Terrapin Station

Stock market simulation

When I was in junior high school, we did a stock market simulation.  It was, I think, a full-day exercise...we were all in a big lecture room and we were given a certain amount of stocks, then we could buy and sell during the day.  "News reports" came via teachers throughout the exercise.

The president got sick at some point, but I held on.  Other bad things (I can't remember) happened, but I hung on. 

The market tanked, and I lost everything.

I remember thinking, "I should have known, when X and Y happened, to sell out."  That was clearly the lesson of the day.

What was the lesson of yesterday? 

I heard it on NPR from Rep Jim Marshall of Georgia:  "Oh, my God."

Did you see it coming? 

Over the last few years, DH and I have watched the proliferation of McMansions in the areas surrounding us, and said to each other, "Where are all these people coming from, and where are they getting the money for these houses!?"

We drew back in disbelief several years ago at the news that a family of our acquaintance, who had recently entered their second bankruptcy, was building a new home in a master planned community.  "That can't be true..." we said to each other, "how could they get a mortgage?"  It was.  They did.  And here we all are, together on this merry go round gone mad.

My question:  What were we supposed to have done differently?  In the past years I've paid off my sizable consumer debt, with the excellent assistance of Consumer Credit Counseling Service and the support and encouragement of my excellent spouse.  My husband has built a thriving contracting business.  I work in education. 

Were we not paying attention?  Were there smoke signals?  Why is the "I should have known" not so very clear as that time when I was 13? 

When is this simulation over, and when can we stop spinning?

Recipe Review: Hungry Girl Veggie Lasagna

I made this tonight.  Recipe can be found over here. 

Verdict:  I like it.  (I like most anything that I can eat a huge honking amount of.)

However, if I were making it again, I would steam the veggies (they are pretty tough in my version) and add a lot more tomato sauce.  But then, I always want "extra sauce" instead of "extra cheese" on my pizzas. 

In fact, just tomato sauce & good chewy bread sound perfectly deeeelicious to me.  Another reason why I should really be living at Songbird's house. 

Oh...and don't make this for my husband.  Because, I thought he wouldn't like it.  And I was right.  He got Stouffer's lasagna instead. 

Oh.  I drank a beer with dinner prep.  Now I'm grumpy.  When will I ever learn?  Fortunately, I have an RGBP board meeting in a few minutes.  Good for what ails ya. 

Going to make a cup of tea for the meeting.  Later.

Sunday

Great sermon on Sunday by our intern, Mary, on the Gospel.  She really called us out on the times we SAY yes to Jesus, but do not do what we have said we would do.  Like the second son in the parable. 

We sang an anthem that I was NOT ready for, and our soprano section was minimal in rehearsal.  Yikes.  Fortunately the amazing Duchess showed up and we pulled it off.  Somehow. 

I worked on the sock heel flap, then went to afternoon Jazzercise.  Afterward, Ken and I drove to Dallas for a motorcycle ride, but the group was going faster than he was comfortable with on Central Expressway, so we dropped out early on and took our own ride.  (He is a very good and prudent motorcyclist.)

We drove by the Chevron station where we had our first "date" - I watched him paint it when it was the only (new) thing on Hwy 121 for miles.  Now it's one of many, many commercial locations.  No more farm fields out there. 

Stopped at Red Neck Heaven for some beers and had dinner at Red Lobster.  Now I have a headache, but it was worth it! 

Birds

God is always showing me things with birds.  Funny, that. 

Or maybe it's that when I take time to watch the birds, is when God can get through to me.

This morning I was driving to church thinking about change - how in some ways I am ready for a change, while in some ways I have lately had quite enough change for the next year or so, thanks!

And I looked out over Lake Lewisville, and all these birds were swirling around.  Ducks, stopping off in a migration pattern, I think. 

And God said:  Change is always coming.  It's just a matter of whether you are paying attention.

Today - the plan

• Early exercise class. 

• Stop at pond.  Listen to birds.  Watch red-ear slider turtles watch me, then disappear, then come back to watch some more. 

 

• Laundry, lots of it

• Dishes

• Kitchen cleanup

• Clean out bedroom closet - whatever I can accomplish in an hour with breaks. 

• Work on the sock heel while listening to the Compline CD Sarah laid on us (awesome!)

• Listen to NPR

• Study music for Choral Evensong next weekend. 

• Check the Preacher Party-consider the scriptures on my own.

• Check blogs

• DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION! in the office at the Vicar's Great News!!!  I had lunch with her yesterday beforehand, and may I say, she went into it with the awesomest of attitudes...and got the awesomest of news!   God is good all the time. 

• Shopping:  Buy new speakers for my computer (finally!) because the old ones really are blown. 

• Buy teeth cleaning equipment for the little boy dog.  We - shall - see - how well that activity works at home.  Unfortunate:  he hates to have his teeth touched, looked at, considered in any way.  In my favor:  he only weighs 10 lbs, so it's  fairly easy to impose my will upon him. 

• Finish reading An Unquiet Mind by Kay Redfield Jamison, a clinical psychologist psychiatrist (Thanks, Zorra!) who has bipolar illness. 

• Consider Halloween costumes for a party on All Saints (Nov. 1) to which we have been invited.  Ken already knows what he wants to be, so now I just need a costume that goes with.  Or, maybe not!

Smirky McSmirkington

I watched the debate last night. 

I was very struck by the fact that McCain would not look at Obama. 

Jim Lehrer said, several times early on, that he wanted the candidates to talk to each other (it was, after all, a debate) and they sort of did, eventually; but John McCain seemed to be refusing to engage with Barack Obama.  Also seemed to me that he smirked during each comment by his opponent. 

I thought it made him look petulant and arrogant.  And kind of sad.

To say nothing of his dismissive rejoinders ("Senator Obama doesn't understand...", lather, rinse, repeat)

To my comment about "McCain won't look at Obama" my husband opined, "He just hates him.   And I think he's trying not to get angry and say something he'll regret." 

What kind of a leader would that make him? whether leader of a nation, a work team, or a LuckyDog stand?

I am disappointed in this failure of of intelligent, classy debate engagement. 

What came in the mail yesterday

You can see it at this site.  Please be sure to view both sides.  :) 

Friday Five: Johnny Appleseed!

Singing Owl says at RevGals:  Raise your hand if you know that today is Johnny Appleseed Day! (I did not know this!!)

September 26, 1774 was his birthday. "Johnny Appleseed" (John Chapman) is one of America's great legends. He was a nurseryman who started out planting trees in western New York and Pennsylvania, but he was among those who were captivated by the movement west across the continent.

As Johnny traveled west (at that time, the "West" was places like Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois) he planted apple trees and sold trees to settlers. With every apple tree that was planted, the legend grew. A devout Christian, he was known to preach during his travels. According to legend, Johny Appleseed led a simple life and wanted little. He rarely accepted money and often donated any money he received to churches or charities. He planted hundreds of orchards, considering it his service to humankind. There is some link between Johny Appleseed and very early Arbor Day celebrations.

So, in honor of this interesting fellow, let's get on with the questions!

1. What is your favorite apple dish? (BIG BONUS points if you share the recipe.)  I don't like cooked apples...there is a story which I will not share.  Suffice it to say, childhood bad experience.  It's convenient to be able to buy my sweetie one of his favorite desserts, Dutch apple pie, which I am not even tempted to touch! 

 

So my favorite apple "dish"...must be Apple, Carrot and Raisin salad, which my mom used to make us. 

 

Recipe: 

1 lg. apple, chopped
      2 lg. carrots, shredded
      1/4 c. raisins
      2 tbsp. mayonnaise (I use Light or fat free these days)

 

Combine apple, carrots and raisins in bowl. Add mayonnaise; mix well. Chill until serving time.

2. Have you ever planted a tree? If so was there a special reason or occasion you can tell us about?

I planted a redbud tree at my first home (a duplex) here in Denton.  Denton is "The Redbud Capitol of Texas" and we have an annual Arbor Day festival sponsored by Keep Denton Beautiful called the Denton Redbud Festival.  I bought the tree there and my neighbor kindly dug the hole for its planting. 

 

Of course, I've moved away from that place, but I like to drive by and see that the tree is still doing well! 

 

3. Does the idea of roaming around the countryside (preaching or otherwise) appeal to you? Why or why not?  Roaming, yes, but only for brief times.  This bird likes to fly home pretty often. 

4. Who is a favorite "historical legend" of yours?  Pope Joan, the putative female pope of the 9th century.  There's a grand novel about it by Donna Woolfolk Cross.  I participated in a reading group that read it, and the author joined our discussion by speaker phone! 

5. Johnny Appleseed was said to sing to keep up his spirits as he traveled the roads of the west. Do you have a song that comes when you are trying to be cheerful, or is there something else that you often do?  I have a wonderful little song that I like to sing in particulary trying times.  It's a setting of the lines from Habbakuk and the music is this crazily hoppy, boppy, cheerful little ditty.  I've tried to find it on the web/Youtube and I can't, but here are the lyrics:

 

I will rejoice in the Lord alway

I will rejoice in the Lord alway

Though the fig trees are barren, and the cattle all die,

And the crops have failed and the fields empty lie,

And though He slay me, even though He slay me,

Yet I'll rejoice in the Lord alway. 

 

Repeat, using "sing to the Lord,"  "dance to the Lord," "shout to the Lord" and anything else you can think of.  Singing this out loud will cause people to think you have lost it. 

 

Millenium Development Goals - Blogging Day

Despite my false start (a rehearsal!) for this on August 25, today is the REAL DAY!

(Click Here to Add Your Blog!)

What do you know about the Millienium Development Goals?  What I have learned was not learned at church...my church has not addressed these issues as such. 

I've learned about it from teh Internets; from Brian McLaren's books; from friends. 

Here are the goals:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability,
8. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief.

If you follow this link to the Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation page, you can find a great deal more information and links. 

I have heard criticism of TEC's national emphasis on the MDG's.  "We are supposed to be bringing people to Christ, not doing social services!" they say.

It seems quite clear to me that the way to bring people to Christ is to serve them (as he did), in his name and for his sake.  Going out and grabbing them by the neck and saying, "Convert to our great religion!" smacks of the Crusades, dunnit?

Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no feet but yours, no hands but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which the compassion
of Christ is to look out on a hurting world.
Yours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good.
Yours are the hands with which he is to bless all now.
--Teresa of Avila--

Farewell

Colleen, one of our matriarchs, died on Monday.  She'd had a stroke a few weeks ago and was improving...then a seizure...then this. 

The Requiem will be next Tuesday evening.  Tonight the choir rehearsed Rutter's "Lux Aeterna" and an "Ave Maria" we know well for the service.

Another soprano said she had promised Colleen that she would wear red high heels at her funeral...we are all invited to join in. 

Colleen "talked my ear off" on the first day I visited the church.  I was so grateful for it! feeling very lost.  She never met a stranger.  I suppose she is telling them in Paradise just how the cow ate the cabbage. 

Rest well, friend.