Heart thread - 9/18/2010

Our requests this evening come from our friend David@Montreal:

1) Frank called Mam today when she got home from morning service. Literally on the point of leaving for the hospital he was calling to ask for prayers- your prayers.
As you might remember, almost two months ago cancer cells started showing up again in Franks blood work and since then their incidence has seriously increased. As a result, Frank's going back into hospital to receive a new series of genetic transfusions from the original donor- a woman in Germany who is donating a second time.
Mam says Frank was in great spirits, reminding her I've got David's Giants praying for me, I'll be fine.
I'd ask your prayers for Frank and Carol, for his incredibly generous donor in Germany, and for the nurses and doctors treating my cherished cousin.
2) Before the end of the month, dear Kirstin will also be heading back into hospital for another aggressive round of treatment, in this her second battle with Cancer. What some of you may not know Kirstin is also working her way through the discernment process about her vocation to priestly ordination. I'd ask your prayer for both challenges please.
3)Prayers for Rosemary, Dave and their two sons please. Rosemary is currently experiencing some slight degree of remission at present though additional tumors have been discovered and she is suffering increased pain.
4) Prayer for Marc please- a remarkable young man who is in the throes of a Bell's Palsy diagnosis, as the doctors wrestle with trying to get it under control, to stop it from spreading or becoming life-threatening. (which I was surprised to learn it can be).Marc is in his early thirties, has taught English in Japan, returned to Montreal to ace an honors Masters in Oriental Studies, and now makes his life as a leather artist and book-maker. His partner, Alexis is a wonderful young woman who had achieved a reputation as an environmental installation artist in a half dozen countries.
5) Prayers for the people of Pakistan please- and for the people of Islam, that they will find their voices and own their grace to throw off the yokes of misogyny, tyranny and violence.

I also ask your continued prayers for my sister Shirley, for our friend Mark, and for the unemployed (which includes many of our online friends).



Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to thy never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing that thou art doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

--the BB

Le weekend

Yesterday was BBQ. Our monthly dinner group came to my place and I had a couple racks of ribs. We had appetizers, ribs, baked beans, salad, biscuits, and red velvet cake for dessert. Since I was not driving anywhere I had more wine than I usually do at these suppers. Lots of fun.

Church this morning followed by lunch with Bill and his father, Jack. I ask your continued prayers for Jack as the years finally catch up with him.

After lunch Bill and I talked about the Italian adventure next spring. Step one: set dates. Step two: flights purchased. Now to work on lodging, then what we want to see. Rome and Florence this trip. We moved Paris, Venice, and Ravenna to 2012.

Early this evening I was on my knees pulling weeds. I don't mind that I have to do this periodically but have I mentioned lately how much I hate HOAs? Yard Nazis, I swear. Do they really think I am going to let it grow into a jungle?

I am up later than I wish because I have been working on consolidating my notes on the hostages in my novel. I need to rewrite the scenes in which they appear. When I started this tale I had given them names and ages and not a lot more. Now I have their family trees and have determined at least their superficial physical appearance. As is the case with aristocratic families, there are lots of interrelationships. Since the tale is about a civil war, most families have members fighting on opposing sides. It gets very complex very quickly. I finally feel I can begin imagining scenes again. Whew.



Here are side-by-side charts of two hostages who are second cousins. They are also second cousins to one of the pretenders to the throne, though neither gives his allegiance to their cousin.

One of the joys of fantasy fiction, and probably of all fiction writing, is discovering more and more that you did not know when you started. Characters seem to reveal themselves to you, even if it is all springing from your own warped brain cells.

And now it is time to take my weary bod and aching knees to bed.

Sweet dreams, my playful platypi.

--the BB

no identity but that of a human being.

If there is an opportunity to piss off the xenophobes, by all means let me avail myself of it.

Boing Boing: Can you tell us a bit about how the video came together?

Hütz: It's a video we always wanted to make, because it completes our story. It's very autobiographical, and tells a story about eight people who are all immigrants, who came to pursue something in new york city. That's our biography. But on the other hand, like it coincides with the idealistic belief that people shall always be free to choose the place of their residence. This ties in to the whole movement of worldwide citizenship.

Boing Boing: Worldwide citizenship, what do you mean by that?

Hütz: It's a new idea for a lot of people, but for us it's an old idea. It's an antidote to the politics around the world that have dictated separation and division of communities. Immigration is a crucial part of this idea of world citizenship. In the past, immigration was mostly for economic reasons, or because of natural disaster or war. But now, more and more often it's an intellectual choice, and an important evolutionary process for the planet. More people are committed to being uniters of communities and cultures, to being people who transcend the understanding of different cultures, people who live by the idea that there is no identity but that of a human being.

[source]

h/t to Watertiger at Dependable Renegade

--the BB

Just saying

h/t to Digby

--the BB

100,000

At 7:42 MDT this blog received its 100,000th page view.

Chump change compared to the big blogs but still a bit of a kick for me.

--the BB

Quick update

Dear friends,

I have not dropped off the face of the earth. While I did have a chest cold a couple of weeks ago, that is passed. But I have not had the energy to rant, news to report, etc. beyond the trip to the Salt Missions on Labor Day. There have thus been few postings. My energies have gone in other directions and on several nights I had done something shocking and gone to bed very early. This may be one of those nights.

I do have one update on prayer requests. Jack, my father-in-law, has congestive heart failure setting in and, as he is in his mid-nineties and has other ailments, we are clearly entering the final phase of his life. I ask your prayers for him and for the family.

Praying for a whole host of folks here, but not listing them right now.

Still preaching once a month. Still researching the current novel. Getting my mind ready to rip out all the annuals and summer vegetables from the back yard. Still studying Italian, but now on my own. Rejoicing in the cooler weather as we begin to move toward autumn.

Sweet dreams, my rambunctious 'roo rats.

--the BB

More photos of Quarai

--the BB

Heart thread - 09/07/2010

We have been praying for Sister Ellie's little grandnephew James. There is wonderful news (but keep the prayers coming).

Aug 28 - Little James came through his eight hour heart surgery but is now on a ventilator as he can't breathe on his own. The word is that he will stay on it another two days and then they will try to wean him off.

Sept 6 - James got to come home from the hospital today. He still has to be closely monitored but everyone is so glad to be able to sleep at home. Thank you for all your prayers and kind words.

Let us also remember Susankay's friend Peggy with stage 4 lung cancer.

For Kirstin, who shares recent thoughts here.

For KJ's father on his final journey and for KJ and the family.

For those killed, injured, or displaced by floods and those who struggle to rebuild their lives. There have been floods in Pakistan, North Korea, Australia, and the Ethiopia.

More shots from today

Gran Quivira

Cactus

Me at Quarai

In my new bifocal sunglasses. The last pair were prescription sunglasses that I used all the time for driving in daylight but they were not bifocals. The new ones allow me to walk around and read while wearing sunglasses. (Those who have never worn bifocals probably cannot appreciate the ground not being where it should be.)

It was an incredibly beautiful day.

--the BB

An outing

Scarlet globe mallows at Gran Quivira

Yes, dear reader, we took advantage of a federal holiday for another day trip in New Mexico. This time is was a visit to the Salinas Pueblo Missions.

These are the ruins (now part of a national monument - see link above) of Franciscan missions built by the pueblo peoples who lived near natural salt beds (Las Salinas).

We went to see two of them today, at Quarai and Gran Quivira. We did not visit Abó.

Window in the church at Quarai

Bill takes in the view at Gran Quivira

The BB in the apse of the church at Quarai

More later.

--the BB

Rest in peace, Paul Conrad

How I enjoyed his political cartoons over the decades.

How little has changed since he drew the one above in 1999.

Rest in peace and rise in glory. And give my regards to Molly Ivins!

h/t to Digby

--the BB

Working my way back into writing

T's wife, Lady L., had not seen her husband for weeks. [H]er father-in-law, spoke words of encouragement but his pale gray eyes were so like his son's that L. only thought about T. all the more.

Hardly great prose but my heart really goes out to L. She married someone whose ambition turns him into a somewhat nasty piece of work. Worse, he might have been a decent enough guy if his sister's ambition were not the true driving force (think of a Lady Macbeth only a sister instead of a wife). L. bears the brunt of it as her husband rides of to ostensible glory and actual disaster. She cannot even turn to her own side of the family. Her father has just been killed, her sister is hostage to the family of another claimant to the throne, and her brother fights on behalf of yet another claimant.

Even I do not know for certain what will become of her.

Then again, I finally have picked up the threads of the tale (and it was one tangled skein, let me tell you).

--the BB

A word to the drug-addled gasbag

h/t to The Dependable Renegade

--the BB

Heaert thread - 08/29/2010

I ask your prayers for my sister Shirley. Our Little Sister writes:

Saw Shirley at home later today. The blocked arteries are the bypasses she had four years ago. One is 30%, one 100% (blocked) and the other is clear. Dr. told them three years ago when she had a stent put in that they are working on developing a larger stent and that is what she needs. Still is not available. He changed her meds a bit and took her off her multivitamin.

Sister Ellie asked our prayers on Friday:

Please pray and/or think good thoughts for my little great-nephew, James ..., who was born late Tuesday night and baptized just yesterday. He is undergoing open-heart surgery this morning at 10:00 (Eastern time, USA) at the University of Virginia Medical School Hospital. He will die within a month's time without the surgery.

Also pray for his young mother, Jane (my niece), and her husband, Chris, as well as Sam and Susan (my brother and his wife.) As if the baby's illness weren't enough, Susan just got back suspicious mammogram results. She has already been through a bout of breast cancer so this is very worrying.

Thank you all more than I can say. Blessings to all.
Ellie

She had this update yesterday:

Little James came through his eight hour heart surgery but is now on a ventilator as he can't breathe on his own. The word is that he will stay on it another two days and then they will try to wean him off.

Thank you all for your concern and good thoughts and prayers.

Ongoing prayers for Kirstin, battling cancer, and for Joel and Margaret dealing with his myasthenia gravis, for David's friend Rosemary in her final journey.

For the people of Pakistan suffering from floods.

For the trapped Chilean miners and those who work to rescue them.

For those threatened by the eruption of Mount Sinabung in Indonesia.

For those who lack food this day or shelter this night.

For families torn apart by strife.

For mass systemic metanoia so the denizens of this planet may cope with the ever-nearing consequences of climate change.

Κυριε ελεησον
Χριστε ελεησον
Κυριε ελεησον

--the BB

Heraldry tonight

After days of working on family trees and spreadsheets, I have a pretty good idea who the remaining leaders of the Northern Alliance are and where they and their troops are located. This means I can describe a few more scenes.

Next: the Eastern Alliance and the Southern Alliance.

Meanwhile, tonight I sketched the arms of the original eleven houses allied around the Northern Plain. The banners and the tunics of the rulers do get described from time to time in the tale and sometimes the head of an aristocratic house is nicknamed by his/her arms. The Silver Stallion, for instance, refers throughout to one of the cousins claiming the throne.

That I am no professional artist becomes evident when my fox passant looks more like a depressed rat with a fluffy tail. Ah well, at least I can visualize the arms easily now (in my mind's eye, that is).


Yes, all this means I really am gearing up to write again and I am pleased about it.

Looking at all it takes to recount this civil war in a single principate I shuddered this afternoon to contemplate the Great War of 1291 waiting for me several volumes ahead. That tale was told in quick strokes and a mere hundred pages back in the early 70s but it will take two entire books to narrate properly now that the world is fleshed out and I know so much more about history, setting, and characters than I did then. It is the richness of the characters that intrigues me; otherwise there would be little pleasure in writing (nor, I suspect, for others in the reading).

--the BB

It would be an act of charity

It would be an act of charity to articulate a fourth option on the Mosquemania that is sweeping the country. Here are the three I see.

1. Certain sincere individuals are woefully ignorant. They are ignorant concerning Islam, al Quran, and Sufism; concerning the United States Constitution; concerning geography; concerning history; concerning the proper respective roles of the federal, state, and local governments; and concerning reality in general. They are to be pitied.

2. Other individuals are unreconstructed bigots who cannot see beyond their fears and hatred. They may also fall into the first category or they may, conceivably, even know better, but their desire to defend their imagined status leads them to harbor, and currently spew, the most toxic fear and venom. The first step in casting out a demon is naming it, so let's all admit they're bigots and stop listening to their poison.

3. A third category are the demagogues who manipulate ignorance, fear, and hatred to achieve their political ends. This would include Pam Geller who started this whole thing, Newt Gingrich and the others who rile the masses over NOTHING in order to distract from real issues, tear down the current administration, mobilize voters, and raise money. They are detestable and are nothing but manipulative hypocrites. They should be denounced at every opportunity.

So, if you have some more categories for people allegedly or actually freaking over a Muslim community center that is not even in sight of Ground Zero, please share them.

I suppose there is an adjunct category of Democrats who wet their pants every time the right wing suggests they might be communists, fascists, socialists, Muslims, weak on defense, anti-American, or any other category that makes the Baby Jesus cry. We need some leaders on all sides to stand up and say, "This is bullshit. Now get back to work." I am pleased that several Republicans have called BS on this. Kudos to them.

Faux News, of course, falls in category 3. The mainstream media need to calm the temperature on this by not falling for the machinations of the manipulators. And they need to call out bigotry. There is nothing more un-American than saying no mosques should be built in this nation. It is nothing but ignorance, bigotry, or demagoguery.

While the nations roils in this crap the corporations continue to work behind the scenes to hang on to their power and extend it when possible. Whether we start combat operations or "end" combat operations, KBR makes out like a bandit. There is nothing in so-called health care reform to keep insurance premiums from rising. Google and Verizon are working very hard to undermine net neutrality and wrest power from the people and put it into the hands of the corporations. Corporations may now spend unlimited money to influence elections thanks to the Roberts Court. The employment situation sucks and is getting suckier while corporations still make profits (this is what we call a "jobless recovery"). Companies are hanging on to their capital (for what? executive bonuses?) instead of investing it in hiring. People who are willing to listen to science instead of reject it are well aware we are heading into a global crisis with climate change, which means more extreme weather and its sequelae: floods, heat waves, drought, rising ocean levels, crop failures, increased competition for scarce resources, and the movement of populations and wars that always attend these. Yet we lag horribly in shifting our economy and investment strategies toward renewable energy and more responsible ways of living together and commuting. One fifth of Pakistan is under water. There are immense crop losses and loss of life in Russian from the heat wave and fires. Haiti has still not recovered from the earthquake.

And we get riled up over a community center in a neighborhood that is already full of various houses of worship and establishments of sleaze. There is nothing sacred about the street on which the center was to be built.

I predict the United States will fall through stupidity. I don't know when but no empire has lasted forever. I do not wish this, but it is increasingly difficult to believe otherwise.

--the BB

It was not do-nothing mode

The weekend was not really super busy and I did spend lots of time sitting around. Nonetheless, I made progress on several fronts.

Dinner in Corrales on Friday. As I wrote to a friend through whom I got the wine:

The menu (a tribute to late summer):
Goat cheese with strips of roasted and peeled Big Jim green chiles from B's yard, olive oil, salt, pepper - all spread on crackers. The chiles are usually fairly mild but these had kick.
Freshly-picked figs that K. brought (her neighbor's tree hangs over into her yard) halved and served with little strips of prosciutto.
Ripe very intensely red tomatoes from B's yard, sliced with olive oil, chiffonade of Thai basil, salt and pepper.
Grilled chicken that has been marinated in lemon juice for a couple hours, then brushed with olive oil and Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. So simple and so good.
Grilled eggplant slices brushed with olive oil.
Grilled corn on the cob.
Peach cobbler that I had made with Red Haven peaches from my tree, picked when they were literally starting to fall from the branch.

The wine was a St Peter's Church Reserve Zinfandel. Nice big wine. I did feel stuffed like a turkey after all that food.

Saturday I had an eye exam and purchased a new pair of glasses. Slight changes in one eye, nothing huge. I think my brain has adjusted to the change already. Since it is not hugely different from the last prescription this means I now have a spare pair of glasses.

I also did a bit of retail therapy, paid the chap who got a new motor for my downstairs A/C unit, hung out with the local Italians for a couple of hours, and did a load of laundry.

Sunday saw three more loads of laundry, I ran the dishwasher twice (yes, I had let dishes pile up), cleaned the kitchen, baked the last peach cobbler of the season and took most of it next door for the neighbors (tacky, but I had a little), and worked on updating my cast of characters and their alliances (previous post). The day before I studied Italian in a phrase book and Sunday evening I watched a bit of Italian TV online.

Should I win the lottery in any substantial amount I will hire someone to clean my house, you can be sure of that. Don't we all have these fantasies?

I would not mind a nice uneventful week.

--the BB

Trying to keep track

Vinat, Jugdal, Tjunar, Evnat, and Heggel are all allies of Jarnor. How can you doubt it when you can see rulers of all five regions linked by marriage in the chart above? Heggel, however, has been co-opted by the party of the Princess Vinat is also related by marriage to Ocnathal and Ocnathal is linked by family ties not only with the Northern Alliance but also with the neutral border territory of Uhli and the County of Orgl, the latter being firmly in the Eastern Alliance. It is truly a civil war, with siblings and cousins fighting on opposite sides. The personal conflicts are many.

I try to keep track of forty towns and cities (feudal territories) in the principate and who is currently where as armies move about the land.

And so I use complex spread sheets (sorted and filtered and color-coded) with formulas to track how old the players are (and if they are still alive). I use genealogy software with over 1800 fictional characters stored therein. I keep referring to my maps and timelines. What is the phase of the moon? Which stars shine above?

Because if I don't, readers will. LOL.

This is really rambling commentary to note that I have done work on family trees this weekend. I also wrote a scene for the next-to-last book in the series. Almost a year may have passed since I was last in full swing but I feel as though I am, indeed, about to plunge in once more.

--the BB

Visualisation of Activity in Afghanistan using the Wikileaks data

So, how is that Afghanistan thing going for you?

We do learn things from leaked information. Here is a visualization of hostile activity from 2002 to 2009. Click on it. Watch it. Think about it. (It IS a graphic; it is not "graphic," in case you were worried. Just a colored map.)

Visualisation of Activity in Afghanistan using the Wikileaks data at Vimeo.



--the BB

No one pays attention to this. How odd.

Borrowed in its entirety from Jed Lewison at Daily Kos:

According to a new AP poll, about three times more people oppose the war in Afghanistan than think President Obama is a Muslim.

But that's not big news, is it?

Now if one were of a suspicious mind, and I am, one might think that the close ties between those who own the media and the military-industrial complex could have something to do with this. Nah, that's crazy talk.

--the BB