2007 in review

Grandmère looked back at her first year of blogging and that has prompted me to take a backward glance.
January 2007
Nor much blogging but photos taken at the end of December from the unusually heavy (for Albuquerque) snowfall we had last winter:

February 2007
Not much blogging here either but the rather severe strain to my left thumb led to musings on opposable digits and opposition. The conclusion:

So, I would have urged the Primates, had I the opportunity, to acknowledge that they see the Holy Spirit’s actions from differing perspectives and that though this may be painful it cannot be resolved at this time without violation of conscience on one side or the other. Since the violation of conscience, we should all be able to agree, is not of God, it cannot be our way forward. We must live in tension. It will make us all stronger and healthier in the long run and may well blow out some extraneous matter.

Let the Holy Spirit and the North Wind blow, my friends.

But do not submit your conscience to another. (2/20/2007)

March 2007
I did not blog in March and April, presumably too lost in writing fiction. But I was collecting clips from the internet each day.
Blueness reported on Daily Kos that 'Karl Rove has told the Washington Post that he is confident future presidents will embrace George II's doctrine of "preventive war," just as succeeding chief executives continued Harry Truman's Cold War policy of Soviet "containment."'

Lovely.

We were also still talking about the Niger forgeries and the role they played in the White House fabrications on Iraq and yellowcake uranium. And the brouhaha about Scooter Libby (who is not a good man, sorry).

April 2007
Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr., chief counsel for the Church Committee in 1975-76, wrote this in the Washington Post:

Never before in U.S. history, we believe, has a president so readily exploited a crisis to amass unchecked and unreviewed power unto himself, completely at odds with the Constitution. This departure from historical practice should deeply concern those in both parties who care for the Constitution.

Joe Sudbay noted this at Americablog:

Yesterday, House Democrats issued a subpoena to Condi Rice. They want some truthful answers about Iraq.

Condi's already lied repeatedly about the war, so it's probably no surprise that she doesn't want to go under oath to talk about Iraq. Yes, she's going to defy the subpoena:

May 2007
I republished my "Satan's Throne" series on Christ versus Caesar and I had a very weepy Pentecost.

My thanks to all who have served or will serve this country in our armed forces (and in all other capacities). To our troops now serving: you have love and respect, and even though the White House and far too many members of Congress have not given you the training, equipment, protection, benefits, and ongoing care that you need - not to mention leadership at the highest level and a mission and strategy worthy of your efforts - we who cry loudest for the Iraq occupation to end want you supported, cared for, and we look forward to welcoming you home.

June 2007
Even I am horrified at how long I rambled on about the draft (daft?) Anglican covenant. I rejoiced in my garden.

Well, there's nothing wrong with either of those two things. I love the landscape of New Mexico, its sparse and harsh beauty, the vast expanse of sky. I also love my little patch of flowers, fruit trees, vegetables, and herbs.

Thanks be to God for all growing things.

I was still rated PG-13.

July 2007
I began posting much more frequently. Dropped briefly to a "G" rating before bouncing back up to "R" and generally showed myself as opinionated as I know myself to be.

I finished my first novel. Still getting feedback from a few readers that I hope to incorporate in revising it. Then the scary and truly difficult past comes: looking for agents and publishers.

August 2007
I see silly quizzes and Simon and Garfunkel nostalgia popping up in the summer. Garden and food blogging and some travel nostalgia: Northumbria and St Petersburg. I'm calling for impeachment (expect that to last until the weasel is gone, preferably to The Hague).

September 2007
Iraq, museums, Anglicanism, tree mysticism, the beginning of three months of employment (just in the nick of time). By now I have become a total graphics addict and few are the posts without some visual. (When it's this easy, how can I not?)

May your inner trees flourish and give fruit and shade to those around you.

My list of collective nouns for churchoids:

An assembly of the faithful

A task force of deacons

An infestation of priests

A plague of bishops

A pestilence of primates

October 2007

I am reminded

daily and repeatedly—
silliness redeems

More poetry and the beginning of prince blogging
Constitution blogging and more silly quizzes

November 2007
Blogging seems more interactive. I am commenting more at other locations and more folks are commenting here. It becomes a lot more fun and one keeps discovering new friends.

More musings:

I am interested because by the time I was a senior in college I was putting everything I believed up for grabs except that Jesus was Lord and I was (and remain) his. All else was on the table for examination and potential rejection. Much of what I was taught did not survive. The essential parts of Christian faith (at least by my standards) remain and inform my approach to everything. I still preach from the Bible, use Jesus' life and teachings as my standard, am assertively trinitarian, and believe (thank God) in grace. Like Grandmère Mimi, I continue to desire personal holiness. I could provide a long list of what I have junked but aren't the essentials more important?

I have pretty much given up on Congress, having already written off the Excecutive and the Supreme Court. They, like all human institutions, are fallible, to put it mildly. I despair of the nation I was born in and love. I continue to rant and pray and interject silliness.

There are times when it all seems overwhelming.

I give thanks.

For the entire fabric of existence
I am grateful
For all of it
I am grateful

December 2007
Unemployed again. Advent thoughts (a lovely discipline, though I am glad I can go to bed now without having one ready for the next morning), more rants, more poems, more prayers, more graphics, more silliness. Wishing the Anglican Communion would either decide the Quadrilateral suffices or just blow itself up and get it over with. John-David unmasked. Still longing for the restoration of Democracy. Nothing new under the sun. Ready to move into a new year. Enjoying my online friends a great deal. Photos of roses, photos of last year's snow. Full circle.

Love to you all.
--the BB