Random

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Alliens Among Us?

y2k bugToday is Halloween. While I resolutely avoid anything that smells like evil—demons, mediums, and the like—I’ve always enjoyed the idea of firing up my imagination and dressing up as something fun and interesting.

Past costumes have included Pete and I as two frogs from the plague in Exodus 8), me as an aspen tree infected with Cytospora (a scary costume for a master gardener Halloween party), and our interpretation (see Pete, left) of the Y2K bug (remember those from 1999?)

Aliens_Roswell-NM_LAH_9578-001Last summer Pete and I drove through Roswell, New Mexico—probably the universe’s most famous destination for extraterrestrials on vacation. If the signs around town are any indication, aliens are certainly welcome there! It occurred to me that if aliens want to visit earth, the best time to do it would be on Halloween. Think of all the complements they’d get on their costumes!

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Employed!

Funny that this should come right after my last post, on Waiting for Direction…

I’m spoiled, I know. I haven’t had to hold a permanent, paid job since I quit teaching with the birth of our first child. That “child” is now in her early 30s. I’ve been busy, mind you. On our income tax, I always list my occupation as “volunteer.”

I’ve volunteered in our daughters’ classrooms, as a docent at a wildlife refuge, for various mission organizations, as a Colorado Master Gardener, for our local chapter of the National Audubon Society, and at churches—rocking babies, in Sunday school classrooms, with youth groups, on mission committees, in kitchens, as administrative help, you name it and I’ve done it. Some of these positions have involved many hours a week for years at a time.

But the thing about volunteering is you don’t earn any money. Lots of heart-felt appreciation, mind you, but appreciation doesn’t pay the bills.

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Come See My Photos!

Lake Agnes_COStateForestSP_LAH_8222 p_filt 24 x 36 gallery wrapI am ridiculously excited. Mission Coffee Roasters and Cafe, offering the best coffee in Colorado Springs (and maybe the world), is hosting my photographs from now through the end of April. There are over a dozen prints of all sizes, from an 8-inch square framed portrait of a Flamingo to huge, 2 by 3-foot gallery wraps of some of my favorite landscapes. They’re all on display, and they’re all for sale.

If you live in the Colorado Springs area, please come see my show. Mission Coffee is at 11641 Ridgeline Drive, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921, just off Voyager at the far north end of town. They’re open from 6:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. every day except Sunday. Continue reading →

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The Distrust of Doctors

Last month I wrote about our growing “culture of fear”—how information sources from the media to our Facebook friends are all telling us how dangerous the world is. As friend after friend shared their concerns about food or medicine, politics or the environment, I began to wonder. Should we be alarmed about everything?

God tells us that He has everything in hand, so we have no need to worry. Still. I had to ask—are the doomsayers correct? I decided to find out. Since medical choices affect us directly, and because of my biology background, I decided to start there.

Is conventional medicine making us sicker?

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A Culture of Fear

Scanning the headlines on my news feed, I read of disaster after disaster. From people being buried alive under collapsing buildings, floods and tornadoes, and seemingly random shootings, to fires, earthquakes, and the massacre of innocent civilians, the world is falling apart.

Listening to the news, you might think you’re going to die any moment. It could be from something you ate. Everything is bad for us. Even foods that were considered beneficial ten or twenty years ago (such as soy) are now touted as dangerous to our health.

You can’t go to this country or that country because you might be assaulted, blown up, or kidnapped. Here at home, our government is spying on its own citizens. And I just read that the next “fiscal cliff” is coming in late February.

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App Happy

With the thousands of apps available it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Which ones are helpful? Which ones are a waste of money? You can look at the ratings and read the comments, but that doesn’t help you if you’re not sure which apps to search for in the first place. With that thought in mind, here are three random but wonderful apps I’d hate to be without.

Our Groceries
For years, Pete and I had a system for grocery shopping. I’d keep a running list of what we needed at the market, stuck onto the fridge with a magnet. Then whoever was going shopping would simply grab the list and take it with them. Low tech, simple, no problem, right? It all worked perfectly until we began losing the lists. Maybe it’s impending senility, or maybe we just have a lot on our minds, but we’d go off without the list, or we’d leave it somewhere en route. Then we’d buy the wrong things, of forget essentials. Since Pete does most of our shopping (he works in town, while I’d have to make a special trip), I was getting aggravated and he was feeling frustrated.

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One-stop Christmas Shopping

You’re going to hate me. I’m already done with my Christmas shopping, and I had fun doing it! Since most of my shopping was done online, it was inevitable that I’d stumble across some totally cool items, something that would make the perfect gift—or at least stun the recipient.  Unfortunately, none of them were quite right for anyone on my list. Since these finds are just too good to ignore, I’m passing them along to you. Who knows, maybe one of these is just what you’ve been looking for!

bana leaf decalBanana Leaves Fresh (1 Lb) Bag 16oz Banana Leaves. I had no idea that you could buy banana leaves. Apparently, they’re an essential part of cooking and/or serving food in India, the Philippines, and other tropical locales. If you don’t want the real thing, you can get paper imitations. In fact, you can even get fake banana leaves with fake food on them (as illustrated here)! Where would you stick this banana leaf decal? If you get the real leaves, it would probably be a good idea to accompany them with an appropriate ethnic cookbook.

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Two More Things I Wonder About

It’s a fifth Friday, but I am sadly lacking in amusing photos. However, we can still have some fun. Here’s another installment of “things I wonder about.” If you missed my earlier list, check out my post from May 31,2011.

Senseless Traffic Lights
Colorado Springs has some of the most annoying traffic lights of any place I’ve ever been. Not only are they not synchronized, not only do they make you wait for ages while the intersection stays empty, but they turn red for no perceivable reason. It’s no surprise that we also have a significant problem with people running red lights.

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Gullible

Are Evangelicals more gullible than other people? A friend recently shared a blog article claiming that, among the blogger’s Facebook friends, it’s the Christians (and just this particular kind of Christian) who most frequently re-post “news” that turns out to be a hoax. Share this post and some company will donate to a kid’s heart transplant fund. Warn your friends that their hot dogs are about to explode. Don’t drink coffee/milk/water/juice/soda because it will ruin your health and cause you to be dead!

The blogger then went on to suggest four excellent reasons why Christians should not re-post this tripe, and an easy way to find out if something is true or not (just Google the first sentence). I recommend his article highly.

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What’s on Your Quarter?

SouthCarolinaPete’s a bit of a coin collector (I prefer to spend them), and he has a pile of “state” quarters on his dresser. I was having fun looking at the backs, seeing how each state chose to represent itself.

South Carolina did a good job of summarizing their state. Their coin includes the state bird (the Carolina Wren), the state flower (Yellow Jessamine), the state tree (Palmetto), and an outline of the state. Hmm, you think, they have birds and flowers in South Carolina. I might drop by someday.

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