The Return

Back from a brief trip to Florida. Drove. Bad mistake, but I survived and there's no carnage strewn along side the road so I guess everyone else did too. On the way dropped by Gettysburg, PA. Hadn't visited a site like that before. Had always thought a battle field would be nothing more than a big pasture and a few statues. Well, there's plenty of that there but there's also a lot more. I came away form there with a new sense of the history of my country. We had purchased a narrated driving tour booklet/CD that explained what I was looking at in a particular location. A battle, life and death, for hundreds and in some cases thousands happened here. The ground was soaked with the blood of young men fighting for a cause I knew nothing about. The Civil War. The War between the states. It has other names but I knew little except a bit I been told in school which I discovered had been woefully lacking in detail. I had never experienced such deep sorrow before i...

The latest from the return of my blog is here and now available. I keep putting this off and now it's been a while again. Just ran across someone else's site that lamented of ignoring his "duty" toward his blog for 10 days. Didn't check the date on my last entry, but I suppose it's been at least that long now. Been reading more of NT Wright again. Justification this time. It's worth the read, but I may have to read Piper too now just to see what all the fuss is about. I've read Surprised by Hope which apparently ignited this round of tree felling and ink spilling and don't remember anything so earth shattering that would require a whole book to rebut that and then a rebuttal to the rebut. Not sure how that goes in in scholarly terms. Still reading so the verdict isn't in on this for me. I will say that Wright has put some pieces together for me that just didn't seem to fit from what I had learned in my meeker bit of study. I starte...

The rain has gone, the sun is shining and I'm very pleased with the way things are now. Well, mostly pleased anyway. There's something about sitting in the sun... Now what to blog about? Apparently Congress is still out of session. And the President is still on vacation? He deserves time off like anyone else. Noticed the glee the pollsters have displayed in reporting his sinking numbers. Well, the new has worn off now. What else did anyone expect? Did anyone actually believe one man could move the mountains and Congress that quickly? Did anyone truly believe the special interests would step aside? And who believed that politicians didn't want to be re-elected? Time for a reality check. This is politics, politics 101 as a matter of fact. Not sure if there's a 201 level or not. Campaigns start the moment the polls close from the last election cycle. Can living that life be that good? Apparently it is. Been reading some short stuff from a guy named Gunter ...

Rainy day today. Feels like the beginning of autumn. Almost is too. September's peaking over the horizon now. Frost instead of dew in the morning arrives shortly afterward up here. That means the bugs don't wake up as early though; so sitting on the deck with the morning coffee will be more enjoyable. Won't miss the little buggers either. But before all that happens there's generally one last warm up. So the melancholy can wait for a while. Not much newsworthy conversation again. There's a rumor of a short "vacation" in the mill, but no reservations anywhere. It'll be a flyby of a couple of history type spots and a few days with relatives. That doesn't qualify as vacation in my book, but it's priced right. Having to buy a new car has really cramped the style around here IMHO. Ah, well. A dead vehicle in the driveway is worse yet, assuming you want to go somewhere that is. If you need a place to store stuff or plant petunias, then...

The latest from blogworld here. Yawn. Yeah, not much going on where I live. That's a good thing looking at some of the alternatives out there. Getting blown to bits or away topped the headlines today. That and a senator wanting to change the law in his state so they will have some one to vote on healthcare should it come to that. A vote, I mean. Time will tell. Had to do an intervention of sorts in my garden today. To save the young tomato offspring from their parent plants. The disease or whatever it is has gotten worse and worse threatening any hopes of ripe fruit. So we picked everything that wasn't rotting. They'll taste like store bought now, but maybe a few of them will ripen enough to use. That is a really let down for my taste buds who were eagerly anticipating a real BLT. Had a whole paragraph written and decided to keep my political opinions to myself for a while longer. A mission trip I took a month or so ago has me wondering about some things I saw....

Why does the title bar give me reason to not post? Title? Who needs one for this sort of thing? Not me. But if I don't give the post a name, the posting mechanism grabs the first few words and uses them I've discovered. So OK, I'll think up something for that void that must be filled. Still toying with making this a themed place versus just ramblings. There's a part of me that has to be ordered wants a theme. The rest of me asks why, shrugs and walks off. Same idea as the title bar I suppose. Is the universe ordered or is it chaos? is chaos a kind of order? Can it be predicted or does it just sort of happen? If it's predictable then is it still chaos? Help! That argument is for for all those super scholars to decide. Just thought I'd throw that out for grins. On a more mundane level, why do my tomato plants and their fruit have some plant disease yet again this year? They get it if it's hot and dry. They get it if it's cool and wet. I...

Remember how I was looking for something new to do with a butternut squash? Well, tried a recipe and discovered it was good. Really good. Found it on the web. No, I didn't think to save the link. But, trust me, those squash don't have to have sugar and cinnamon to taste yummy. This recipe basically boiled it, added a few other ingredients, and then pureed it. Pretty color and then it was served with red cabbage that had just a dash of soy sauce. That, too, was a very pleasant surprise. So to whoever posted that recipe many thanks. Now I've found to courage to try a few of the other ideas I've seen. Looked up the nutritional info on it and that's even more good news. Eat, and eat some more, if you like because it's nearly free calorie wise, and has lots of good- for-you vitamins and stuff. Summer has arrived in my part of the world finally. Nice to see all the sun and for all those that like the heat---Enjoy. Maybe the pool will finally heat up enough...