The other day felt like the world caving in and I was sitting with a client who also was feeling like her world was caving in and then I suggested we look outside the window and see the early Autumn world in the sunshine at the end of the afternoon. And it didn't seem so bad for a second. The lights were off in my office and the sun was shooting through the window and there was just a touch of peace in the moment. A moment of clarity came and I could give my client some decent advice. After she left, I could sit in my chair and wheel around in a circle and take a deep breath and it wasn't so bad after all.
It is getting cooler at night. The breezes come and blow the clouds across the dark purpole sky. The stars peek out from behind the moving clouds. I can hear the limbs of the trees rattling against each other. The squirrels are chattering in the trees. I used not to dislike the squirrels as much as I do now. Dad used to say that he would put flea collars on the squirrels in their yard so that if things got bad, then they could eat the squirrels. Taking care of their needs until the hard times.
Here we are in hard times and I could just eat a few squirrels around here. Just to get rid of them mainly. Not because I have any real desire to eat squirrel meat.
Its sleepy time down South. Soon, I will take Tex out for the last time and then go to bed. To bed, I go.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Stained glass windows
I drove to Columbus this afternoon. I love driving to Columbus from Griffin. The road through Pike County and the eastern part of Meriwether and on through Harris into Muscogee is quite picturesque. I particularly enjoy driving along the spine of Pine Mountain from just north of Warm Springs to the country store at Callaway Gardens. The remainder of the journey down US 27 into Columbus can be gorgeous. Today, as I drove across Pine Mountain, I encountered the changing leaves of Fall beginning on the sweet gum and poplars among the pines. A lot of the leaves are falling and you could catch glimpses of the valley to the south. Later, I drove through Hamilton, which is one of the smaller county seats, but the old courthouse still shows some of its late Victorian charm.
It made me think of some of the memorable drives I have taken over the years. I thought about the first drive that I can still remember. When I was around five years old, before we had moved from Indianapolis to Huntsville, Alabama, my parents travelled with Frank and me west to Illinois, where we visited some friends. Somewhere along the trip we passed a fallow field, in early Spring, covered in an orderly fashion with rows of the tiny mint-green sprouts of the crops planted there rising from the loam. Alongside the road upon which we drove there was a row of tall, thin trees running along the road to the left and the sun was shining down on the fields ahead of us. I don't exactly know what it was, but there was a simple beauty about that scene that caught my eye. I don't know where it was other than somewhere in central Illinois. The scene just remains in my heart. Like bits of color in stained glass, it remains a part of my life.
It made me think of some of the memorable drives I have taken over the years. I thought about the first drive that I can still remember. When I was around five years old, before we had moved from Indianapolis to Huntsville, Alabama, my parents travelled with Frank and me west to Illinois, where we visited some friends. Somewhere along the trip we passed a fallow field, in early Spring, covered in an orderly fashion with rows of the tiny mint-green sprouts of the crops planted there rising from the loam. Alongside the road upon which we drove there was a row of tall, thin trees running along the road to the left and the sun was shining down on the fields ahead of us. I don't exactly know what it was, but there was a simple beauty about that scene that caught my eye. I don't know where it was other than somewhere in central Illinois. The scene just remains in my heart. Like bits of color in stained glass, it remains a part of my life.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Thinking of Fall
It was genuinely cool when I left the house a few moments ago and walked out onto the driveway to retrieve a magazine Cindy had left in my car earlier. An Autumn breeze had kicked up and I could feel the beginning of the new season before it is here. Later I will go back out into the evening with the dog on leash.
It feels like football season and I can feel the coming of the middle of the season when the leaves turn yellow, orange and scarlet, depending on their species. The grass will dry up and turn brown. I will pull out my tweed sports coats and my flannel and corduroy pants. Perhaps I can go to a football game in full Fall garb.
One Fall, when Molly, my Brittany, was very young, we drove up to the farm and let her run free and she took a walk completely around the boundaries of the pastures. Grandmommie and Dad were still alive. One morning, I put on my corduroys and a green tartan flannel shirt and went out onto the front porch and Cindy took my picture with Molly. Molly fit with Autumn, all orange and white with feathers. Quite a fancy dog for a Fall morning.
The first time I took Molly to the farm, we walked around the stables and Molly went on point near a bush. I slowly poked around the bush and a quail broke cover and flew away. I was pretty proud of my little bird dog.
Molly was a sweet dog. She never took offense. One time she ran behind a rose bush by mistake and cut her ear in half. She yelped and then came up to me to lick my hands. A couple years later I was bathing her and trying to cut some knots that had developed in her feathers. I accidently cut her flesh and she yelped, then licked my hands. I have never been loved as much by a dog. A real lover.
I love Autumn.
It feels like football season and I can feel the coming of the middle of the season when the leaves turn yellow, orange and scarlet, depending on their species. The grass will dry up and turn brown. I will pull out my tweed sports coats and my flannel and corduroy pants. Perhaps I can go to a football game in full Fall garb.
One Fall, when Molly, my Brittany, was very young, we drove up to the farm and let her run free and she took a walk completely around the boundaries of the pastures. Grandmommie and Dad were still alive. One morning, I put on my corduroys and a green tartan flannel shirt and went out onto the front porch and Cindy took my picture with Molly. Molly fit with Autumn, all orange and white with feathers. Quite a fancy dog for a Fall morning.
The first time I took Molly to the farm, we walked around the stables and Molly went on point near a bush. I slowly poked around the bush and a quail broke cover and flew away. I was pretty proud of my little bird dog.
Molly was a sweet dog. She never took offense. One time she ran behind a rose bush by mistake and cut her ear in half. She yelped and then came up to me to lick my hands. A couple years later I was bathing her and trying to cut some knots that had developed in her feathers. I accidently cut her flesh and she yelped, then licked my hands. I have never been loved as much by a dog. A real lover.
I love Autumn.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Duly noted
When I took the dog out for his last trip of the evening to the grass on the side of the driveway, I was disturbed by the dog's reticence to use a particular piece of the front yard, as he stopped and smelled and sniffed and acted as if there was something missing or present where he was smelling, I suppose, which prevented him from going any further, even though both of us knew there were duties here to undertake, for him, not me, no, it is true that we both had to take care of our duties, and it seemed as if we both would be unfulfilled, but he finally found an acceptable spot to seek relief and I was able to take leave of my momentary sense of frustration and notice that the moon was full and completely filling the dark night with a special light so that the skies above my head were a deep blue with a new type of illumination as if there were a second, more brilliant moon in the sky or a second source of light. The moment passed.
Back home we go
Today started about like any other day, around seven in the morning, and I would have sung in the choir if I hadn't misplaced my billfold as I left the house and ended up finding it too late to get to church. So, I changed clothes and Cindy and I went over the living room two or three times until we had almost filled the trash can outside with enough dog hair to reconstruct a small dog or two. Perhaps they will take it back to the hair back to the lab and create a junkyard dog for the workers. We moved everything two or three times to completely delouse the downstairs common areas.
As we completed this task, the brave Falcons were pounding the Arizona Cardinals to little pieces in the Georgia Dome. At some point during the day, we were going to travel up to Dunwoody to visit mom and Kate and do some shopping, but we spoke with Kate and she was planning on coming down to us, so we stayed in Griffin and cleaned the doghair from the surfaces of the living room and kitchen and entry hall.
Finally, about the time we had finished our hair removal, Kate arrived and we talked her into staying over night, since I had straightened her room enough to provide for sleep in a comfortable bed with clean sheets.
Which left us the opportunity to hop in Kate's car and travel down Maddox Road to El Toro Loco, where we sat outside in the late warmth of the passing Summer and drank iced tea and ate Mexican food until we were full and could take our leftovers back home and head back out to Wal-Mart to shop for life's necessities.
Afterward we bought ice cream from one of the local Dairy Queens and came home to sit with the dog and watch recorded television shows for Kate. I sat in my chair in the living room, next to my wife and my dog and my daughter, and it occurred to me how enjoyable it was to have our daughter back home with us, just quietly enjoying a night at home together.
As we completed this task, the brave Falcons were pounding the Arizona Cardinals to little pieces in the Georgia Dome. At some point during the day, we were going to travel up to Dunwoody to visit mom and Kate and do some shopping, but we spoke with Kate and she was planning on coming down to us, so we stayed in Griffin and cleaned the doghair from the surfaces of the living room and kitchen and entry hall.
Finally, about the time we had finished our hair removal, Kate arrived and we talked her into staying over night, since I had straightened her room enough to provide for sleep in a comfortable bed with clean sheets.
Which left us the opportunity to hop in Kate's car and travel down Maddox Road to El Toro Loco, where we sat outside in the late warmth of the passing Summer and drank iced tea and ate Mexican food until we were full and could take our leftovers back home and head back out to Wal-Mart to shop for life's necessities.
Afterward we bought ice cream from one of the local Dairy Queens and came home to sit with the dog and watch recorded television shows for Kate. I sat in my chair in the living room, next to my wife and my dog and my daughter, and it occurred to me how enjoyable it was to have our daughter back home with us, just quietly enjoying a night at home together.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Football Saturday
Today was spent mainly in cleaning the house. I cleaned the upstairs, getting at least two bedrooms ready for company in the future and making sure the bathroom looked presentable. I had to buy three banker's boxes so I could gather all the dvd boxes in Kate's room boxed up together and the books and cd cases in the study up. Now both rooms look pretty good right now and I wouldn't have a problem with having company up there.
Meanwhile, Cindy was dusting the living room and I ended up doing a lot of vacuuming and vacuuming and vacuuming and moving furniture around and vacuuming again. Now it is around 10:00 and Clemson and Auburn are in overtime and one of the running backs for Auburn just got his clock cleaned by a cornerback. That put Auburn in a 3rd and ten situation and they couldn't connect on the pass into the end zone and now they have settled for a field goal and now Clemson has the opportunity to score a touchdown and win this thing. I am not much of a fan of either of these schools but I do think Clemson is going to win and they just got a first down on the 13 to help make my point. They are now inside the ten, but have a big, fat lineman down on the field. This has been a war of attrition today.
Georgia and Arkansas (Dawgs and Hawgs)was tight in Athens today. Arkansas had the advantage most of the game, but Georgia caught them, with Arkansas taking the lead at the end, with Georgia throwing a pass into the end zone at the end and one of the receivers just missed catching the winning pass on a jump ball.
They have taken the lineman off on a golf cart. Third and five. They can make a first down. But no, they missed the touchdown on third down. Now kick a field goal and we go again. There was penalty, clicking Clemson back five yards and the field goal kicker missed it. Auburn wins. I have a good number of Auburn graduates for friends, very few Clemson graduates. I guess I will be glad for my friends. Until the end of the season, when the red and black will have to take the blue and orange out.
Well, no more football tonight. Cindy has allowed me all my football allotment for the day. We will be watching a movie until bedtime. Of course, I rarely care much about the west coast games anyway.
Meanwhile, Cindy was dusting the living room and I ended up doing a lot of vacuuming and vacuuming and vacuuming and moving furniture around and vacuuming again. Now it is around 10:00 and Clemson and Auburn are in overtime and one of the running backs for Auburn just got his clock cleaned by a cornerback. That put Auburn in a 3rd and ten situation and they couldn't connect on the pass into the end zone and now they have settled for a field goal and now Clemson has the opportunity to score a touchdown and win this thing. I am not much of a fan of either of these schools but I do think Clemson is going to win and they just got a first down on the 13 to help make my point. They are now inside the ten, but have a big, fat lineman down on the field. This has been a war of attrition today.
Georgia and Arkansas (Dawgs and Hawgs)was tight in Athens today. Arkansas had the advantage most of the game, but Georgia caught them, with Arkansas taking the lead at the end, with Georgia throwing a pass into the end zone at the end and one of the receivers just missed catching the winning pass on a jump ball.
They have taken the lineman off on a golf cart. Third and five. They can make a first down. But no, they missed the touchdown on third down. Now kick a field goal and we go again. There was penalty, clicking Clemson back five yards and the field goal kicker missed it. Auburn wins. I have a good number of Auburn graduates for friends, very few Clemson graduates. I guess I will be glad for my friends. Until the end of the season, when the red and black will have to take the blue and orange out.
Well, no more football tonight. Cindy has allowed me all my football allotment for the day. We will be watching a movie until bedtime. Of course, I rarely care much about the west coast games anyway.
Franklin Street in Fall and Winter
Aunt Mamie's house was a townhouse on Franklin Street in Clarksville, four stories of red brick and limestone above the street level. You exited your automobile and ascended the steps to the small yard, then ascended a second set of steps to the front door. I turned around to look at the tobacco warehouses across the street and down in the low spot across the street. Clarksville smelled of tobacco curing and stored. There seemed to be tobacco warehouses on every street.
There is an eternal fog on Franklin Street in my memory. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because we always seemed to be visiting my great aunt around Thanksgiving. Perhaps it was the ubiquity of tobacco smoke. Everyone smoked in those days, or seemed to. My grandfather was a tobacco farmer. His neighbors were all tobacco farmers. His father was a tobacco farmer.
But I remember sitting as patiently as a young boy could in the front room with the adults, gazing at the nick nacks and pictures from faraway lands visited by my great aunt. Being offered a cold coke cola at the end of our visit. Thinking about walking down to Goode Wilsons to spend the dollar our grandmother gave us. Comic books and scale plastic models of Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolfman.
Goode Wilson's was later turned into law offices and my last visit was a job interview one December during law school, when visiting my grandmother before Christmas. There wasn't much of the old drug store left in the building other than the exterior. I didn't get the job, but it was pleasant to step out on the slushy sidewalk in my topcoat and hat and brave the winds of December in Northern Tennessee.
I drove down Franklin Street to the center of town and headed back east toward St. Bethlehem and the farm. The skies grew darker and the snow began to fall like a snow globe of an antique country scene in Winter.
There is an eternal fog on Franklin Street in my memory. I don't know why. Perhaps it is because we always seemed to be visiting my great aunt around Thanksgiving. Perhaps it was the ubiquity of tobacco smoke. Everyone smoked in those days, or seemed to. My grandfather was a tobacco farmer. His neighbors were all tobacco farmers. His father was a tobacco farmer.
But I remember sitting as patiently as a young boy could in the front room with the adults, gazing at the nick nacks and pictures from faraway lands visited by my great aunt. Being offered a cold coke cola at the end of our visit. Thinking about walking down to Goode Wilsons to spend the dollar our grandmother gave us. Comic books and scale plastic models of Frankenstein's Monster and the Wolfman.
Goode Wilson's was later turned into law offices and my last visit was a job interview one December during law school, when visiting my grandmother before Christmas. There wasn't much of the old drug store left in the building other than the exterior. I didn't get the job, but it was pleasant to step out on the slushy sidewalk in my topcoat and hat and brave the winds of December in Northern Tennessee.
I drove down Franklin Street to the center of town and headed back east toward St. Bethlehem and the farm. The skies grew darker and the snow began to fall like a snow globe of an antique country scene in Winter.
Her pedigree
Her great-grandfather, nicknamed "Mouse"
Was a high school quarterback
At a military school in Tennessee
The nickname came from poker nights.
Her grandfather was a decent high school
Fullback until his knees gave out
And the coaches forced him to start
The plays hiking balls between those knees.
Her dad chased quarterbacks to ground
Until a bum knee and lack of eligibility
Wouldn't let him play anymore;
His mother was glad when it was all over
And told him so on the last field of battle.
She learned fight songs and safety blitzes
On green fields cut on Tennessee mountaintops
And between the hedges in Athens
Until she could call plays in her sleep.
She was born for it, bred to a five yard pace,
No cheerleader or majorette here,
But a soul-shaking excitement
When the air turns cool and humidity fades,
The Friday night light poles
Casting a holy halo above her head in the Autumn chill.
Was a high school quarterback
At a military school in Tennessee
The nickname came from poker nights.
Her grandfather was a decent high school
Fullback until his knees gave out
And the coaches forced him to start
The plays hiking balls between those knees.
Her dad chased quarterbacks to ground
Until a bum knee and lack of eligibility
Wouldn't let him play anymore;
His mother was glad when it was all over
And told him so on the last field of battle.
She learned fight songs and safety blitzes
On green fields cut on Tennessee mountaintops
And between the hedges in Athens
Until she could call plays in her sleep.
She was born for it, bred to a five yard pace,
No cheerleader or majorette here,
But a soul-shaking excitement
When the air turns cool and humidity fades,
The Friday night light poles
Casting a holy halo above her head in the Autumn chill.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
An afternoon trip to Williamson
I drove down to Zebulon this morning and the sun was bright and the temperature was reasonable and I walked into the court and sat down with my opponent. Three and a half hours later, we walked out with a victory of sorts and a good feeling of tiredness. I drove back to Griffin and checked my mail and found a check, for a change, and so in one day had two promises of payment and a check, which is about as much as you can expect under the circumstances.
Tonight, Cindy and I met Chip and Robin for supper at a restaurant out in the country, west of Williamson, built into a hangar which houses some antique planes and cars and even an old International Harvester Farmall, which looked about the same vintage as my grandfather's two Farmalls, upon which dad used to ride us up and down the driveway.
The food was good and the atmosphere was nice and the company was cordial. We got to see some old planes take off and land. We got to talk about things and enjoy each other's company. At the end we walked through the small collection of planes and cars. It was fun.
Tonight, we got back home and we watched some television and now it is time for me to let the dog out to do his business. I will leash him and walk out into the dark carport and emerge out into the shadow of the trees above me. I will take a look up through the canopy to see the stars set in the firmament and feel the nightly breeze promissing the chill of Autumn.
It won't be long and we will make that trip up into the mountains to buy apples and caramel sauce and look for interesting pumpkins. Bags of boiled peanuts and cold German beer from some gasthaus in Helen. Walking around as the sun dips below the western mountains of North Georgia. Feeling the coolness. Glad to have a sweater or a jacket in the dying of the day.
We saw a Manx cat tonight. I hadn't seen one for a long time. This one was a pretty tabby, with the big tailless rump. I wanted to go out and pet him but we had other things to do besides petting cats.
It was nice to head out into the night and drive back through the country toward home. Even if Cindy lost her call to her mother because of a lack of signal. That was a small price to pay to be able to drive through the country on a cool early Autumn evening in Central Georgia.
Tonight, Cindy and I met Chip and Robin for supper at a restaurant out in the country, west of Williamson, built into a hangar which houses some antique planes and cars and even an old International Harvester Farmall, which looked about the same vintage as my grandfather's two Farmalls, upon which dad used to ride us up and down the driveway.
The food was good and the atmosphere was nice and the company was cordial. We got to see some old planes take off and land. We got to talk about things and enjoy each other's company. At the end we walked through the small collection of planes and cars. It was fun.
Tonight, we got back home and we watched some television and now it is time for me to let the dog out to do his business. I will leash him and walk out into the dark carport and emerge out into the shadow of the trees above me. I will take a look up through the canopy to see the stars set in the firmament and feel the nightly breeze promissing the chill of Autumn.
It won't be long and we will make that trip up into the mountains to buy apples and caramel sauce and look for interesting pumpkins. Bags of boiled peanuts and cold German beer from some gasthaus in Helen. Walking around as the sun dips below the western mountains of North Georgia. Feeling the coolness. Glad to have a sweater or a jacket in the dying of the day.
We saw a Manx cat tonight. I hadn't seen one for a long time. This one was a pretty tabby, with the big tailless rump. I wanted to go out and pet him but we had other things to do besides petting cats.
It was nice to head out into the night and drive back through the country toward home. Even if Cindy lost her call to her mother because of a lack of signal. That was a small price to pay to be able to drive through the country on a cool early Autumn evening in Central Georgia.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Vent, Vent, Vent
Over and above the temperate temps today, we got to go to supper at church today and it was nice to see a lot of our friends and talk with them again. The spaghetti and sauce was nice and I enjoyed the sweet tea and brownies with ice cream. I had to leave with Cindy early and she got cramps in her feet until I could run her home and hand her a a jar of pickle juice. That finally got her on to her feet so I could run to Ingles and purchase some stuff for her for tomorrow.
Now, a time to vent. I realize that when I graduated from high school that I was not an appropriate candidate, probably, for most Ivy League schools. I didn't apply, even though my friend, Graham, Harvard Class of 79, thought I should apply. Heck, I think he thought that everyone should apply to Harvard.
But I didn't want to go to Harvard. I think most people thought I made an appropriate choice when I went to Washington and Lee. Fine institution, good academic reputation, tied into all that Southern history with George Washigton, Robert E. Lee, etc. Most of my friends and family thought it was the perfect place for me.
There is no perfect place for any student necessarily. And no institution has a fix on truth, even if Harvard has 'veritas' on their crest. That is about as pompous as the "Yay, Sewanee's Right" on the stadium at Sewanee. When I was a child, we had nine white male justices on the Supreme Court. Later, one African-American held a seat on the court. But the men who were there were from California, Virginia, Alabama, Ohio, Washington, etc. Despite the fact that they were all men, they were quite diverse in their upbringing and origins.
But now they all seem to be from the Ivy League and most of them are Catholic or Jewish. In our efforts to be more diverse, we have packed the court with Ivy Leaguers. I know those schools are fine colleges and universities, but they don't hold the only key to truth.
We need a real open market place of ideas to work our way out of this mess. Easy answers and slogans and simplified responses to issues won't make it. It is more complicated and the answers which will probably work will be have to be much more thoughtful and broad in scope and will require more compromise and working together.
Now, a time to vent. I realize that when I graduated from high school that I was not an appropriate candidate, probably, for most Ivy League schools. I didn't apply, even though my friend, Graham, Harvard Class of 79, thought I should apply. Heck, I think he thought that everyone should apply to Harvard.
But I didn't want to go to Harvard. I think most people thought I made an appropriate choice when I went to Washington and Lee. Fine institution, good academic reputation, tied into all that Southern history with George Washigton, Robert E. Lee, etc. Most of my friends and family thought it was the perfect place for me.
There is no perfect place for any student necessarily. And no institution has a fix on truth, even if Harvard has 'veritas' on their crest. That is about as pompous as the "Yay, Sewanee's Right" on the stadium at Sewanee. When I was a child, we had nine white male justices on the Supreme Court. Later, one African-American held a seat on the court. But the men who were there were from California, Virginia, Alabama, Ohio, Washington, etc. Despite the fact that they were all men, they were quite diverse in their upbringing and origins.
But now they all seem to be from the Ivy League and most of them are Catholic or Jewish. In our efforts to be more diverse, we have packed the court with Ivy Leaguers. I know those schools are fine colleges and universities, but they don't hold the only key to truth.
We need a real open market place of ideas to work our way out of this mess. Easy answers and slogans and simplified responses to issues won't make it. It is more complicated and the answers which will probably work will be have to be much more thoughtful and broad in scope and will require more compromise and working together.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Wins and losses, Summer and Fall
It started this morning like Fall had arrived, with a satisfying coolness and a thorough lack of humidity in the air. I was almost deluded enough so that when lunch arrived I scrambled for a cotton sweater which became a reminder that Fall arrives in a few weeks in Georgia, particularly Central Georgia.
Still, I took the dog out this evening and walked him out under the stars roaming across the skies and it was quite cool and delightful. In that kind of environment it is hard to stand there and watch the dog do his business, knowing that you have to get the dog back into his bed in a matter of seconds.
I was looking through dog rescues and showed Cindy several cute little Welsh Terriers and Wire Fox Terriers. She thought they were pretty cute, despite the fact that the information on the dogs usually stated that the dogs weren't good with other dogs. That is a problem with an old Lab-Bassett mix on a styrofoam mattress in the kitchen.
Tex seemed a little concerned about his two favorite humans looking at other dogs. Dogs have a lot of intuition from time to time. Cindy was convinced he come tell we were looking at other dogs. She gives him a bit more credit for cunning and intelligence sometimes, but dogs do seem to know a bit more than we expect from time to time.
The Braves lost tonight and the Phillies won, so there is a two game span between the two teams and the Braves are on the wrong side of the span. Professional baseball is not completely satisfying these days, particular when football is in full swing. Of course, professional football is equally unsatisfying, since the Falcons don't seem to show their talents from week to week and year to year. Oh well.
Relying on sports for a mood elevator is a dangerous thing. It provides a transitory up from time to time, but it is definitely transitory. It just seems to last until the next game and the next loss. There is always another game. That is good and bad. Another opportunity for a win or loss.
Still, I took the dog out this evening and walked him out under the stars roaming across the skies and it was quite cool and delightful. In that kind of environment it is hard to stand there and watch the dog do his business, knowing that you have to get the dog back into his bed in a matter of seconds.
I was looking through dog rescues and showed Cindy several cute little Welsh Terriers and Wire Fox Terriers. She thought they were pretty cute, despite the fact that the information on the dogs usually stated that the dogs weren't good with other dogs. That is a problem with an old Lab-Bassett mix on a styrofoam mattress in the kitchen.
Tex seemed a little concerned about his two favorite humans looking at other dogs. Dogs have a lot of intuition from time to time. Cindy was convinced he come tell we were looking at other dogs. She gives him a bit more credit for cunning and intelligence sometimes, but dogs do seem to know a bit more than we expect from time to time.
The Braves lost tonight and the Phillies won, so there is a two game span between the two teams and the Braves are on the wrong side of the span. Professional baseball is not completely satisfying these days, particular when football is in full swing. Of course, professional football is equally unsatisfying, since the Falcons don't seem to show their talents from week to week and year to year. Oh well.
Relying on sports for a mood elevator is a dangerous thing. It provides a transitory up from time to time, but it is definitely transitory. It just seems to last until the next game and the next loss. There is always another game. That is good and bad. Another opportunity for a win or loss.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
God, Science and other things
I am trying very hard to determine how to quantify my value. I am trying to take note of the things I have done which have some value to others. Today, I bought the component parts for a meal for the youth of our church this afternoon. I made a casserole and a salad and bought some ice cream sandwiches and iced tea. The kids didn't much like the casserole. They turned their nose up at the casserole and mostly ate the salad, which was substantially iceberg lettuce and carrots. I looked around and realized the church has reduced some of its membership from before, and it seems as if the ones who have abandoned us are some of my friends. That is sad.
In the face of all this, it is hard to keep your sense of value when everyone seems to be abandoning your place of significance. I have always held to the belief that despite my feelings of doubt, there would ultimately be victory. But when your friends abandon you and your place of significance, it shakes your foundations.
I am not about to change at this point, but it does bring these things into the open and, hopefully, makes you look hard at the underpinnings of your beliefs.
I am not going to Steven Hawking my life and cut everything loose because it is convenient. It is too easy for a smart guy, who built a significant curriculum vitae and clearly showed a substantial self-confidence, but isn't the end result of such self-confidence just the belief that one is perfect the way they are? After all, he is a physicist, educated at one of the highest levels of higher English education, living among the academia. Why would he need anything else?
Oh, that's right. I forgot. That will go unsaid. At any rate, he is not a theologian. He was not educated to determine for the rest of us whether or not there is a God or whether he is responsible for the universe. If it means anything, I don't think I will rely on an English physicist to provide me with theory on God, how he works or his limits.
Assuming a "Big Bang" for the creation of this universe, I don't really think it matters from a scientific standpoint if that the bang was started by God. I read something that said that some scientists were concerned when the Big Bang Theory were concerned that the theory implied a divine causation for the universe. No, it only matters to me, and others like me, who have faith that God created this universe, controls the universe, and will lead us to reconciliation with Him at some future date. That may not mean anything to Mr. Hawking, but that is ok. He doesn't mean that much to me.
In the face of all this, it is hard to keep your sense of value when everyone seems to be abandoning your place of significance. I have always held to the belief that despite my feelings of doubt, there would ultimately be victory. But when your friends abandon you and your place of significance, it shakes your foundations.
I am not about to change at this point, but it does bring these things into the open and, hopefully, makes you look hard at the underpinnings of your beliefs.
I am not going to Steven Hawking my life and cut everything loose because it is convenient. It is too easy for a smart guy, who built a significant curriculum vitae and clearly showed a substantial self-confidence, but isn't the end result of such self-confidence just the belief that one is perfect the way they are? After all, he is a physicist, educated at one of the highest levels of higher English education, living among the academia. Why would he need anything else?
Oh, that's right. I forgot. That will go unsaid. At any rate, he is not a theologian. He was not educated to determine for the rest of us whether or not there is a God or whether he is responsible for the universe. If it means anything, I don't think I will rely on an English physicist to provide me with theory on God, how he works or his limits.
Assuming a "Big Bang" for the creation of this universe, I don't really think it matters from a scientific standpoint if that the bang was started by God. I read something that said that some scientists were concerned when the Big Bang Theory were concerned that the theory implied a divine causation for the universe. No, it only matters to me, and others like me, who have faith that God created this universe, controls the universe, and will lead us to reconciliation with Him at some future date. That may not mean anything to Mr. Hawking, but that is ok. He doesn't mean that much to me.
Endeavors
We bought an electrical device for Cindy to download books and magazines off the internet to the device. Cindy is excited; however, we have not been successful in readying the device for downloading any books. So at this point, we have a piece of plastic machinery with circuitry within that is sitting on the couch right now, with all the attendant packaging and what-not around it. Of course, we can still buy books the old-fashioned way and filled our little house with books from stem to stern, from crawl-space to attic.
We have another device on the floor beneath the entertainment center which is supposed to provide entertainment, exercise and what not for the whole family. It has not since around January.
I am not a Luddite, I think. But sometimes I wonder if all this electrical wizardry we purchase is worth the money we pay for it. I can still read a book. I have many. I can still play my guitar, without electrical components. I can walk out of this house and walk around the block or drive out in the countryside and gain much more than I would glean from any of the electrical devices we own and store in our house.
I would like to climb a mountain. I would like to catch a fish in a cool stream in North Georgia. I would like to take my guitar out of its case and play some music, if only for myself. I would like to listen to some musicians perform live. I would like to watch a football game in person. These are much more healthy endeavors, I think, than any of the ones I first spoke about in this blog.
We have another device on the floor beneath the entertainment center which is supposed to provide entertainment, exercise and what not for the whole family. It has not since around January.
I am not a Luddite, I think. But sometimes I wonder if all this electrical wizardry we purchase is worth the money we pay for it. I can still read a book. I have many. I can still play my guitar, without electrical components. I can walk out of this house and walk around the block or drive out in the countryside and gain much more than I would glean from any of the electrical devices we own and store in our house.
I would like to climb a mountain. I would like to catch a fish in a cool stream in North Georgia. I would like to take my guitar out of its case and play some music, if only for myself. I would like to listen to some musicians perform live. I would like to watch a football game in person. These are much more healthy endeavors, I think, than any of the ones I first spoke about in this blog.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Odd closing
I have had several closings cancelled on me in the last couple of days and then I had two closings given to me, including one where the closing actually took place in Alabama so that I was required to be available so I sat at Cissie's house and enjoyed the evening and waited for the notary in Alabama to call me to begin the closing. As it turned out, Cindy and I were in Walmart and the phone rang and I introduced myself and the closing began. As I walked through Walmart I heard the closing occurring in Alabama. I followed Cindy as she shopped and I ended up paying for the stuff and then we headed home. I finally finished at home after driving us home and bringing the stuff inside and walking the dog. Who says I can't multi-task.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Tex and Tom in the Smokies
Today, after church and lunch, I decided to take Tex, the Wonderdog, on a ride up into the Smokey Mountains, so as Cindy and her parents and her sister and niece stayed at home, I packed Tex into the Ford Explorer and headed down the Pellissippi Parkway toward the Miracle Motor Mile and Maryville and the ultimate entrance into the Smokies which goes through the little town of Townsend, Tennessee. After driving down through Maryville and seeing a barbecue place built in the place of a gas station, I took a left down toward Townsend and the "quiet side" of the Smokies. After about an hour of driving we found our way into the entrance of the Smokies and then continued on to the entrance to Cades Cove. I haven't been to Cades Cove for quite a while and going into the Smokies on Labor Day Sunday is taking your life into your hands, but by the time I made it into the traffic jam which is your normal route into Cades Cove, I found myself in a rumba line (or bunny hop, if you prefer), heading into a quite beautiful part of the Smokies which was preserved about fifty years ago and is now one of the most used parts of the National Park system. This was quite evident to Tex and me as we headed down the one way road that goes through Cades Cove. I wasn't ready to stop the car and get off the rumba line to go see one of the surviving buildings on the route, so I continued in the line until I ran out of the desire to follow the line completely around the loop and took a short cut across the valley which is Cades Cove and picked up the loop on the other side of the valley. I did see a jeep parked on the side of the alternative road with Spalding County plates. Id didn't recognize the parties in the car, but I continued on and a nice person in a white pickup truck with an Arkansas Razorback license plate on the front. More later.
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