Friday, February 06, 2009

Friday Open Thread

Waldo has been found. (Picture taken by Daughter's friend at last weekend's anime convention.)


Also...

...love us like a son and daughter. And never smell of barley water.

When I heard those words in the song from Mary Poppins, I had no clue what barley water was. Something British children didn't like the smell of, apparently.  I thought maybe it was some sort of cooking by-product. It wasn't until a week or so ago that I discovered it was actually sold in stores, in bottles.



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Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Sen. Daschle has removed his name; SUPPORT HOWARD DEAN!


Photo is from this site with recent article on this subject.

Okay Dean People!  This is time critical!  Therefore I have posted this now,
but please do not miss Renee's midday front page (below) about Blogroll Amnesty Day!



PLEASE CONTACT PRESIDENT OBAMA TODAY

Remember that Howard Dean would have accepted this position had he been asked

Email President Obama (limited to 500 characters):
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/

Here's what listener sent:

Dear President Obama, As Senator Daschle has withdrawn his name, I beseech you to again consider, and nominate, Gov. Howard Dean as Secretary of Health & Human Services. As a Vermonter, I am well aware of Dr. Dean's capability, honesty, bipartisanship and fabulous leadership on healthcare issues. As a blogger I am aware of his large following of actively engaged Americans willing to donate resources and energy. I am grateful for your leadership and keep you & your family in my prayers.

HERE IS WHERE TO CALL (It is busy; keep trying!)

White House Phone Numbers

Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461

TTY/TDD

Comments: 202-456-6213
Visitors Office: 202-456-2121

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Blogroll Amnesty Day 2009

On Saturday afternoon, I received the following e-mail from Jon Swift. Had every intention of reading it right away when I got home, but after spending a long day trying to keep up with my 13 year old daugther and her best friend at Ohayocon, I was too mentally and physically exhausted to remember anything by the time I got home. Anyway, better late than never, I hope...

Please join me, skippy, Blue Gal and a number of our friends in celebrating Blogroll Amnesty Day this year. The official holiday is February 3 but we'll be celebrating from now until Tuesday. Blogroll Amnesty Day is a day when we celebrate smaller blogs by linking to a few that deserve some recognition. Here are a few links explaining what this holiday is about:

Blogroll Amnesty Day Redux


Bad Days Are Here Again

Blogroll Amnesty Day is Next Tuesday

And here is some more background if you're not familiar with the history of this day:

Blogroll Amnesty Day

If you post something about the day email me or skippy at skippybkroo@aol.com and let us know.

Happy Blogroll Amnesty Day!

Jon Swift

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Monday, February 02, 2009

C A N D L E M A S



Every year on Candlemas I hand dip candles.
It takes about 100 dippings to make one pair.
This is a tradition my family has done since our early days of home schooling.
Now that the children are grown, I have a friend come over or work alone.
This year I'm on my own. I don't mind at all.   
How many pair do you think I can make today?


According to an old English song:


If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.

According to an old Scottish couplet:

If Candlemas Day is bright and clear,
There'll be twa (two) winters in the year.
Another variation of the Scottish rhyme:

If Candlemas day be dry and fair,
The half o' winter to come and mair,
If Candlemas day be wet and foul,
The half of winter's gone at Yule.

Pennsylvania's Earliest German settlers recited:

For as the sun shines on Candlemas Day,
So far will the snow swirl until the May.

American 19th century farmers, recited:

Groundhog Day - Half your hay.


Anybody got a Farmer's Almanac?  :-)


COMMENTS



At 2:00am on February 2nd listener prognosticated that
Punxsutawney Phil would NOT see his shadow today
thus declaring an early Spring.

So there will not be 6 more weeks of winter,
only a month and a half!

Was listener a good weather prophet?  
Click here to find out at Punxsutawney Phil's website


COMMENTS

Sunday, February 01, 2009

Dare 2...make things harder for the rest of us

While at the anime convention with Daughter, I received this message from Demetrius:

A couple of nice Christian kids came to the house with the "Dare To Share" program to ask 1) if I had any canned goods we'd like to donate, 2) if I had any prayer requests, and 3) if I died tonight did I know where I'd go... I almost set (our vocally atheistic son) upon them. But, even I'm not *that* mean.
And then I saw some signs at the convention center and realized that Dare 2 Share was the "Christian group" that was holding a convention in the same space. One of these Dare 2 guys was talking to a young woman at the anime convention who was playing chess with anyone who wanted to play. Though, this was before I knew anything about the group. The guy was telling her about Jesus, but making the point that he's "not one of those Christians who will tell you you're going to Hell" and she responded something to the effect that he was less creepy than some religious people she'd encountered. After the guy left, I quietly commented to her that she most likely encounters plenty of religious people who seem even less creepy because they don't come right out and tell you what they are.

More thoughts on this later, but I'll leave you with this. Apparently, we had been warned--if only we knew where to look:

Dear Columbus,

Here we come. We know you’ve had ice and snow storms earlier this week. We know you can be one cold city. But, through God’s power, we will not be stopped. We expect somewhere between 5,000-6,000 teenagers this weekend no matter what you bring weatherwise. These teens will melt your ice with their worship and set your streets ablaze with evangelism. They are invincible to your temperatures through the white hot might of their Savior. We heard the sun is supposed to be shining this weekend. Either way the Son will be shining through thousands of teenagers.

Get ready. Here comes the heat!

Sincerely,

The Dare 2 Share Crew
Update: Elsewhere, I was asked how the Dare 2 Share people make it harder, so I'll answer that question here as well. While Son has been a nonbeliever essentially from birth, my daughter used to go to church with me sometimes, and was in a church youth choir. At the moment she is "off" religion. I'm sure the reasons are many. I know that some of it is the usual "who am I, and what do I believe?" questions of adolescence. But it's at least in part due to some of the "in your face" type Christians she has encountered. She really doesn't want to talk about the subject at all right now, so I can't yet have a heart to heart with her about what I believe and why. But I do hope that the way I live my faith is registering on some level for her, and I hope that can eventually counteract the yuck factor that is currently associated with religion in her mind.

Oh, and I may as well add, something about this section that tells the kids how to evangelize to different "types" just rubs me the wrong way.

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