week of 3-16-09

Monday Meditation 3/16/09

Monday started off with a much needed rain that lasted the entire day. It also provided an opportunity for traffic mayhem during the morning and evening peak traffic hours. I am often surprised that in an area where we often have rain, that we also often refuse to drive as if slick streets make any difference. So you can guess the results. Fenders were crunching and munching all over town and the traffic mess really became a mess. I am daily glad that neither of us is forced to have to face the traffic congestion that happens each morning and afternoon. Since we are retired we time our errands to avoid the traffic hang-ups that occur every working day of the week. The traffic has become a real problem ever since Katrina did her number on so much of south Louisiana. Jeers to you with the hope that your traffic woes all are small woes.

What I wish to do with this blog is to learn how to use the training I am receiving from my tutor. I am learning how to use this word processor, send and receive emails, use the correction program and to use the scanner with a program called Open Book. I will attempt to discipline myself to write at least something each day so that I will become more skilled in using the programs available to me as a person who is newly blind. I know that making a daily time for practice will enable me to not have to struggle so hard to get something done. I worked out only one page this past Saturday, but it took three hours to get it written, corrected and sent to Eleanor so that she could add it to my blog. This effort is not taking nearly so long and I am already encouraged at the progress made since Saturday. I will try to make my comments as interesting as an old coot can manage. Have a merry Monday.

Tuesday Tantrum

The day began with clouds but ended with a flourish. I was listening to some of the talk about the latest offense that the financial community of big city high rollers and the big payoff that was announced over the weekend. AIG was once more the center of the controversy about the money meltdown. I find that all of this is far over my head. But I think that I have an idea about what is causing it. Makeoff made off with plenty and it seems that AIG made off with some as well. I am confused about how much money is enough. One of the old, old deadlies, greed, is alive and well in our time. I think that all of us must answer the question of are we rich or do we just have money. I believe that rich is much better than money. I have also lived long enough to realize that you can have millions of dollars and still be one of the most impoverished people around. I like things, but I love my people relationships much more.

In fact, I know that I really can’t have a life apart from relationships that really matter. I am saddened that much of our cultural discourse and interchange has become defined by the adjectives of rude, crude, lewd and common. The talk shows and the political climate reflect too many moments that can be defined by using those four adjectives. Maybe it is part of a cultural stress fracture that we are feeling, but the pain must be more difficult for us to handle than we would willingly admit. Here’s hoping that tomorrow will be a better day. After all, it is God’s offer of a fresh start and a new beginning. In this case, the new beginning is called Wednesday.


Wholly Writ Wednesday

I got off to a slow start today but I managed to finish up strong. I did my exercise on my machines and I did some work on the planned meditation for Sunday. Anita and I also had a dulcimer lesson to get ready for presentation on the first Sunday in April. I actually did all right and I can even do better when I put moe time in practice. We also decided I needed a haircut and we made an appointment for tomorrow. Time to get sheared. There is a quote from Calvara, the bandit in the movie about the magnificent seven and I will end today right here with that quote. If the Lord did not want them to be sheared, He would not have made them sheep.

Tequila Thursday

I awakened early this morning, before 5 a. m. and the news was already hot and bilking. It seems that the carpetbaggers had been rather busy during the night and were planning this day’s serving of political mayhem. The collective hue and cry about the continuing AIG saga was off and running. Many of the sane were openly confused and chagrined that those whose actions caused so much money meltdown and pain seemingly were being richly rewarded for being negative and inept, maybe criminally greedy, and could not be confronted with some kind of reasonable investigation. It seems that the us of US is getting enough of the antics of the carpetbaggers, both in and out of congress.

During the morning show the radio station interviewed our own Senator Mary. She was fully outraged that the AIG people would take that kind of advantage during such a moneyshaking time. She was really flustered when she found out that Senator Dodd had sneaked through an amendment to help his buddies at AIG because they had given big money to his reelection fund. He was one of the donkeys running the show and Senator Mary did not know that he was responsible. She had already given that idea heck, but had to admit that she voted for a bill that she didn’t even read.

Mary also had some criticism for the nearly nine thousand earmarks that were hidden in the bill. She then read a quote from a Washington newspaper noting that she had added her own earmark for some big project being managed by her brother. She really was surprised to have to answer for that and she spent the rest of today vowing that she would try to have it removed. Sure she will. Another carpetbagger caught with her hand in the bag. Sorry, Mary. By the way, Senator Dodd said that he had absolutely nothing to do with that phantom amendment, but he eventually blamed it on the devil and on the President. The devil seems to make those senators do so many devilish deeds. Where is Flip Wilson when you need him?

Friday Follies

Friday was a folly because I didn’t do much of what I planned to do. I guess I simply gave in to feeling kind of low, so I mostly bummed around and took it much easier than I wanted to, but I was a little too low in the water to make a big fuss about it. So there you have it. Now on to Saturday.

Scottie Saturday

We had a cool night and so the day got off to a good start. Anita went shopping for food and then we worked on getting things in place for an afternoon funeral and for the regular Sunday service. It was a very nice day and things have so far gone smoothly. I am now ending this episode and will be moving to the correction phase of this before sending it to Austin.