Reflecting light

I was a small child during the war. One day, on the road, I found the broken pieces of a mirror. I kept the largest piece I began to play with it and became fascinated that I could reflect light into dark places where the sun would never shine - deep holes, crevices, dark closets. I kept the little mirror, and as I became a man, I grew to understand that this was not just a child's game but a metaphor for what I might do with my life - that I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design I do not know. 

With what I have, I can reflect light - truth, understanding, knowledge - into the black places in the hearts of men and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I do.

- Alexandros Papaderos. 

Morning moon

His anger lasts for only a moment.

 But his favor lasts for a person's whole life. 

Sobbing can remain through the night. 

But joy comes in the morning. 

- Psalm 30:5 

This is really beautiful. Enjoy!

The Life of flowers (Жизнь цветов) from VOROBYOFF PRODUCTION on Vimeo.

How Old is grandma?

Stay with this -- the answer is at the end.

One evening a grandson was talking to his grandmother about current events. The grandson asked his grandmother what she thought about the shootings at schools, the computer age, and just things in general...

The Grandmother replied, "Well, let me think a minute. I was born before:
' television
' penicillin
' polio shots
' frozen foods
' Xerox
' contact lenses
' Frisbees
' the pill

There were no:
' credit cards
' laser beams
' ball-point pens

Man had not invented:
' pantyhose
' air conditioners
' dishwashers
' clothes dryers
' and the clothes were hung out to dry in the fresh air
' man hadn't yet walked on the moon

Your Grandfather and I got married first, .. .... ... And then lived together...
Every family had a father and a mother.
Until I was 25, I called every man older than me, "Sir". And after I turned 25, I still called policemen and every man with a title, "Sir."

We were before gay-rights, computer- dating, dual careers, daycare centers, and group therapy.
Our lives were governed by the Ten Commandments, good judgment, and common sense.
We were taught to know the difference between right and wrong and to stand up and take responsibility for our actions.
Serving your country was a privilege; living in this country was a bigger privilege...
We thought fast food was what people ate during Lent.
Having a meaningful relationship meant getting along with your cousins.
Draft dodgers were those who closed front doors as the evening breeze started.
Time-sharing meant time the family spent together in the evenings and weekends.

We never heard of FM radios, tape decks , CD's, electric typewriters, yogurt, or guys wearing earrings.
We listened to Big Bands, Jack Benny, and the President's speeches on our radios.
And I don't ever remember any kid blowing his brains out listening to Tommy Dorsey.
If you saw anything with 'Made in Japan ' on it, it was junk.
The term 'making out' referred to how you did on your school exam...

Pizza Hut, McDonald's, and instant coffee were unheard of.

We had 5 &10-cent stores where you could actually buy things for 5 and 10 cents.
Ice-cream cones, phone calls, rides on a streetcar, and a Pepsi were all a nickel.
And if you didn't want to splurge, you could spend your nickel on enough stamps to mail 1 letter and 2 postcards.
You could buy a new Ford Coupe for $600, . .. . But who could afford one?
Too bad, because gas was 11 cents a gallon.

In my day:
' "grass" was mowed,
' "coke" was a cold drink,
' "pot" was something your mother cooked in and
' "rock music" was your grandmother's lullaby.
' "Aids" were helpers in the Principal's office,
' "chip" meant a piece of wood,
' "hardware" was found in a hardware store and
' "software" wasn't even a word.

And we were the last generation to actually believe that a lady needed a husband to have a baby.
No wonder people call us "old and confused" and say there is a generation gap.
How old do you think I am?
I bet you have this old lady in mind....you are in for a shock!
Read on to see -- pretty scary if you think about it and pretty sad at the same time.
Are you ready ?????

This woman would be only 59 years old.

PASS THIS ON TO THE OLD ONES - THE YOUNG ONES WOULDN'T BELIEVE IT. 

WW: Cats. They really DO get into everything!

Strange bedfellows indeed!

How do you cure a lonely 47-year-old gorilla's loneliness?

A zoo in Erie, Pennsylvania has found a unique solution. According to this article, you provide her with a pet rabbit. At least that's what the Erie Zoo did. And so far, it's working out just fine.

I suppose Samantha has been somewhat lonely since her male companion, Rudy, died at age 49 back in 2005. She's too old to be introduced to another gorilla, so zookeepers provided her with Panda - a male rabbit. They hit it off immediately. Samantha scratches Panda under the chin, they hang out together, and Samantha even shares her food.

But she won't share Baby, her stuffed toy gorilla.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Uh... Come to think of it....

If these two can get along so well, how come we people - same species and all - can't do a better job of it? Maybe we should take a lesson from the gorilla?

An alien has crawled inside my body.

That's the only explanation I can come up with. Because for well nigh 6 decades, I would sooner have been strung up by the thumbs than eat tofu.

Really.

But for the past few weeks, I've been willing to experiment and found out that I enjoy it. There's really nothing objectionable about the taste... Tofu apparently tastes like whatever you marinate or cook it with. A few coworkers have been curious enough about it to try it, and while some have said they don't much care for the texture, nobody has said anything disparaging about the taste.

I have NOT tried to slide tofu into my husband's chow in any way, shape, or form. If I did, I can almost guarantee that we wouldn't be together on our 40th anniversary this coming June.

So I decided to share a tofu recipe that I'm going to experiment with for my lunch this week. And I'm going to put out a request to readers:

If you enjoy tofu and have a good recipe to share, please link up below. Hopefully some brave souls out there in cyberspace will be tempted to try tofu as I have! And even if nobody else is willing to take the plunge, I'd love to have some new recipes that incorporate tofu!

Brown Bag Pasta and Tofu
Ingredients
8 ounces mezze penne pasta or regular penne
2 cloves pressed garlic
1/3 cup lightly toasted, chopped walnuts
3/4 cup marinated sun-dried tomato strips, drained and chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons basil
8 ounces extra-firm tofu
1 teaspoon salt

DirectionsIn a large saucepan, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add the penne pasta and cook according to package directions.

As the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce. Place the pressed garlic in a large bowl. Add the walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes, oil and basil. Mash in the tofu with a fork and mix well.

When the pasta is ready, drain, and add to the mixture. Toss all ingredients until pasta is well-coated. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Serves 4

The Deaf Wife Problem

The other day I was at church sitting beside my husband, who is hard of hearing and unwilling to consider a hearing aid. Sometimes I'm patient with acting as a translator when he's unable to hear the conversation around him and does an Elvis imitation: "Huh Huh Huh?"

Sometimes not.

At any rate, that particular church service was particularly interesting as one of the other folks attending was a nearly-stone-deaf woman with dementia. She's gained a measure of fame in the parish as she speaks - loudly - whatever happens to pop into her mind. Usually it's something rather benign, like, "What did he say?" But another case in point: when the priest was speaking at this service, she burst out with, "I'm having a hell of a time hearing him." The church burst out in chuckles, to which my husband replied, "Huh huh huh?"

Elvis.

In stereo.

At any rate, I so enjoyed receiving this email forwarded from my DH this week:

Tom feared his wife Peg wasn't hearing as well as she used to and he thought she might need a hearing aid.

Not quite sure how to approach her, he called the family doctor to discuss the problem.

The doctor told him there is a simple informal test the husband could perform to give the doctor a better idea about her hearing loss.

"Here's what you do," said the Doctor. "Stand about 40 feet away from her, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20 feet, and so on until you get a response."

That evening, the wife is in the kitchen cooking dinner, and he was in the den. He says to himself, "I'm about 40 feet away, let's see what happens." Then in a normal tone he asks, "Honey, what's for dinner?"

No response...

So the husband moves closer to the kitchen, about 30 feet from his wife and repeats, "Peg, what's for dinner?"

Still no response.

Next he moves into the dining room where he is about 20 feet from his wife and asks, '"Honey, what's for dinner?"

Again he gets no response.

So, he walks up to the kitchen door, about 10 feet away. "Honey, what's for dinner?"

Again there is no response.

So he walks right up behind her. "Peg, what's for dinner?"

(I just love this)

"For Gods sake, for the FIFTH time, CHICKEN!"

Mint Orangeade Concentrate

GOSH is this good.

2 1/2 Cup Water
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
1 1/4 Cup Lemon Juice
1 Cup Mint leaves, crushed
2 Cup Orange Juice
1 Teaspoon Orange zest

Instructions:
Boil sugar & water. Add remaining ingredients. Cover & let stand 1 hour.

Use as a concentrate, diluting with gingerale, soda water, water, or 7-Up. Use 1/2 cup concentrate to 1 C fluid to start, then adjust to taste.

WW: Ready for summer!!!

Broiled scallops with sweet lime sauce

7 months ago, I decided it was time to do something about my health. I was overweight and out of shape. A friend told me about SparkPeople, a great website with free resources on healthy living, exercise, diet, managing some chronic health problems, recipes... You name it, SparkPeople has it.

I set a goal to lose 50 pounds in a year. 30 of them are gone. When I started, I'd get short of breath walking around the block. I can now survive an hour of Zumba. Mind you, I look rather like a leaping grasshopper, with St. Vitus' Dance, but I survive.

The recipe below comes from their website. It's really good, and there's lots more to explore where that came from!

Rather than creating a fatty lime sauce, this modified recipe coats the scallops in honey and lime juice and gently broils them.

Ingredients
4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 pound bay or sea scallops, rinsed and patted dry
2 teaspoons grated lime peel
1 lime, cut into 4 wedges

Directions
Preheat the broiler. Position the rack 4 inches from the heat source. Cover a broiler pan or cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Spray generously with cooking spray. In a large bowl, whisk together the honey, lime juice and oil. Add the scallops and toss gently to coat with the honey mixture.

Arrange the scallops in a single layer on the prepared broiler pan or baking sheet. Broil until opaque throughout when tested with a tip of a knife, about 5 minutes. Turn the scallops over and broil for another minute.

Divide the scallops onto 4 warmed plates. Pour any juices from the broiler pan or baking sheet over the scallops. Sprinkle with grated lime peel and serve with a lime wedge.

Number of Servings: 4

Another question from comments.

The other day, I shared a post entitled A Reflection. In it I spoke of the execution of a man I'd written to for more than a decade. He'd been convicted of murder. In response, a reader commented, "You stated Robert had committed an evil crime. Apparently knowing his crime, I am curious to know what type of punishment you feel would be sufficient for what he did."

First of all, let me state that nothing - nothing we as humans do on earth is "sufficient" for taking a human life. Nothing. To suggest that anything we devise as earthly punishment is in some way just recompense for willfully depriving another human being of life is, to me, ludicrous. Life is a precious gift from our Creator, and it is an affront to God to take it upon ourselves - individually or collectively - to deprive another of this gift.

Even if someone manages to "get away with" such an egregious sin on earth, he will still have to answer to our creator.But I am not suggesting that someone who commits the act of murder should therefore elude punishment here on earth. If an individual commits an act which meets the legal definition of murder, he must also be held accountable here on earth. Anything less would be anarchy. But...

• In 49 out of the existing 50 states in the U.S. - with the sole exception of Alaska - an option for a sentence of "life in prison without possibility of parole" exists.
• For those who claim that capital punishment serves as a deterrent to those who might commit the crime of murder, note that "During the last 20 years, the homicide rate in states with the death penalty has been 48% - 101% higher than in states without the death penalty."
•  For those who cite the cost of housing an inmate for life, note that studies consistently show that the cost of "life in prison without possibility of parole" is significantly less expensive than the expense of carrying out a sentence of death.
• For those who believe that the problem of cost could be eliminated by "frying 'em faster", consider that since 1973, 140 inmates in 26 states have been released from death row upon discovering evidence that these inmates were innocent of the crime they were to be executed for.I'm not talking about technicalities here. I'm talking about innocence.
• For those who have concerns about hearing about prisons with pool tables and tennis courts and other such luxuries, rest assured. We're not talking about a life-long vacation here. We're talking about life in a small cell alone, with a grate that allows you (at most) a glimpse of the guy straight across from you... a small door through which your meal trays can be slid... continuous noise and light on 24/7... staying in that cell alone 23 hours a day... shackles around the ankles, wrists, and waist for the hour out to shower... surprise visits where your belongings are "tossed" to search for contraband... random "cavity checks"... and no end in sight.

This is no vacation. For many of us, death would be a welcome "out" rather than a punishment. And if indeed it is discovered that an error was made and the person convicted is indeed innocent, at least there's the opportunity to be released from hell on earth.

Which is more humane? That's a tough question to answer. But at least we'd have the opportunity to allow someone to attempt to rebuild their lives if, indeed, he was wrongly convicted.  Otherwise, what would we say to the family of the person executed? And what do we say to God?

Somehow "OOPS! SORRY!" doesn't quite cut it.

Questions from comments....

Two readers posted comments yesterday. It's only fair that I respond to both... one today, and one tomorrow.

The first question came from someone who'd apparently read my profile, which you can check out on my sidebar if you wish. In it, I mention that I'm a convert to Catholicism. The reader wanted to know what I'd been previously.

Fair question.

I was a bit of everything before becoming Catholic. I was raised in the Methodist church, attended an Episcopalian nursery school, and went to Mennonite Bible school. Each summer, my father would take us to a variety of churches... Presbyterian, Quaker, Lutheran, etc. Then I headed off to college and got married long after... in the Lutheran church.

Once married, we remained Lutheran for a while, then gradually drifted away from church altogether. For a while I would have described myself as an agnostic. But this certainly wasn't a period in my life that I'd care to revisit. Soon I found myself aware of a void in my life... what someone once described as a God-shaped hole.

At this point I began exploring a series of denominations, none of which seemed to fill that void. I read through a book called "The Handbook of Denominations", and found only one which truly resonated to me. To my surprise, it was the Catholic church.

I wasn't yet convinced, however. I'd heard a host of misinformation about what Catholics believe. You've probably heard the same things: "Catholics worship Mary"... "Catholics believe the Pope is perfect and incapable of sin"... "Catholics worship statues"... "The Catholic church teaches that you have to confess your sins to a priest in order to receive God's forgiveness"...

Not one of these things is true.

My husband and I attended a series of classes weekly over the course of a year: classes designed to teach what the Church really believes. Our concerns and questions were fully addressed, we made the decision to join the Church, and we have never regretted our decision.

"What was I before?" A number of things.

What am I now?

A Christian Catholic striving to be faithful to the will of God.

I hate the fact that this ad doesn't surprise me.

A fellow blogger found that advertisement in the classifieds. She was shocked and took a screen shot of the ad, which you see above. The following day, apparently, the ad was taken down.

In an ideal world, this would never happen. But we do not live in an ideal world. Not when we so cheapen the value of human life that we kill our unborn because they're "defective" or inconvenient. Not when we execute inmates for revenge (or because we believe it will save the taxpayers... regardless of evidence to the contrary). And not when we euthanize our elderly and infirm because they're no longer useful or productive.

Do I find this advertisement to be shocking? Unfortunately not.Do I find it be be disgusting? Absolutely.

H/T to Jody Arsenault