Even after the storms of February '09, the governor has declared a drought; I'll pray for rain!

lent begins

This one-sentence thing would work better if I was feeling healthy; hopefully, tomorrow there will be more wisdom, more substance, more cogency here.

Mardi Gras

The cold that I've been evading for weeks now - finally caught me. I'm not feeling too hot right now, and will meet a new doctor tomorrow to try to sort out the complications.

I should be in bed, but 'tis Fat Tuesday, which means tomorrow is Lent, and I want to try something new.

I kind of have started doing this over on the "grateful for..." sidebar, but I want to expand the idea a bit. So, for the next six weeks I'll (be attempting to) blog daily, using one sentence only.

Let's see how it goes.


P.S. the photo is apropo of nothing, I just like it. Maybe it's the fever. ;o)

victim of an urban legend

Many Springs ago now, I walked in to work snuffling and itchy-sneezy, grumbling about my allergies. "Everything is covered in a fine yellow powder", I complained bitterly. "Those stupid Acacia trees that bloom all over my neighborhood are killing me!"

I worked at the time as a receptionist in a multi-specialty clinic - for the Pediatric and Allergy department. Dr. Landon, whose specialty was in both those fields, was not only an excellent young doctor but also a genuinely cool guy. I looked up from my drip-nosed tirade, and there he was smirking at me. He shook his head. "Those poor acacia", he said, "everybody blames them."

"But...but... but that yellow powder! Everywhere! Ack!" I retorted. I just knew I was on the right track here, I just had to make him understand. Even if I had to turn sub-verbal in the process.

"You may be allergic to acacia. But you may not be. The poor acacia gets blamed for allergies at this time of year because it has yellow flowers. But lots of things bloom or give off pollen at the same time: the pine trees, junipers, fruit trees! Look at how much more of that is growing around you. It's not the acacia's fault that you are allergic to juniper pollen!"

Huh. How about that?

Poor acacia tree.

fertile.

I know - at least, I think I know - that the rest of the world is frigid and frostbitten, covered in snow or brown grass or mud. But here in my part of the world, Winter is brief and Spring is coming. She will not wait another month for the Equinox; no, she is bulging and ready to burst forth. The Summer-browned hills are beginning to green, buds are shooting on the bare trees, plum trees are covered with pink blossoms (at least, those which haven't been washed away in the saturating rains of the past week!)

Between rainstorms, we've had a couple of beautiful days. Yesterday I spent more than two hours in the garden. And by garden, of course, I mean the 3'x12' slab outside my back door that passes for a balcony. I ripped out the dead and ragged, planted new and colorful posies, and peeked at little tiny seedlings. I sure wish I could remember what seeds I planted!
It is as therapeutic as anything I know for soothing the mind and soul to spend time in a garden.

Oh, and it's not just outdoors where life is springing forth:
Yeah, the garlic and ginger know Spring is coming, too!

liberty and justice for all

"We, the undersigned, share President Barack Obama's view that for too long, issues of LGBT rights have been exploited by those seeking to divide us. It's time to move beyond polarization and live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect."

"Yet, on December 19, 2008, Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund filed legal briefs defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and seeking to nullify the marriages of 18,000 devoted same-sex couples solemnized before Prop 8 passed.

"The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case on March 5, with a decision expected within 90 days.

"We, the undersigned, ask that the Court enforce the equality promised to each of us by our constitution and invalidate Prop 8. So doing will protect all loving, committed couples in California -- including the 18,000 who said "I do" last year -- and prevent the initiative process from being a tool for stripping vulnerable minorities of precious constitutional rights.

"As Americans who believe in the rule of law and fundamental civil rights, we know that Ken Starr and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund's shameful attempt to nullify equal protection and all these bonded unions will be condemned in the eyes of history. We know that, ultimately, love will prevail, no matter how hard they try to fight it."

So I signed the petition. (I don't know if the court will even look at such a petition; in fact, I really doubt it. But that's not really the point.) The part that put it over the top for me, aside from the fact that I truly believe that Prop 8 is bigoted, hateful and wrong, is that last sentence. Read it again: "We know that, ultimately, love will prevail, no matter how hard they try to fight it." Amen, amen.

You can sign the petition too. I hope you do.

Ella Pearl

... is my car. 2001 black Toyota Corolla LE, to be exact. Nothing fancy, nothing flashy. Just old enough to have a cassette tape deck instead of a CD player. But: oh, so reliable. And comfy, maneuverable, fuel efficient... I love my car. She's taken me from Seattle to LA and back, more than once, and from the Pacific to the Sierras and the Mojave, and countless trips to the Redwoods.

Probably I am most affectionate towards this inanimate - yes, I admit that - machine because she is my First. First new car, ever. I got her two weeks after my previous car (a brown Chevy station wagon named Gracie) conked out coming home from the Women's Weekend at Westminster Woods, in the left lane of 19th Avenue in SF. (Oh, that was fun.) Dad helped with did all the negotiations, and went with me to sign the papers after church.

That was eight years ago yesterday. It was a drizzly day, and the first thing I did was drive to T.'s place and we went for a little ride around SF. I expected, back then, to have her for a long time. (She is not giving me any indication that my expectations will not be met.) I pictured myself driving around with a grandbaby in the back seat - so far that has not come to pass, but there is still time! It was a grand day when I mailed off my last payment. (I am so happy I don't have a car payment to pay these days!)

Thanks, Ella - you're a pearl!
(Yeah, I'm working on getting new bumperstickers for the post-Bush era!)

gratitude

I am not writing a lot of posts these days. I'm sure that will pick up. Or, perhaps, I'll act on a whim of mine and spend a month writing a post per day, but one sentence only. That would be a fun exercise. For now, though, I am continuing to add to my daily gratitude list. See it over there to the left? Yeah. At least that.

bad habit

I have a dear, dear friend who frowns upon classifying things as "good" or "bad". And there's a story to illustrate, that goes something like this:

A man had a son who he loved very much. One day the man's only horse ran away. His neighbors felt sorry for him, saying "tsk, tsk, such a misfortune," shaking their heads. The man's answer surprised them. "But how do you know it's bad? Wait and see."

A few days later, the horse came back, bringing two wild horses with it. Now the and his son had three horses. When the neighbors saw this, they congratulated him on his good luck. "But how do you know it's good?" he said. "Wait, and see."

The very next day, while attempting to break one of the wild horses, the son fell off and broke his leg. All the neighbors came 'round again, this time to offer their sympathies. "Too bad your son broke his leg", they offered, "such bad luck!" The man replied, "who is to say what is good luck and what is bad? Wait and see."

The neighbors looked at him in disgust. Was he crazy? They decided not to have anything more to do with him.

The next day a warlord came through the village and took all the able-bodied men off to war. All but the beloved son, with his broken leg...

You get the idea. So you never know about using these words. But yes, I do think that some habits probably are "bad" and some are probably "good". (And now all you students of semantics can go grumble in a corner, but let's move on, shall we?)

I don't think I want to enumerate my bad habits here on the world wide webs, frankly. Let's just say I have a few, and they are contributing mightily to my aforementioned idiocy. It's time to hit the reset button on these, wipe 'em off the screen, start fresh. How does one go about changing bad habits? Especially the real cozy, easy, fun habits of modern living (hint: YOU'RE doing it right now)?

I am an idiot; God is merciful.

Well, that was the theme for the week. (Last week.)

No, I don't make a habit of degrading myself, and I don't actually approve of it. However, sometimes the truth is the truth.

Here I am, verifiably middle-aged, and I've been staying up until the wee (somewhere between 1 and 2) hours of the morning. Then I get up before 8 to go to work, church, whatever. What on earth am I thinking? The flesh is willing, but the brain is weak. Very, very weak after less than 6 hours of sleep!

The merciful part is that on days when I am sleep-deprived and can't even focus before 10 a.m., patients have not shown up for their appointments, I've not accidentally blinded anyone, nor driven into another bumper on my way in to work. Thank you, God, for protecting this fool!

My time has not been spent wisely of late, and I've granted myself some grace around that, because "things aren't back to normal yet". My life has been in upheaval for the better part of two and a half years, and it still does not feel settled. However. It is time to think of the Present Moment as "the new normal". Time to get on with Life, at its fullest, and not as a bare minimum standard.

Time to learn how to do that. (This week. No, TODAY - always today.)