Divine Retribution
Aug 29th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

Soooo … ya know those silly Blogthings questionnaires? I found one called “What’s Your Beer Personality?” I took it just for kicks and giggles.

As it turns out the giggles are on me!! Ah, well … turn about is fair play.

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you’ll only drink the best beers in the world. Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them.
When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all – especially about subjects you don’t know well. But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.
A Rant for Emergents
Aug 27th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

HT to Brother Maynard … ’twas his post on translations of the Bible which began my convoluted path.

I have to say at the outset I’m not particularly particular about which Bible translation anyone uses. Long ago I came to the conclusion that if indeed I do believe that God is capable of creating the entire universe, then it’s just possible that S/He might not necessarily confine Herself to the pages of any one particular translation of a fifth generation copy of the transcription of the oral traditions of generations of stories written down in the non-native tongue. That God might just be capable of revealing Himself through more than one translation; indeed, She might use other books too. So I follow the suggestion of Thomas aKempis: “In things essential, unity; in doubtful, liberty; in all things, charity.”

I do, however, have a strong suggestion to make to the folks who are participating in the conversation known as the Emerging Church. Please, o please, extend your horizons past Guiness! Guiness is the Budwieser of stouts. It is a crass commercially over-produced beer that out-grew itself in the late ’80s. There are so very many good, fine stouts out there and ales too. If it takes a chick to raise this issue, then raise it I will.

I think my favorite stout is Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, although Young’s Double Chocolate is too close a second to call. I have used Young’s in my venison chili with fine results. They are both deep, rich and absorb light when you slowly pour them into a glass. They are best served luke warm (of course).

I have to say that my favorite beer category is India Pale Ales. I love them … all of them. If you ever get to Vermont, or a gourmet beer establishment be sure to try Magic Hat’s #9. It not only has that great citrus tang, but also has the zing of apricot for a fun surprise. Also from Vermont, Long Trail Brewery’s unfiltered India Pale Ale is fabulous. It fills your mouth and sticks to your ribs. Dominion Brewery here in Virginia has a Pale Ale with a fine grapefruit bite.

Here’s an ale that’s almost a stout and has been a favorite of mine for more than 20 years — Old Peculier. It’s a British beer and wonderful to behold. It’s rich and full and has a lot of texture. I discovered this ale during my misspent youth. A favorite haunt of LightHusband’s and mine was The BrickSkeller off of Dupont Circle in DC. They serve several hundred different kinds of beers. On our first date, LightHusband (in a vain effort to impress me) ordered a bottle of beer from Scotland which had been numbered by hand with a ballpoint pen!

The larger point I’d like to make here is this. From my vantage point, it seems that a strong value being expressed by the emerging conversation goes something along the lines of “think globally, act locally.” That is that while we see the larger issues and problems in the world, we see the solutions beginning with us and with our immediate communities. That we are able to influence and establish change there within our local circles. So, why, I have to wonder, are we not extending this argument to beer? Those engaging in the emerging conversation need to find their local microbrewery or pub and imbibe! Stop feeding the corporate, commercial machine. Raise a glass to your brother, the brewer and support him (or her)! For those of you across “the pond,” find the CAMRA pubs and support them. And, for heaven’s sake, expand your hoppy horizons. There’s a great big beery world out there … explore it!

Sabbath
Aug 27th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

It’s the last Sunday of the month. Ordinarily we’d be sleeping in and preparing for some sort of community service. My church sets aside the last Sunday of each month to reach out to our neighbors in service. It’s the pouring out of our gifts and talents in acts of service to those with less than we have. We’ve been doing this for about 2 years now. At first we were fairly rigid about doing it on Sunday. Then we eased up on the day. Now we’ve even eased up on the week. So last weekend (while we were still on vacation) the church helped a single mom move. So, today is a true Sabbath for me. There is no worship service to organize or teach in, and no service worship to participate in. I will rest. I will sew. Hooray!

Yesterday I attended the next to last meeting of the quilt guild board. Wait, that doesn’t sound right. It’s not the next last meeting. It is the next to last meeting that I am required to attend. I’ve been on the board for quite a long time now. Since 2000 I think … I can’t honestly remember. I was President of the guild in 2002. Since then I’ve been the editor of the newsletter, webmistress, I’m organizing the Block-of-the-Month activity for the second time now. Now I’m the custodian of the community service stash and my friend, SizzlingEwe, and I put together kits to make quilts for our community service project. LightHusband has been not-so-subtly suggesting that it’s time to let others in the guild step forward and let their talents shine, reluctant tho they may be. So it was a pleasant change of pace yesterday to hear my quilting sisters echo his refrain as they politely and firmly encouraged me to follow my own muse in the coming year. It’s time, they said, to take a rest. To have a Sabbath.

Many of them will be doing the same. We have all served the guild together for quite some time now. We began as quilters sharing tips and techniques. We have become friends sharing our lives together. We have children at different stages in their lives; one is about to become an untimely grandmother, another is coping with guiding her two teens through the morass of an out-of-control youth ministry, a third has one in college and one about to graduate from high school and her in-laws living with her, a fourth has both children gone and is recently retired from her job of 20+ years, and so on. We struggle together, laugh together, grieve together, cry together, and stitch our lives back together when they have become unraveled. We travel to quilt shows, eat meals, fondle fabric and memories, and through it all remember the timely advice of many quilters gone before us, “If it can pass the ‘man on the galloping horse’ test, we don’t need to worry about it.” This means any flaw, blemish or error that cannot be seen by a man on a galloping horse, is too small to worry about. I think I like that standard.

Adventures in Shopping
Aug 26th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

We’re home again. Getting settled back in. I set a new land speed record for getting vacation laundry washed, dryed, folded and put away … under 24 hours. This has never happened before in our married history. As LightHusband says, “Usually they (the dirty vacation clothes) have to marinate for a week or so, before we’re ready to wash them.” There is something about doing the vacation laundry that truly changes the mental space I’m in.

I’ve spent a good portion of the week purging the schoolroom. I’ve removed a lot of schoolwork from previous years that can be archived. I’ve stored a lot of books (especially for history) that we’ll use when we get to those eras again. We deconstructed the way we use the space in the schoolroom (which is actually the diningroom). We tried to figure out a way to get desks for each of the LightChildren. But then we’d have to get rid of the table, and it serves a number of purposes other than school. It’s the “kids” table when we have friends over for dinner. I use it for extra sewing space and cutting space for my quilting. The LightChildren use it for crafts and other projects. So, in the end, we kept the table. But we did decide to get some new bookshelves and a new supply cabinet.

I knew just the bookshelves I wanted. These — which could be found at Target. I then spent several fruitless hours pouring through websites trying to find a supply cabinet that didn’t look like one of those horrible metal closets that you find in the back behind the office manager’s desk. The only thing I found was a hutch that came under the heading of bathroom furniture and I was afraid I’d never get past that. Especially after LightHusband took one look at it and said, “Hey, that would look good in our bathroom.” Back to Google after that comment; but our search was in vain.


Nonetheless, we scheduled a trip to Target to purchase the bookshelves and take whirl through the furniture and organizing departments to see what they had, up close and personal. Sometimes you miss things when you’re on-line. Lo and behold, we had missed something! There, in the closets section, was our grail!! Imagine these pieces with the door portion on top (it has shelves behind the doors) and paper supplies and other flat products on the sliding shelves of the base unit. I’m in heaven. We even got metal baskets to put on the shelves behind the doors. Organization, here we come!! Of course, it came in 2 very heavy boxes and took LightHusband 4 hours to put it together. But it’s a thing of beauty awaiting our stuff. And the schoolroom is ready for our school adventures to begin.

But here’s the funny thing that happened at Target. Just as we were getting in line to check out, I remembered that I wanted to get special 3-ring binders for each of the LightChildren and I for a project we’re doing. So I left LightHusband to check out with the furniture and took LightBoy off in search of special fun binders. In due course we found them. We were then entitled to check out in the “Express Line,” with our 3 items or less. There was an older gentleman two people in front of us with a single 1-subject spiral bound notebook that he was purchasing. He already had his dollar bill out to pay for it. The cashier waved it over the laser beam, rang it up, turned to the gentleman and said, “That will be ….. ten cents!” The sudden sucking sound was audible as all of our heads whipped around. How did we all come to be in a penny candy store in the midst of a SuperTarget in MegaLand? TEN CENTS??? I cannot remember the last time I’d heard that as the sum total of a bill at a store. Even the gentleman was dumbfounded. He fumbled for a moment, then said, “Wait, I have a dime!”

A dime. He paid for his total purchase with a dime. Even LightBoy was astonished.

The non-plussed cashier just kept telling us to go get spiral bound notebooks while they were on sale; we really shouldn’t miss it.

Back-To-School Friday Five
Aug 25th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

From the RevGals … Friday Five Meme

My late mother-in-law thought of September as the “real” New Year because of the number of programs and classes starting. By Labor Day, school is back in session for most of us in the U.S., although there is great variation by region (my children don’t return until Sept. 7th!). To mark this, we bring you the Back to School Friday Five.

Aside … I think this is very appropriate for me this week as I’ve spent the week purging our school room of old books and papers and getting it ready for our new year to begin next week. I’ve got a couple more hours to put in over the weekend and all will be ready for LightGirl and LightBoy on Monday morning (imagine dreary organ music here)!!!

1. What is your earliest memory of school?

I went to what used to be referred to as nursery school. Now it’s called pre-school. I think I went a couple of mornings or afternoons a week. I remember that we had nap time. After nap time was snacks and it was highly sought after to be chosen to be the snack or drink assistant. My best memory of that school tho was that in the playground there was an old car that had had the tires and windows removed. We would swarm on the car and “go on trips.” We were all good about taking turns “driving.” Kids rode on the roof and on the hood and everywhere. Playing on that car was the most fun ever.

2. Who was a favorite teacher in your early education?

My first and second grade teacher, Mrs. Metakos. I thought she was beautiful, smart and wonderful.

3. What do you remember about school “back then” that is different from what you know about schools now?

The way they teach children to read was much different. I learned using phonics (using the infamous “Dick & Jane” books). Now they teach using whole language or some combination of the two (and can use just about anything!).

4. Did you have to memorize in school? If so, share a poem or song you learned.

I think I did. But I don’t remember … isn’t that terrible??

5. Did you ever get in trouble at school? Were there any embarrassing moments you can share?

The only time I ever got into trouble was for something I didn’t actually do, it was for something I was pretending to do. I went to school in a very old 2 room school house with horsehair plaster on the walls. Someone was mysteriously chipping out a large hole in the plaster at the top of the stairs when I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. One day I was standing in line waiting to go outside for something and I turned to my friend, picked a tiny piece of plaster out and said, “I bet this is how that guy is getting away with it,” and a teacher saw me!! I don’t remember my punishment … I just remember the injustice of it all. And that no one would believe that I was NOT the perpetrator.

Out With A Bang!
Aug 20th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas



Here are two very happy young men! LightBoy and +OneFriend enjoyed a serendipitous ride in an antique Hacker Craft with a neighbor here on the Point. The neighbor was young when I was young and known for his exploits in the community. He and his brothers were some of Opie’s favorites. I remember one famous story involved a homemade diving suit and an excursion to the bottom of the cove that ended perhaps ingloriously. LightBoy and +OneFriend are in danger of pulling their cheek muscles!

Sunday Morning
Aug 20th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

Another week has come and gone. It’s Sunday again. How different this day is from last. It’s gloomy, threatening to rain, an ever-so-slight chill in the air. It did rain last night and the remnants of drips are wending their way through the leaves on the trees, pit-patting as they go.

I’m up early this morning, having my coffee and cruller on the porch. LightHusband was here briefly, but he’s out in the boat fishing now. As I know from our years together, this is perfect fishing weather. All the children and grandparents are still sleeping.

The LightChildren +One Friend have had a ball this vacation. The two boys have spent hours fishing (but rarely catching). There have been a few catches which LightGirl protests. The fish get thrown back so they might live long and prosper, get married or something silly like that. She’s too old for such nonsense, but she has a tender heart so we indulge her. There have been tubing runs, snorkeling classes, blueberry pies (2), corn on the cob (countless), running and jumping off the float, swimming, kayaking, friends, cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents, sleeping in, running around, playing and goofing off. It’s been a good vacation.

We return home tomorrow and take up the reins of our regular lives. I think we’re ready now.

New Generation
Aug 19th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

My brother and his family arrived the other day.

But the biggest news right now is that …

… there’s a new Sniper in town!

+OneFriend took this, as well as many other good photos. He’s proving himself quite handy with a camera. +OneFriend’s mother is not going to be happy about this development. Not happy at all.

This is LightUncle1, the oldest of my two younger brothers. I should note this was taken right after a series of games during which LightBoy and +OneFriend challenged LightUncle1. Mostly it was thumb wrestling and the slap your hands game. LightUncle1 won But there was much laughter, giggling and general silliness had by all. Someday, they will challenge the older men and win, but for now they lose and giggle and everyone has fun.

Porch Musings
Aug 17th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

It’s later in the morning than I usually awaken. +OneFriend has a cold and is struggling with quite a cough in the night, so LightHusband and I were up with him a good bit last night. It is one of the miracles of this place that I am able to sleep in a bit when necessary.

We probably should not have gone out for creemees (as softserve icecream is called up in these parts) last night. The ride home required that we have the windows open to air out the fumes from the gas can we had filled for the boat rides taken during the day (tubing in the afternoon and fishing after dinner). The cool pollen filled air started +OneFriend’s coughing jag and he just couldn’t get past it.

So it’s been later than usual for me to come out to the porch and sit with my coffee and cruller. The clouds are puffy as a fresh snowbank over the ridge across the bay and the boats are lolling in no particular direction, at ease awaiting their next orders from the currents and winds. Children and parents are playing at various camps around the cove, and LightBoy is fishing.

I’ve been musing about the various pillars which support human relationships this morning. Mostly I’ve been thinking about trust. I’ve been remembering how +OneFriend came in the dark of night, trusting that when I told him to awaken me if he needed to, I would respond. Of course I did. LightHusband and I sat with him for the hour it took to quieten his cough and relax and go back to sleep. For the most part, children trust very easily. They believe the things that they are told by adults. Their minds do not have the ability to question or challenge. They do not bother with the things that are beneath the surface. There are no icebergs. It is only when we become adults that we begin searching for hidden meanings, the lines between the lines, the hurts and betrayals.

There are two things that Jesus said that I’ve been musing about this morning. The first is that we (all of us … especially the adults) should come to Him with faith like children. The second is that we should be wise as serpents and gentle as doves. Now before you begin taking me to task for taking those verses out of context, I know I did that! Those are some fairly standard teachings of Jesus and I’m musing on my porch about trust and I don’t have my Bible/concordance/commentary open next to me. I merely think that in regards to trust issues, those two teachings put us in a place of tension. It is difficult to hold faith with child-like trust, yet be wise as a serpent. I think it requires that we overlook an awful lot of hurts done to us. Perhaps it even puts us in the place where we forgive others seventy times seven. I think it requires that we sometimes conciously not look for lines between lines or hidden meanings. I wonder, if, perhaps, that tension isn’t a most difficult aspect of my faith.

My Lack
Aug 16th, 2006 by aBhantiarna Solas

Update – 11:40 p.m.: the following is meant to be very tongue-in-cheek. Especially please understand that I mean the last paragraph in terms of the title of the post … it is “My Lack” of generosity and love that I am mocking.

My friend, Golden Girl, has a nice post today reflecting on how Jesus talked to people. She makes you think about how we might want to talk to people. I’ve been thinking about that this afternoon as I cut out pieces for some quilt blocks I’m working on.

In many respects, I’m a fairly easy going person. If I were more outgoing I’d probably talk to more people. But I’m uncomfortable talking to strangers of any stripe, so I have a hard time talking to new people whether they are rich or homeless … both are just as scary to me. I’d like to think there isn’t anyone I’d have dinner with under the right circumstances.

I have, however, decided that there is a group of people who are untouchables in my world. People that I will not invite to dinner. I’m aware that Jesus does not like this behavior on my part. He and I will have to work on this together. But here goes … they are the people who own barking dogs and do nothing to shut them up. In fact, they go so far as to allow the barking dogs to bark uninhibited while the rest of us suffer. People with barking dogs should suffer an eternity with their barking dogs … but I should get to go to heaven without them. I have suffered enough right here.

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