My Prayer

Fill Thou my life,
Oh Lord my God in every part with praise . . .

So shall each fear, each fret, each care
Be turned into a song
And every winding of the way
The echo shall prolong;

So shall no part of day or night
From sacredness be free
But all my life in every step
Be fellowship with Thee.


(Horatius Bonar, 1866)

Are You Plural?

My maiden name ended with an "s," but people always spelled it with a "z," which drove me crazy!

One year I wanted my name embossed on my high school yearbook, so I filled out the form and paid extra.

You've probably already guessed what happened. The exciting day came when yearbooks were handed out, and I recieved mine - beautiful black cover setting off the gold lettering of the embossing - but with a name that ended in "z." I didn't want a yearbook with somebody else's name on it, so I went to the office to exchange it for one with no name on it. The response of the secretary was that I couldn't have a different one and that I had probably spelled my name wrong on the form.

Huh?

I know God has a sense of humor, because since marrying I now have a last name that does not have an "s" on the end but that people want to pronounce and spell as if it does. My standard line has become that it is OK to pluralize my name when I'm pregnant - but not otherwise! It's the only thing I've found that sticks in their minds and causes them to remember.

I was married at 21, so I guess when I hit 42 I will have achieved balance with this issue - having spent half my life saying, "There's an 's' on the end" and another half my life saying, "There's no 's' on the end."

My brother-in-law had the following posted on his blog today, and in exploring it, I found out I actually am plural. Are you? (You're still not allowed to spell my name with an "s" on the end, though!)

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 63 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I just went back and checked my maiden name, there are only 6 of those in the US. I wonder if my clones have had the same problem I have?

Of a Certain Age

When one is 41 and receives a senior discount, there is a tug inside between joy and depression - joy at saving money and depression at being thought much older than one is.

If this happens once, it can be considered a fluke -- twice, not so much -- a third time -- well, as they say, the third time's the charm. At that point one realizes this is going to continue from here on out -- no -- no -- not for me -- certainly not for ME!! :-)

It's my husband I'm referring to. I get the sense he's found this experience only slightly demoralizing, since his characteristic frugality is stronger than his vanity -- he's actually quite a humble man -- so, for the most part he's at peace with this. (Right, hubby?)

From now on when we're out together we'll just always make sure he's the one paying!

Perhaps we should set aside the savings for our retirement -- which is yet many years in the future!

And while we wait he is looking more and more distinguished by the day! Ooh la la!!

By the way, I feel I can tease him a little bit since I've already poked fun at myself in my post "Practical Joke." Fair is fair, after all!

One Strike - You're OUT!!

If you've been reading my blog since the beginning, you know I have a love/hate relationship with the dental/orthodontal health profession. I really do appreciate good dental health, but . . .

Our newest lesson is to have found out that our orthodontist's office is intolerant of human fallibility. No, I'm not talking about being nagged to death about flossing.

Scheduling around here is pretty tight with 5 people all of whom have teeth - two of whom are in braces, which is my focus for today's rant. (Click here to see an ealier rant.)

The two family members in braces go to school in two different towns. An appointment in the middle of the day could possibly mean two hours of travel time as well as missed classes - possibly amounting to half a day of school with travel and appointment, so we try to schedule on Saturdays or afternoons, which is kind of tough because the afternoon appointments are booked 2 months out, and sometimes while we are there they want us back in a couple of days.

We realize it is a convenience they provide by being open on Saturdays for families in situations like ours.

My husband and I have ALSO been providers of appointments, he to home-schooling families he oversees and me to people I tutor. He sometimes makes home visits to families that live in other towns as a convenience to them - sometimes having put in round trips as long as an hour and a half.

We've been taking our children to this orthodontist for nearly 3 years now and never missed an appointment until last week. I'd say that's a pretty good record given the number of appointments we've had to keep and the forgetful nature of the human mind and the busy nature of life with 3 teen/preteen kids. The appointment we forgot happened to be on a Saturday. Because we blew it once, we can NEVER again have the privilege of scheduling an appointment on a Saturday. Their policy is "one strike, you're out!"

I do understand that they would prefer not to come in on Saturday if they do not have to and that if someone does not show up for an appointment it is really a pain. I get it. As I've said, my husband and I have been providers of appointments too. My husband has left his office and driven to a house visit before and had the family that scheduled an appointment with him not be there! That was a pain, but he didn't pull a "one strike" policy on them. People forget. None of us are perfect.

I can understand disallowing people special privileges who have a PATTERN of blowing off appointments, but to have no grace at all for one time forgetfulness strikes me as a bit harsh. What can we do about it? Nothing. We tried to reason with them and ask for grace, and it did not work. We blew it once, now we pay for it permanently.

My husband and I are the ones who blew it, but it's the kids who pay, as the next available afternoon appointment was two months out, so the kids are two months behind now on their orthodontal care and braces schedule. I wish they would just hit our pocket book and charge us a penalty for the missed appointment (which would punish us but not the kids) but still allow our kids to come in on a Saturday unless we were to blow it again.

This has left a bit of a bad taste in our mouths (wry pun somewhat intended). My husband and I have been inconvenienced too by the forgetfulness of others we have made appointments with, but I prefer the way we operate. Unless people make it a HABIT to blow off appointments with us, we extend grace. We'd rather be inconvenienced once in a while than to cause others to feel they've blown it with us permanently by ONE forgetful moment. I wish our orthodontist's office would extend us the same grace we would extend them.

I don't know how many years yet we will have to deal with braces and orthodontal appointments. Our oldest was told he would have his braces off in 2 years. It's now been nearly three, and there is no end in sight at this point and no comment. Our third child isn't old enough for braces yet. I sure hope he doesn't need them!! (Although it seems everybody "needs" braces these days.) I feel like an endentured servant to the orthodontist's office. I'm ready for my term of servitude to be over! While I'm very thankful for the good dental and orthodontal care available in our society, there are things about this "care" that I'm not so happy about.

Anxiety Conundrum

I have nothing to say
and I am saying it
and that is poetry
as I needed it.

John Cage (1912-1992)


My main goal in my current studies is to relieve math anxiety and to make mathematics more accessible and enjoyable. Something I'm currently working on is a book relating mathematics and poetry. As I've been working on it, I've realized there are probably as many people with poetry anxiety as there are with math anxiety.

Hmm . . . now I have a conundrum. How do I reduce anxiety about BOTH mathematics and poetry as I connect them?

I love the John Cage poem above, because it illustrates the fact that poetry is FOR people. Math and poetry are not there to master us. They are there to be our slaves and to be used by us as we need them. I'm afraid that too often in school both topics are presented the other way around as mysterious and difficult topics that only those with special knowledge and gifts can understand. I really get bothered about that! Math and poetry are for everyone and can be enjoyed by everyone - if presented well.

My friend Bob is fond of saying that he wants to make calculus his slave. He's got the right idea!

Use poetry and math as YOU need them, and they can provide wonderful things.

You're the one in charge!

Have Dessert - on Me!

Not only is it a wonderful treat, but it's "NO-cal."

March 14 is Pi Day. CLICK HERE for your cost-free, calorie-free pi(e) for the celebration! Try some different varieties.

(Realize that you can choose your own notes as well as the scales listed as buttons, thus making your own "pi-tunes." If you select only two notes, such as C, G, C, G, C, G, C, G, C, G, you can hear the distribution of evens and odds in pi. I've named that the swirl - like a swirl ice-cream cone of vanilla and chocolate. I also favor the C major flavor of pi offered.)

Happy Pi Day!

With thanks to Forrest!

Forever Living and Dying

WILD SWANS

I looked in my heart while the wild swans went over.

And what did I see I had not seen before?

Only a question less or a question more;

Nothing to match the flight of wild birds flying.

Tiresome heart, forever living and dying,

House without air, I leave you and lock your door.

Wild swans, come over the town, come over

The town again, trailing your legs and crying!

(by Edna St. Vincent Millay 1892-1950)

Weird Words

Have you ever experienced the effect of a word getting weird on you?

Tonight I was doing some writing in which I had to use the words "boy" and "girl" over and over again. After typing them about twenty times each they began to look really strange to me. What kind of word is GIRL anyway - with that weird i-r-l ending?

My favorite color is green, but I find if I think too long about that word it becomes weird too: g-r-r-r-r-r-r-e-e-e-e-n-n. Strange.

Speaking of weird, isn't it supposed to be "i before e except after c?" So why is e before i in "weird?" I guess it's just weird.

No Rocket to the Moon

When I was in kindergarten there was a bulletin board with a moon on it. Students who knew all their letters got a rocket to the moon with their name on it put up on the bulletin board. I guess I was a bit dyslexic in kindergarten. I knew all my letters, but I could never keep "m" and "w" straight. When the teacher would show the flashcards and one of those would come up I would always guess - must have been a poor guesser too!


I never got my rocket to the moon. :-(


I never had any dyslexia problems after that . . .

. . . until now.

Check out the symbols that are used daily in my math class. We use them so often I can now no longer write a three. I'm never sure which way it goes, and when I have to write an epsilon (the mirror image of 3), I end up writing a three instead!


Oh well, no rocket for the moon for me, I guess!

Birthday Problem

Don't stop reading when you see the word math - because this is really cool and you'll miss it. (Besides, you can make MONEY on it if anyone is willing to take the bet!)

There is an interesting problem in math: How many people do you need to gather before you get to the point where there is a 50% chance that two people in the group share a birthday?

Make a quick guess before reading on.

It may surprise you to find out that if you have a group of only twenty-three people you have a slightly better than 50% probability that 2 of them share a birthday. If there are 30 or more people in the room the odds are overwhelmingly in your favor if you bet that two share a birthday. Most people have a hard time believing this, so you should be able to find someone to bet against you.

(The "twist" is that you can't specify the date. It's just any two people sharing A birthday. If you specify the date, the probability drops astronomically. So if you want to win the bet, don't say, "I bet 2 people in this room have a birthday on April 20." You will lose unless you know twins who are there with that birthdate!)

SO, what are the chances that I personally know MORE than two people that have today,the SPECIFIC date March 2, as their birthday?

While you ponder that, let me send out birthday greetings to the March 2 birthday people I know:

Mom
Uncle David
Michelle V.
Michelle V.'s mom
Kevin E.
Florence M.
Florence M.'s grandson
John F
My cousins' grandma on the other side

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to all of you!!!

And especially to Mom on a milestone!

Since it's not proper to share a woman's age, I won't say which. :-)

It must be that March 2 is a really good day to be born!

Can any of my readers beat my record of personally knowing 9 people with birthdays on the same day? You can't include celebrities or others outside your circle of friends and family - and no fair including multiple births.

Hope on the March

Winter has been particularly harsh and prolonged this year in parts of the US and other places in the world. I'm posting these pictures to bring you hope of spring soon to come.


(To view another spring image click here.)

Your Turn to Weigh in

No, don't worry, I'm not talking about a scale! (After birthday cake this weekend, I'm certainly not going anywhere near a scale!)

What I am talking about is hearing your ideas.

I was asked tonight if the following poem is a riddle and if so what the answer is.

Poetry can be interpreted different ways by different people. What do you think? Is this a riddle? If so, what do you think the answer might be? Is it not a riddle? If not, what do you think the meaning could be? (This is not a test, and I am not an English teacher. There is no wrong answer here, so don't stress, OK?)

The Bee is not afraid of me.
I know the Butterfly.
The pretty people in the Woods
Receive me cordially --

The Brooks laugh louder when I come --
The Breezes madder play;
Wherefore mine eye thy silver mists,
Wherefore, Oh Summer's Day?

(Emily Dickinson #111 c.1859)

(Context for question: My youngest niece will be reciting this poem Friday, March 2, and it would be nice for her to have some background on it if she is asked questions. Can you help her out? If you know me and are shy about commenting on a blog, feel free to email instead. Thanks in advance to all responders.)

End of an Era

Well, our last single-digit child just hit double digits today. Now we are a household of double-digiters until one of us hits the century mark.

Happy 10th birthday Caleb!

Quote for Thought (1)

We know too much and are convinced of too little. Our literature is a substitute for our religion, and so is our religion.

(T. S. Eliot 1888-1965)

Practical Joke

Look, I was hungry, alright?!

Soup sounded good, but you need quite a bit of soup to fill you up if you're hungry, especially if the soup you have left over is just chicken broth and vegetables.

My family had already eaten, so I had a choice in how to prepare this meal for myself. I could heat it up in a pan and then serve it to myself small bowl after small bowl - thus making a pan, a ladle, a bowl and a spoon dirty - OR I could heat it up in a large bowl and eat it out of that - fewer dirty dishes, same amount of food. That sounds practical to me.I thought nothing of it, but when I sat down at the table my husband was absolutely aghast and got out a camera to take a picture of the shocking sight.

I thought it was practical; he thought it was hillarious, so there you have it, a "practical joke"!

(I must admit, I do look like quite a glutton, but, come on, it's just chicken broth and vegetables! Besides, I'm a mathematician. Finding short-cuts is what math is all about! It's what I do! You got a problem with that - meet me outside! I'll be there just as soon as I'm done with my soup.)

My Colorful Life

At the end of November I was bemoaning the loss of color with the fall of leaves. Yet by early February my daffodils had begun to blossom. What a great place to live! Color to color -- vibrance of fall to brilliance of spring -- with only a brief interlude of barrenness to help us appreciate it even more!

In-tree-ging

There's just something I love about trees!
I can't help but be "INTRIGUED".

When I saw this tree on my brother-in-law Dan's blog, I asked if I could share it on mine too. He sees this every day on his way to work (in Kolonia, Pohnpei, Micronesia).

He feels it looks like the tree is trying to crawl over the wall.

What do you think?

(All sorts of possible movie scripts are running through my mind -- one possible title: "The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth." Look out! The trees are claiming their inheritance! Another title could simply be "The Trees" -- kind of like Hitchcock's "The Birds." Then again, perhaps this is a kind, gentle tree like Tolkien's Ents. I hope so!)

To read about life in the tropical paradise of Pohnpei check out Kaselehlie!

To view previously posted tree pictures, click here or here or here.

A Post in Four Parts

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

I have a LOT to share today, and I'm going to put it all in one post: a post in four parts.

PART 1: NEW VALENTINE'S TRADITION

Move over Christmas stockings! My youngest son -- whose "love language" is definitely "giving and receiving of gifts" -- has come up with a new holiday tradition: Family Valentine's Bags.

For the last few days we have had lunch-sack sized brown paper bags scotch-taped to the wall of our living room, one for each of us, for the insertion of Valentine's gifts (as bags got heavy they fell, but that problem could be solved by more and more -- and more and more -- -- and more and MORE scotch tape!).

We have done this for a couple of years now, and I think it is here to stay in our household. Perhaps others of you will want to add this to your holiday traditions.

PART 2: SURPRISE!!

Hello baby!!

I found out today that my "nephew to be" is a "niece to be" -- as far as can be told right now. Best wishes you guys! You are in our thoughts and prayers daily!

PART 3: IN OTHER NEWS

Well, it really is true that people who choose to do stupid things blow it for others.

My son who is a freshman in high school has had bus service -- to within a bit less than a mile of our home -- all year. In the last few weeks more kids than usual have been riding the bus. One of these students, a girl, was misbehaving so badly and would not obey the bus driver at all to the point that the bus driver had to turn the bus around, return to school, and radio ahead to have school officials there to meet her and escort her off the bus. Now, to reduce the number of students riding (and get rid of her and the few problem students who have recently begun riding), a strict three-mile policy is being enforced. That means only students who live 3 miles or further from the school have bus service.

The policy has actually always been "on the books" but had not been enforced, as the bus was quite empty, and there had been no problem until recently. Now that this girl and a small number of others have chosen to be a problem, the policy will be VERY strictly enforced.

We live 3.1 miles from the main entrance of the school, so we should still have bus service, right?

Wrong.

The official measuring is being done from the "nearest 'safe' entrance" to the school from a student's home. According to the bus service, which sent out a truck to measure the mileage from our home today, we live 2.96 miles from the "nearest 'safe' entrance" -- and NO, they don't round up.

This "nearest 'safe' entrance" is actually not an entrance if you are coming from our home. There is a median dividing the road, which means that particular driveway cannot be entered from this direction. In other words, it is not actually an "entrance" from where we live. There is no crosswalk near this "safe entrance," and there is no sidewalk on the school-side of that road -- a very busy road, I might add. To cross from the other side to this entrance, my son would have to jaywalk, because it is also not at a corner. I'm wondering by whose definition this is "safe."

The bus service has let us know this is the city's problem for not putting in a round-about or crosswalks and gave us numbers to call the city (yeah, I'm sure the city is going to claim responsibility and put in an expensive round-about right away upon receiving our call!). When a student is hit by a car, I think there is going to be enough problem to go around -- and if that does happen, finger-pointing is not going to fly with the public.

All this thanks to the girl who was being a problem on the bus (whatever happened to disciplining the person/s who is/are being a problem rather than making others pay a price?). Her problem is now a problem for many.

What a pain.

Hopefully this problem, whomever it belongs to, will not go beyond merely being a "pain" to actually meaning injury or worse to a student.

PART 4: BACK TO "REAL"ITY

My spring semester began today, so I am back to reality - specifically "Real Analysis II" affectionately known as "Real 2." (See below for a snippet from my notes today; I put this part of the post at the bottom, because I was afraid it would scare people off if I put it at the top.)

Another aspect of this semester will be doing a lot of reading and research and writing a book length manuscript in my class "Mathematical Logic and the Arts." I'm going to be plenty busy this semester . . . but good busy!

Out of the Mouths of "Babes"

This morning after church I saw two girls, somewhere between ages 6 and 8, walk arm in arm onto the sidewalk from the grass area.

I gleaned quite a practical fashion tip as one said to the other in an advisory tone:

"On Sundays when you plan to jump on the grass after church, you really shouldn't wear high heels."

God's Language

"Philosophy is written in this grand book - I mean the universe - which stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it."

"Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe."

(quotes: Galileo Galilei 1564-1642)

(photo: Heidi 1987 Battle Creek, MI)

Pay it Forward

This goes from silly to serious, but it has a point. I don't know how to write about it without stringing all these thoughts together, so hang on for the ride!

A dear friend of mine traveled to England in the fall. She knows what an anglophile I am, and when she returned home she sent me an email with a photo attached. I downloaded the attachment with great anticipation. I assumed it would be a picture of Westminster Abbey or some other particular cathedral or castle that I love - or perhaps the home of one of my favorite authors. The following picture was what I opened:

WHAT?!

When I first opened it I was shocked - no castle? no cathedral? not even a hedgerow? A car?! Then I looked more closely. Clearly she is reading my posts and knows how special the Azores are to me! It's such a cool thing to have friends who really know you and pick up on it when something is special to you, even when they are not with you - even something as obscure as a taxi in England with advertising for the Azores on it!

I was touched.

This surprise of a picture brought to mind two more serious things that have touched me very deeply this year. One of these is that while this friend was in England, she lit a candle for me in Westminster Abbey and prayed for me, remembering a burden I've long carried. Another dear friend visited Israel last year and wrote my name on a slip of paper and put it in the wailing wall also with a prayer for full freedom for me.

Both have made me feel my burden lessened by their care and carrying it with me and bringing it before God for me in very special ways.

I'm using a lot of words, but these actions have touched my soul beyond the ability of my words to express.

As these have come to mind, I have a strong sense of wanting to "pay it forward." I want to take what they have done for me and pass it on by doing the same for others. I want to remember those in my life who are carrying burdens of any kind, to think of them, and to remember them before God, and, in so doing, to help them carry their burden.

If you are someone I know of who is carrying a burden, know that I am thinking of you in this way and remembering you before God in my prayers.

If you feel so lead, I'd like to ask you to consider "paying it forward" for others too. What a precious thing we can do for each other!

On the Lighter Side

I taught him to play Magic before he could read the cards. He now regularly bests me at the game. I taught him to play chess when he was 4. At 14 he is now a far superior player then I ever was or will be. My last hold-out was my record time solving the Rubik's Cube. I can no longer solve one at all, but when they first came out in the 1980's, my record time was one minute fifteen seconds. As of yesterday, my oldest son has bested me there as well with a time of one minute flat (and he is improving daily!). Kudos to you Anthony!

Themes and Variations (Commentary)

There were a couple of collaborative poems that particularly caught my attention that I will be commenting on as promised.

One of these is a variation on Line One:

I am not a tree with my root in the soil,
Nor am I an ostrich with my head in the sand
But rather the clay's form from the potter's toil
Demonstrating the power and creativity of the potter's hand.

What caught my attention is that the outcome of this poem is a celebration of life as created by God. Surprisingly the "seed" here came from a poem celebrating death. The first line is by Sylvia Plath. Her poem begins as follows: "I am vertical, but I would rather be horizontal. I am not a tree with my root in the soil." The second to last line is: "And I shall be useful when I lie down finally." Sadly, she accomplished lying down finally and horizontally by her own hand on February 11, 1963 at the age of 30.

Given the origin of this first line of this poem, I was amazed at how it was translated from a poem celebrating death to a poem celebrating life.

All of the starting lines I gave in this collaborative project were from published works, references for which you can find in the comments section of my last post. For the most part I chose lines out of the middle of poems so they would not be familiar, because my project required that I have these created as blindly as possible.

Another result I wish to comment on began with a line from T.S. Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. I LOVE the ending of this poem, so I could not resist using one of the lines, even though I was afraid it might be familiar. I just had to see what would become of mermaids singing. Here is the end of Eliot's poem from which I took the line:

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.

We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

(Whether or not you understand what you just read - and I'm not so sure I do, take a moment to read it again just for its music; read it aloud. It can be quite haunting in a lovely way if you allow yourself to take it in for its music alone.)

As I said, I just had to see what people would do with the line about the mermaids. Here are two of the results:

I have heard the mermaids singing each to each
And cannot rid the sound from my head.
Though to do so ought to be within reach
I choose to watch TV instead


I have heard the mermaids singing each to each
And cannot rid the sound from my head.
Like crashing waves upon a beach
What is done and what is said.

Regarding the first variation, I wasn't sure what to think when I received the concluding line about TV. At first it felt sarcastic - which is fine, this was all free game, but when it was all put together, it reminded me of a poem by Auden called The Labyrinth, which speaks of trying to figure out this maze called life. At the end of the poem, the protagonist looks up at the sky out of the tall hedge maze and wishes he were a bird to whom such thoughts must seem absurd. Sometimes we get so messed up trying to figure life out, we really do have to take a break and just sit down and watch TV! (Or look at nature and wish we were birds!)

Regarding the second, Auden comes to mind as well. The last line contains the words done and said. There is a line elsewhere in Auden where he says, "Sighs for follies said and done twist our narrow days." I'd always thought of mermaid's voices as being melodic, but here I think they are singing a cacophony of frustrating memories of what what the "author" and others have done and said - painful memories of things done and said that just won't stop crashing in the mind like waves crashing on the beach.

OK, maybe it is time to go watch some TV :-)

Once again, my thanks for all who participated in this collaborative effort. I'm impressed with you all!

Themes and Variations (Full Results)

These are the results of the collaborative poetry effort of my last post. From the 10 lines I posted as seeds, 10 poems and 14 variations grew.

If you contributed a line, see if you can find it and read the final result containing your line.

Each of the ten initial lines is from a published work. See if you can guess the author. Answers are in the comments section.

In a few days I'll post comments on a couple of the following that have some special qualities. Again, my thanks for your help on this project!

ONE

I am not a tree with my root in the soil,
Nor am I an ostrich with my head in the sand
But rather the clay's form from the potter's toil
Demonstrating the power and creativity of the potter's hand.

I am not a tree with my root in the soil,
Nor am I an ostrich with my head in the sand
But rather the clay's form from the potter's toil
Be something he carefully pondered and planned.

I am not a tree with my root in the soil,
Nor am I an ostrich with my head in the sand
But a derrick bursting with oil
Not to be held in one’s hand.

TWO

At times you sink, you fall
At times you are upheld
At all times you can hear him call
My strength and power with yours to weld

At times you sink, you fall
At times you are upheld
like Churchhill or DeGaulle
Great men by greater forces felled.

THREE

Bells that toll across the meadows
Flutes that pipe the Shepherds home
Can also call archers to their bow
And call the dead from beneath their loam

Bells that toll across the meadows
Flutes that pipe the Shepherds home
Sheep that bleat each for their fellows
Are drawn together as they roam.

Bells that toll across the meadows
Flutes that pipe the Shepherds home
Can also call archers to their bow
The ladies and gentlemen stand in a row.

Bells that toll across the meadows
Flutes that pipe the Shepherds home
Can also call archers to their bow
And that concludes this telephone poem.

FOUR

Earth does not understand her child
For her child is not her own but God’s
He made them all, both tame and wild
He made us all, the normals and odds.

FIVE

The Truth’s superb surprise
Is hidden like the noon day sun
No matter the effort or how many tries
He always manages to get his work done.

The Truth’s superb surprise
Is hidden like the noon day sun
No matter the effort or how many tries
It can do naught but shout to us: Run!

The Truth’s superb surprise
Is hidden like the noon day sun
When threatening clouds its glow denies
And former brightness now is done.

SIX

You jumped because you feared to fall, and thought
Let us meet death on our own terms
With each breath, our life dearly bought
Oneness with all life, even worms.

You jumped because you feared to fall, and thought
Let us meet death on our own terms
knowing it is what we sought
But that knowledge was filled with vile germs.

SEVEN

To see in death sleep, and in the sunset
The beginning of a the nightmare time
Of doubt and fear and cold regret
The time has come to end this rhyme.

To see in death sleep, and in the sunset
The beginning of a the nightmare time
The blind journey through the upset
and find tranquility most sublime.

EIGHT

One luminary clock against the sky
Ticking away our final days
As heaven waits for us, we all must die
But first we must come through life’s maze.

NINE

I had grasped God’s garment in the void
To touch the hem my soul to heal
And smooth the wrinkles when annoyed
And keep my heart on an even keel.

I had grasped God’s garment in the void
And marked it with my painted hands
That the towers of men would be destroyed
And sifted as the desert sands.

I had grasped God’s garment in the void
In hope, nay faith, that He would hold
Lest all my labors be destroyed
And turn to dust and not to gold.

TEN

I have heard the mermaids singing each to each
And cannot rid the sound from my head.
Though to do so ought to be within reach
I choose to watch TV instead.

I have heard the mermaids singing each to each
And cannot rid the sound from my head.
Though to do so ought to be within reach
I’m hopelessly daunted by the chasm ahead.

I have heard the mermaids singing each to each
And cannot rid the sound from my head.
Like crashing waves upon a beach
What is done and what is said.

PLEASE HELP!

Mission accomplished!

HUGE THANKS to all who participated in helping me complete this part of my winter term project. Many of you commented that it was fun - how cool is that? My work gets done and others have a good time!

In case this is your first look at this post, and you have no idea what I'm talking about - what was going on was a collaborative poetry effort similar to the children's game telephone (where one child whispers something in another's ear and that one passes it on, and you see at the end how different the saying comes out!). At each stage there was a line from a poem, but the rest of the poem was hidden, and I asked people to add the next line knowing only the prior one.

Twenty-four poems were created out of 10 "starter" lines that I put up.

Responses came from Norway and Micronesia and within the US from California, Michigan, Illinois and Massachusetts!

If you're interested in seeing the full results, check back in a few days. I'll put up two posts about this - one with all the poems and one with just a couple of poems with comments. As a teaser for now, here are two samples:

I have heard the mermaids singing each to each
And cannot rid the sound from my head
Like crashing waves upon a beach
What is done and what is said.


I am not a tree with my root in the soil,
Nor am I an ostrich with my head in the sand
But a derrick bursting with oil
Not to be held in one's hand.

Update

Wow! We feel so loved! We received an amazing amount of prayer support and hugs and just felt surrounded by love during and after David's medical issue last week.

David is doing GREAT! We're continuing to pursue testing and the best possible preventative treatments, but, other than that, life is going on entirely as usual.

David is appreciating all the extra hugs from friends, family and coworkers but seems a little embarrassed about all the attention and is really downplaying the whole thing.

There is one thing, however, that he is playing to the hilt! The doctor told him he would be experiencing short term memory loss. He has already been exploiting this information, and I think that is just going to be his blanket excuse for forgetfulness for the rest of his life!

"I'm sorry, I don't remember that. I've had a stroke, and I have short term memory issues."

He'd better not try using that excuse when our anniversary rolls around - especially not with our twentieth this year!!

Mixed Blessing

It was hard to know how to title this post. I considered “Gratitude.” I considered “Pondering Life.” These fit too, but we’ve certainly experienced a "mixed blessing" this day.

We have been reminded of how precious life is.

We have been reminded of how quickly life can change.

We’ve had quite a scare.

We’ve seen many blessings.

This morning my husband woke me up just after 5am. He wanted to let me know he was going to drive to the hospital. When he told me what was going on – one arm entirely numb, dizziness and a sense of being too warm – I suggested I should drive him. As he continued to dress I made a call for him to get someone to lead his morning Bible study, but before I could complete the call he collapsed onto the bed, arms spread wide, saying, “Call 911. Call 911.” Then he got really quiet.

Thus began our day. It was a day of worry and of grace.

The firemen and paramedics arrived very quickly. I waited for a friend to arrive to remain with our kids who were still in bed; thankfully they had not been awakened to witness and become distressed by what was going on. I then headed to the ER. Everyone there was great – kept us informed, got a series of tests (6 of them!) started right away, were very thorough. The doctor was fantastic – kind, informative, attentive, concerned, personable.

As the morning progressed at ER and the numbness receded, my husband began to think it was a fluke, a pinched nerve or something, and he began to feel a bit silly for having gone in. This was not the case, however, as we soon we found out to our profound amazement. He had experienced a TIA (transient ischemic attack), a “mini-stroke” or “warning stroke.” What we also found out from the CT scan is that he has had a stroke in the past – a stroke that did damage but one which he did not feel and that had not impacted any functioning, so we were totally unaware of it. This was all rather shocking.

We’d never heard of TIA’s before. We now know that they are somewhat common among the elderly but particularly concerning in someone this young, especially someone with no risk factors – no smoking, no family history of stroke, no hypertension, no obesity, etc. He will need to take precautions to prevent possible future occurrence of stroke, and we know that if he experiences numbness or dizziness in the future that he needs to get to the hospital right away.

Tomorrow we will receive more information as he sees his primary doctor.

On the one hand, it was a very scary experience, and it is of concern to know that he has some degree of risk for stroke (and has actually had a stroke in the past) even though he is only 41. On the other hand, we have seen many blessings of God in this day. The timing could not have been better. It happened while he was awake rather than asleep. The numbness came on after he’d been up for a while; had he woken up with it he may have thought he had just slept on his arm in strange position and not taken the numbness as seriously. It happened at a time when the kids were spared the distress of witnessing our living room full of firemen and paramedics and seeing Dad wheeled out on a gurney and leaving in an ambulance. It happened at home, and we live very near the hospital. It did not happen when he was driving. We were upheld by many forms of support both tangible and intangible and were reminded of the love surrounding us and what fantastic, caring friends we have. The testing that he was given alerted us to a problem that was already there but that we would have had no other way of knowing about. This served as a warning that has given us the knowledge we need to be able to take precautions. This has reminded us too of what I listed above – how quickly life can change – how precious life is – how precious we are to each other - and how we need to remember that every day.

My posts don't usually contain such deeply personal events, but I think today calls for it.

I am so thankful for my husband and for God’s sustaining grace in this day.

Shul

I have always loved old stone walls such as the one in the photograph below. I love the hollows left by the stones that are missing. There is a beauty there, and the beauty is in the history and the meaning, the fact that something WAS there and made an impression. It is an emptiness that is not empty; the emptiness itself signifying something. The hollows always leave me wondering, “What was the color of the rock that was there? What was its texture? Whose hand placed it there? When did that hand place it there? When did it fall out and why? What was this wall built to keep out or to keep in?” With all of this in mind, I took the following photo, which I entitled “Shul.”

"Shul" is a Tibetan word defined as “an impression – a mark that remains after that which made it has passed by – a footprint, for example." From what I understand, it can also be used to describe such things as the hollow in the ground where a house once stood, the spaces worn in a rock where a river runs in flood, the indentation in the grass where a deer slept the night. Shul is an impression of something that used to be there, but this hollow signifies meaning rather than emptiness.

Mathematician's Resolution

Consume less

Forth into the New Year

As I move forward into the new year, these are the verses in my mind:

"The LORD replied, 'My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.' Then Moses said to him, 'If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.'" Exodus 33:14-15

"Make your tent bigger; stretch it out and make it wider. Do not hold back." Isaiah 54:2a