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I know what you are thinking; "Why don't she write!" It
has been a long time and a lot has been going on.
Hopefully you are still with me.
Like
you, sometimes I have to take a break and put
something down so I can keep my priorities in line.
This summer I spent a week seeing places in
Southern Colorado I had never seen and visiting
favorites. If you have never been to the Great Sand
Dunes, you should go. My daughter and I splashed
in the water of the river until we were soaking wet! I
spent a lot of time hiking in the High Country, one of
my favorite things to do and, of course, keeping track
of an eleven-year-old. The highlight of my summer,
however, was the week I spent a Contemplative
Church Camp. My daughter was also at camp and I
saw her at lunch and dinner; otherwise we were both
enjoying ourselves. I love this week because it is the
one time of the year that I am free of all responsibility
and it's just about me and God. I come back renewed
and refreshed.
And now here it is mid -
September; the mornings are crisp, the afternoons
warm and the nights cool enough to snuggle under
the covers. I have noticed the trees are beginning to
change. I can't wait for my Autumn Blaze Maple to turn
brillant red. But September also means school has
started (can you belieive it's already time for parent -
teacher conferences) and I can get in a few more
hikes before the snow. Soon we will be shoveling
snow and drinking hot chocolate. The seasons of life
continue on, as do we.
Are you wondering
what is up with Soul Food? Read on and hopefully I
will answer your questions.
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Turn Off The TV!
Find out the facts instead.
According the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary, Eleventh Edition the word hate means
intense hostility and aversion; extreme dislike, to have
a strong aversion to. Yep, that sums up how I feel
about elections years. Maybe it's the incredibly
negative campaigning. Or maybe it's that I have a
brother who is right of Attila the Hun. You can't have a
civil conversation with him. If you don't agree with him,
he starts yelling and calls you stupid. He even has the
statement "Liberals are so open-minded their brains
fall out" on his e-mails. So I don't watch TV during
election time. Luckily for me their are no political adds
during Packer games. Then I would really go
ballistic.
Sadly, negative campaigning works,
which I think is insulting to me and you. No, John
McCain did not father a black child, he and his wife
adopted one. (Karl Rove sunk McCain with that one in
2000). And no, Barack Obama does not support sex
education in kindergarten. But that is what negative
ads are all about, preying on our fears and
misconceptions. So do some research yourself and
find out what your candidate's platform really is.
Research the candidate's record and find out if that
record matches your concerns.
Are you
worried about the price of gas? Are you concerned
about alternative sources of energy? If not you should
be. The Saudis only have oil reserves for about 20
years at the current rate of consumption. It will take
that long to find alternatives. If you are wondering, the
U.S. is already past peak oil production, including
undrilled fields. We simply can't produce enough oil
to cover consumption. (Sorry, that's the geologist in
me coming out.)
What does pro-life mean to
you? Just anti-abortion or does is mean preventing
pregnancy, universal health care and equity in
education? Are you worried about the economy? Who
isn't right now? Look back over the last 10-20 years
and understand how we got to where we are now. I
personally don't want to be borrowing money from
China. Where do you stand on the environment?
What do you think about the running mates? Both are
critical in my opinion. John McCain in 72 and has had
cancer four times. Barack Obama is a black man
(really bi-racial) and racism is alive and well in this
country. Will either make it through a first term?
Whatever your issue or issues, find out what the
candidate's platform is and check their voting
record.
I know you are smarter than negative
campaigning believes. Let's put civility and common
courtesy back in politics.
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Exploring Labels
More from Merriam-Webster
It's really easy to throw around terms and believe we
know the definitions because we hear everybody else
doing it and if everybody else...well, you get the point.
And then the bird swam Hummer over banana eat
piffle monkey rain. Sometimes labels make as much
sense. So let's look a two common labels of election
years; LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE! Lions and
tigers and bears...oh my!
Being a liberal,
although on the conservative side of liberal, I often feel
that liberal is almost a dirty word in our society.
Fortunately for me I have two conservative friends I
love dearly who don't feel that way and love me too.
Liberal has a couple of interesting definitions, one is
being generous. But in this case liberal means one
who is open-minded or not strict in the observance of
orthodox, traditional or established forms or ways. It
also means an advocate of liberalism, especially
individual rights. If you take it further, liberalism is a
political philosophy based on belief in progress, the
essential goodness of the human race, and the
autonomy of the individual and standing for the
protection of political and civil liberties. I can live with
that.
Now let's look at conservative.
Conservative means tending or disposed to maintain
existing views, conditions or institutions, marked by
moderation or caution. Conservatism is a political
philosophy based on tradition and social stability,
stressing established institutions and preferring
gradual development to abrupt change. I can live with
that too.
My point is that we are all a little of
both, some of us more to the liberal side, some more
to the conservative side. But before we use the terms,
let's understand them and use them appropriately.
After all, we can be kind and civil to each other even in
election years. Can't we?
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Where Is The Lake?
Lessons from a family hike.
The first summer we lived in Louisville, we went on a
family hike at the Brainard Lake Recreation Area. We
took an easy hike to Lake Isabelle. At that time my
daughter was about 18 months and was carried in a
backpack on Dad's back. We went across the little
dam to an area that was less crowded and took out
the food, some of which just happened to be
watermelon, still one of my daughter's favorite foods.
While we were there my husband took the greatest
picture of his 'girls". We decided we wanted a ten
years later picture, since the baby is now eleven. We
won't mention how old I am now.
So in late
August we got up early and decided to go to the same
spot and take a picture. It was an absolutely beautiful
day, sunny and warm. The only problem was that we
got to the lake and it wasn't there!
It was so
odd to see just rocks and bare ground when so many
times before I had seen cool, blue water. It wasn't
ugly, just barren. I walked across the lake bottom,
sometimes through a little mud and noticing a fishing
fly lost on the bottom. I wondered what had happened
to the lake. Eventually I walked across the lake bottom
and climbed up on the other side to the place we
wanted for our picture, all the while wondering what
had happened. My husband hiked around and
eventually found an old pipe which was draining the
water, but on purpose or was this some kind of
mistake?
When we got back to the parking lot
we discovered that Lake Isabelle is part of the
Lefthand Canyon Water District and the lake is
drained every August and fills again with the snow of
winter and the meltwater of spring.
I began to think of my life and how often I feel
drained and barren. We all feel that way at times. We
get very wrapped up with all the "ands" in our lives.
But stop to think about what you are doing each day.
There are a lot of things that we have to do, that are
our responsibilities. But there are many things that
we do because we think we should, because we feel
we have made a committment and must continue,
even though we are not enjoying the activity and feel
stressed out about it. Those are the things that drain
us and make us feel barren, with nothing but rocks
sticking out from the mud.
Get rid of
the "ands" in your
life and do things that don't cause extra stress and
give you feelings of dread. So whether it is spending
time with friends, reading a good book, singing,
dancing; find the activity that brings the water back to
your lake and refreshes your soul.
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Grace and Peace,
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