need to take care of (mentor) our neighbors. Now I just need to find them ….

Church Model
Jan 19th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

You scored as Servant Model. Your model of the church is Servant. The mission of the church is to serve others, to challenge unjust structures, and to live the preferential option for the poor. This model could be complemented by other models that focus more on the unique person of Jesus Christ.

Servant Model

72%

Mystical Communion Model

67%

Sacrament model

50%

Herald Model

39%

Institutional Model

11%

What is your model of the church? [Dulles]
created with QuizFarm.com

Cats vs. Dogs
Jan 19th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

The results of a discussion over lunch about the relative values of cats versus dogs as household pets:

Dogs reflect humans back to themselves as they wish to be.

Cats reflect humans back to themselves as they really are.

Unintended Consequences
Jan 18th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

I belong to the “team” or group that puts together the service each week at my church. This team is known at our church as the Design Team. When I drive home from these meetings I always phone LightHusband to tell him I’m on my way. Then he knows not to worry about the lateness or anything. For a long time we met on Tuesday evenings. That’s a really good night to meet. There are conflicts on Monday nights and Wednesday nights and if we wait til Thursday there’s just not enough time left in the week to get everything together. But then one of our members ran into a serious conflict on Tuesday evenings. It’s just a temporary conflict and so we are dealing with it. But here’s some weird fallout. It just so happens that trash pick up at our house is Wednesday mornings. LightHusband had fallen into the habit of using my late Tuesday evening phone call as his cue to take the trash out to the curb. Well … we’re not meeting on Tuesdays and the trash is piling up!! He needs a new cue.

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