You know you're sick when you can't eat chocolate. 

I have my candy dish filled with kisses for Christmas, staring at me, just waiting
for me to feel well enough to enjoy.  Oh the torture.

inspired by Char's poetic letter (note: Char's is much better... my excuse is I'm sick. )

'tis a week before Christmas
and I'm sick as a louse
barely stirring
not getting out of the house

with few decorations to bring me some cheer
knowing that St. Nicholas no longer stops here

but that's not what really matters
for this day has been blessed
by the One who comes to save us
you may have guessed

the Nativity waits for the babe
who will be placed gently with care
on the eve of the promise
to erase all despair

_________________________

I think I've given up on setting up my village this year.  I've just been informed that
Christmas will be at my daughter's not here.

No particular reason for this... it just made me chuckle...
laughter is good medicine, right? 

_____________________________________

Ha, I was surprised to look outside and see that it had rained a bit... it makes for the prettiest evening sunset...

winter's rosy glow, I call it.

(apparently Hanukkah begins at sundown today... that would be the very time I observed our rosy glow...
5:00 on the dot)

Reading
Book:  Betrayed
p. 63 - "Jeremiah 31 ... I could hardly believe what I was reading. A new covenant?  Was God saying He
would no longer be remembered as the God who brought us(the Jews) out of the land of Egypt?  Was a time
really coming when God would no longer be remembered as the God who did these things?  Why had I never
seen this before?"
Hmmmm...... aren't we in those times now... when current archaeological evidence is
calling into question the story of the Exodus?

_________________________________

unexplained phenomena, Dec. 14, 2014

I often, as I sit on my porch, ponder why I see aircraft in ascension, coming out of the direction of
Southport and the ocean.  Typically airplanes are in ascent as they take off... but where would these
jet liner sized airliners be taking off from?  Are they in ascent as they approach the airport in
Wilmington for landing?
Today though, as I sat, I was observing the second of one of these airliners with their chemtrails
when suddenly below and just behind the chemtrail of this second airliner there was a bright flash,
a bright pinpoint of light appeared suddenly (looking like a star would look, but this was daytime,
so obviously it was the sun reflecting... but off of what?). This point of light continued to follow
equidistant as if pulled along behind the airliner.  What could be going on?

~ this is my quest no matter how hard no matter how lonesome no matter how far to follow that star ~

To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go

To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star

This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far

To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause

And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest

And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star

- Man of La Mancha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANEFZJ01OiY

~ Baby it's cold outside ~
and it's creeping through the walls
it's prying fingers finding their way into my halls.
Time to bring in the big guns (i.e., put the furnace on)

This was fun... I especially enjoyed the second couple. Frank, I think you will like this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MFJ7ie_yGU

I wanted to know where the song originated from... what movie it first debuted in.
Stars Ricardo Montalban in his younger years.

My mind has been overly active lately.
Here's a challenge.

Choose one word that you think exemplifies yourself, and then elaborate on it.

Here's mine -
Passionate - not in the erotic sense (or not just in the erotic sense) but I am
passionate in everything that I do, about everything I care about, from my loved ones,
to injustice, to things like caring for people and this planet. I do not know how to talk
about things in a calm fashion, but with zeal. I like to talk about things that matter.
I am passionate - full of zeal.
It's why I write so much - passionate release.

More serious thoughts from yesterday and today.....

This is how much things have changed:  a time when selfishness did not rule, but rather obedience
and the decision not to grieve those who most loved you.

"His guardian, Father Morgan, viewing Edith as the reason for Tolkien's having "muffed" his exams
and considering it "altogether unfortunate" that his surrogate son was romantically involved with
an older, Protestant woman, prohibited him from meeting, talking to, or even corresponding with her
until he was 21. He obeyed this prohibition to the letter, with one notable early exception, over
which Father Morgan threatened to cut short his university career if he did not stop.

In a 1941 letter to his son Michael, Tolkien recalled,

I had to choose between disobeying and grieving (or deceiving) a guardian who had been a father to me,
more than most fathers ... and 'dropping' the love-affair until I was 21. I don't regret my decision,
though it was very hard on my lover. But it was not my fault. She was completely free and under no vow
to me, and I should have had no just complaint (except according to the unreal romantic code) if she
had got married to someone else. For very nearly three years I did not see or write to my lover. It was
extremely hard, especially at first. The effects were not wholly good: I fell back into folly and slackness
and misspent a good deal of my first year at college.

On the evening of his 21st birthday Tolkien wrote to Edith......"

Now, young people put themselves first, without regard for who they are disobeying or hurting.

Also,
There was a time when everybody wanted to be 'the smart kid'.
Now, TV shows (where they used to mock being the 'dumb' kid) they now mock and ridicule the smart kid,
making it seem as if that it not who they want to be.
TV shows used to point kids in the direction of not being the dumb kid, no matter how cool they might seem
- think 'the Fonz' -  Fonzie always reinforced being good, doing good, studying hard....
Now think Alex from the show Family Ties, a newer generation of TV viewing...  Alex was mocked and made
to look the fool, or the outcast, for being the studious sort.
Think about the even newer show, The Middle, and how they glorify Axel(note how this is an anagram of Alex)
who is portrayed as a shameless slacker, and yet made to look successful, while the serious, good,
studious Sue, is made to look a fool.

Other thoughts: (I decided to watch Family Ties)
Remember the days of one phone in the house? When it was a big deal to get a second line?
and when you might talk privately? That was the beginning of change too... having too much...
privacy is overrated... Adam and Eve tried to do things in secret too...
whose leading is it when privacy is our greatest desire?
There's a saying for people in recovery... 'You're only as sick as your secrets'...
when a thing is brought into the light it loses its grip and power over you.
In other words light defeats the powers of the one who wants us to do things in secret.

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.    - Tennyson