Another foggy morning greeted the mountains this morning. The fog doesn't bother me except for those few times I am out early and the fog is set in making driving a little more tedious. You know more tedious than twists and turns and narrow mountain roads. I read a devotion several years back about fog and being thankful for the fog experience, not so much what fog hides and then reveals just fog. This morning I have another thankful and grateful reason for fog, it will cover up just for a bit all the new homes that will be built in the pasture, in the near future.
This post will be just some random thoughts, although that is pretty much what it is most of the time, but those times are usually thematic. Today, not so much.
A friend on FB, Pam, posted an article about Carole King turning 79 and the 50th anniversary of Tapestry, her album of music and words she authored. The article mentioned that King really doesn't have a singing voice but I never noticed that. Whenever I hear any songs from Tapestry, Fire and Rain by James Taylor and Rocky Mountain High, by John Denver, I am whisked away to musical memories from high school and college. Like Pam, Tapestry is a part of the sound track of my life. I wore out my original vinyl album, then got the CD and now have it in my Apple Library on my phone. How can Carole King be 79? Wow! Then if she is 79, then I am...still young, at least at heart.
Another friend, from the long ago, back in the day time, which is from the previous paragraph timeframe, so this might be thematic after all, anyway, my friend and I keep in contact via FB. But we, in the last few weeks, we have had some messaging and email conversations. She mentioned a revisited song that had meant a lot to her again. The song, I Want To Walk As A Child of the Light. It is from an album that Church of the Redeemer released in the early 1970s. I had the album transferred to CD many years ago and I put it on iTunes library, but several computers later, Apple won't let me listen to it. My friend Emily told me years ago, the music can be ordered from a church community in PA. So, I looked them up and the site is still like an early website construction, so I wasn't too sure this would work, but I ordered and received the CDs in the mail just a few days later. I've been listening to the CD, God's People Give Thanks while running errands. It is as if I'd been listening to it all the time over the years. The words came back easily. That album got me through a lot of dark days and many times it was as if I was in church. Well, liturgical church, which I really have a heart for and don't experience too often but relish those times I do. As the Baptist music has gone more contemporary, many times liturgical music in Episcopal churches has gone that way too. It looses something. Ya's got to have an organ playing those high holy church songs and hymns.
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Wednesdays seem to be some of the clearest and warmest days here recently. I've missed a lot of CBS because of the weather. This week I have gotten out and about twice, Tuesday had a haircut appointment. Being so close to Biltmore Park, I ran over there for a few minutes and then came on home. I had such a rough Buddy sleepless night on Monday that I came home and crashed. Even went to bed early, 9:00 pm. Yesterday, I didn't need to wear a jacket or gloves as I ran errands. Made the Goodwill drop off, then grocery shopping. After putting up groceries, I hit the road again going to the Post Office and then on a drive. Even with warmer temps a few icicles hung onto the rock, slowly melting along the river road. Truly a beautiful scene. When it is warmer, without a cutting wind, it is so much easier to take care of the outdoor chores. I am contemplating asking Mike to bring more stone like last year and finish up a few projects when we make that turn toward spring. Also, talking to him about planting a few trees for us as well.
Several books and some Twitter comments has me thinking about a book that I need to re-read. Leaving Church by Barbara Brown Taylor. The title expresses not how she left the church but how her approach to ministry changed. She saw that the same type of ministry she could do in her sleep, needed something, not meaning to but she was doing it by rote. She gives an example of how she tended to a wounded wild bird. She took care of it and when it was ready to fly and resume bird life, it didn't want to leave her. It didn't want to fly away. The wounded and then healed bird was an experience that helped the move to ministry that wasn't so predictable. Everything is so cyclical said the cynic who really fights being one. Predictable is rampant, consistency is difficult sometimes to see. Many times people or programs trying to be consistent are just so predictable. As the saying goes, we will see if this dog hunts, can be applied to catch phrases and definitions used by businesses and institutions. Like a laundry product, the advertising is in the vein of "new and improved." Wow, I feel really dumb, using an inferior laundry product, now. Oh well, there will always be spin and advertising and marketing campaigns but when they are rolled out with the thought of not respecting people's intelligence...
I also watched on the History Chanel, The Men Who Built America. Mainly, I watched the episodes on J P Morgan, Carnegie, and Rockefeller. They built their businesses in the time of monopolies. Low pay and unsafe work places seemed to be the hallmark of the electricity, steel and oil industry. The show made it clear that it was more of a competition between the three men on who could be the richest in America. The tie in toward the end episode I watched was the breaking up of Standard Oil made the way for Henry Ford to win his lawsuit to be able to produce cars an average person could afford. Mainly, this was on in the background but it didn't seem that the problems back in the early 1900s day, are no different than what we experience now. And the fact that several "disgraced" business leaders are featured as they comment on these three moguls, means this series was produced long ago.
The rain has been light this morning. The garage currently has almost a full house of kitties napping. Thankfully, the temps are not too cold. I've heard a few cat fights out back from cats I do not claim. Always the fight for being the dominant male. The black and white who used to win these fights was injured last year and although he has recovered, he isn't the dominant force he was. That means Frankie and Radley are fighting it out.
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