I'm working yesterday and got a call from Skye. She was really upset. She came home from class and found our "precious speckled puppy", Wyatt, had chewed up my Ipod & headphones and two sheets of stamps; guess he's not a music fan or a snail-mail fan:(!!
But my Ipod:(!!!
Good grief and googa-mooga!
A day in the life of a puppy left to entertain himself for a few hours!!
Go ahead and laugh. It'll be a funny story to me.......later!
Friday, February 23, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
A crisis
Today our church's Comfort & Care ministry hosted a workshop "How to Love and Minister to Those With Mental Health Issues ".
We heard that people in Wake County with mental health issues are facing a world with few places to turn when the two Wake Mental Health Centers, one of which is Dix Hospital, close in the near future.
And insurance companies do not cover mental health crisis, or if they do, it's only a token amount.
NAMI, a national organization for the support of mental illness, is trying to change things.
What is the role of the Church in this crisis? How are Christians called to comfort and care for these people who sometimes don't realize they have a problem, who may not be easy to love? How can the families be supported and ministered to? Somehow Churches need to be safe and welcoming places for people who struggle with mental issues. Will Churches take the initiative to offer 'caring centers for the mentally ill' in the future? Things to wrestle with.....and ponder and pray about.
Mental illness has a negative connotation even here in 2007. Fear of the unknown is the primary reason. We need to listen and learn from one another--and be willing to step out in faith and love in order to break down the walls.
We heard that people in Wake County with mental health issues are facing a world with few places to turn when the two Wake Mental Health Centers, one of which is Dix Hospital, close in the near future.
And insurance companies do not cover mental health crisis, or if they do, it's only a token amount.
NAMI, a national organization for the support of mental illness, is trying to change things.
What is the role of the Church in this crisis? How are Christians called to comfort and care for these people who sometimes don't realize they have a problem, who may not be easy to love? How can the families be supported and ministered to? Somehow Churches need to be safe and welcoming places for people who struggle with mental issues. Will Churches take the initiative to offer 'caring centers for the mentally ill' in the future? Things to wrestle with.....and ponder and pray about.
Mental illness has a negative connotation even here in 2007. Fear of the unknown is the primary reason. We need to listen and learn from one another--and be willing to step out in faith and love in order to break down the walls.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Valentine's Dilema
A sure sign that our community is growing in leaps and bounds: No kid's boxed Valentine's were to be found as of last night in the Apex area. Procrastinating parents and students were left to cut, draw, stamp, and sticker their own cards!
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Rambling about Recycling
If you know me well, you know recycling is important to me. I'm not a fanatic but could be if I had time or energy, or another lifetime to campaign, apply for grants, etc.
When Keith & I were newly-marrieds back in 1969-73 we lived in beautiful upstate NY where Ulster County towns were beginning to recycle on-site at the landfills. The small towns recruited volunteers to come and sort glass and aluminum into separate bins. These removable bins were placed in permanent concrete pits in the ground. Our church youth group, with the 2 of us as their fearless leaders, would spend a Saturday a month at the local dump, literally going through garbage uncovering green, blue, and clear glass, as well as aluminum cans! I must say it was an dirty experience but we felt like we were making a difference in our small part of the world.
We moved back to NC in '74, to Raleigh briefly(no recycling), then bought a house in Cary. Cary recycled--yeh! Not enough, but it was a beginning. The town did improve their program as time passed and now has an active recycling program:) In '87 we moved to Apex, where they have followed in Cary's footsteps:)
In 2005 I began working at a small office in Raleigh, and after naively calling the City Dept. of Works to get a recycling bin, found out that businesses did not recycle:( I was shocked! Businesses are the biggest producers of trash:( So I took our recyclable items home to Apex.
I started a new job in Apex at Hallmark in 2006, a job I enjoy. You can imagine how much Hallmark ships in, countless items in countless boxes packaged in plastic and the dreaded styrofoam---ugh:( In our company's defense, I am thankful they do recycle cardboard! Hurray:) But not the styrofoam:( Styrofoam flakes, shreds, clings, sticks to everything, fills up our trashbags and the landfills and will never disintegrate:( How bad is that! We need to ban the creation of it or send it all to the sun!! I read in the N&0 recently a researcher has come up with a styrofoam that does begin to break down in 6 months---now that excites me!
Now, for the plastic bags....
And the litter along the roads....
And abandoned shopping carts in Raleigh, and so on and so on.
We are the stewards of this Earth.
When Keith & I were newly-marrieds back in 1969-73 we lived in beautiful upstate NY where Ulster County towns were beginning to recycle on-site at the landfills. The small towns recruited volunteers to come and sort glass and aluminum into separate bins. These removable bins were placed in permanent concrete pits in the ground. Our church youth group, with the 2 of us as their fearless leaders, would spend a Saturday a month at the local dump, literally going through garbage uncovering green, blue, and clear glass, as well as aluminum cans! I must say it was an dirty experience but we felt like we were making a difference in our small part of the world.
We moved back to NC in '74, to Raleigh briefly(no recycling), then bought a house in Cary. Cary recycled--yeh! Not enough, but it was a beginning. The town did improve their program as time passed and now has an active recycling program:) In '87 we moved to Apex, where they have followed in Cary's footsteps:)
In 2005 I began working at a small office in Raleigh, and after naively calling the City Dept. of Works to get a recycling bin, found out that businesses did not recycle:( I was shocked! Businesses are the biggest producers of trash:( So I took our recyclable items home to Apex.
I started a new job in Apex at Hallmark in 2006, a job I enjoy. You can imagine how much Hallmark ships in, countless items in countless boxes packaged in plastic and the dreaded styrofoam---ugh:( In our company's defense, I am thankful they do recycle cardboard! Hurray:) But not the styrofoam:( Styrofoam flakes, shreds, clings, sticks to everything, fills up our trashbags and the landfills and will never disintegrate:( How bad is that! We need to ban the creation of it or send it all to the sun!! I read in the N&0 recently a researcher has come up with a styrofoam that does begin to break down in 6 months---now that excites me!
Now, for the plastic bags....
And the litter along the roads....
And abandoned shopping carts in Raleigh, and so on and so on.
We are the stewards of this Earth.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Chilly
Did I say not long ago, and more than once, I was hoping for some cold weather, that it would be a good thing? I forgot to mention I'd vote for no wind (no chill factor) with that Northern Canadian air! Very important.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
In Memory
My Skybird died during the night.
He seemed fine yesterday.
Many will be happy, including my husband and children. In their defense they haven't shouted with joy in front of me so far.
He was a big presence in our house, a handsome cockatiel with a beautiful yellow head and orange cheeks, and a sleek gray body with white-tipped wings. My friend Vicki gave him to me 3 years ago. It took him almost a year to trust me, and eventually he even let me stroke his head and would perch on my shower door where, two or three times, he allowed me to put him in the shower water. He didn't like it at all:(
But his primary job (and annoyance): he screeched, welcoming me home, beginning when he heard my car until he saw me! At the same time, he would screech at the rest of my family when they came within sight (I believe) because they were taking my attention away from him. He never made friends with Keith or Skye; he was just feisty!
He was totally devoted to me and only me.
I brought home my niece's cockatiel, Alfie, last summer and I think they were company for one another. Alfie's an upbeat bird, likes to sing, and can imitate almost any songbird on the bird clock nearby. Skybird would only sing if you worked at coaxing him. Skyegirl was good at getting him to sing now and then:)
On this windy, chilly February afternoon Keith and I buried him in the back yard, within sight out the kitchen bay window. A gray rock marks his grave.
Vicki and I think he was about 8 years old; she had hand-raised him from a baby.
Skybird will be long remembered, a testimony to how loyal and devoted a pretty bird can be.
May he rest in peace.
He seemed fine yesterday.
Many will be happy, including my husband and children. In their defense they haven't shouted with joy in front of me so far.
He was a big presence in our house, a handsome cockatiel with a beautiful yellow head and orange cheeks, and a sleek gray body with white-tipped wings. My friend Vicki gave him to me 3 years ago. It took him almost a year to trust me, and eventually he even let me stroke his head and would perch on my shower door where, two or three times, he allowed me to put him in the shower water. He didn't like it at all:(
But his primary job (and annoyance): he screeched, welcoming me home, beginning when he heard my car until he saw me! At the same time, he would screech at the rest of my family when they came within sight (I believe) because they were taking my attention away from him. He never made friends with Keith or Skye; he was just feisty!
He was totally devoted to me and only me.
I brought home my niece's cockatiel, Alfie, last summer and I think they were company for one another. Alfie's an upbeat bird, likes to sing, and can imitate almost any songbird on the bird clock nearby. Skybird would only sing if you worked at coaxing him. Skyegirl was good at getting him to sing now and then:)
On this windy, chilly February afternoon Keith and I buried him in the back yard, within sight out the kitchen bay window. A gray rock marks his grave.
Vicki and I think he was about 8 years old; she had hand-raised him from a baby.
Skybird will be long remembered, a testimony to how loyal and devoted a pretty bird can be.
May he rest in peace.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
February
February 2007 is already here! Amazing!
For snow lovers and winter lovers, it's the hope of beautiful white snow and weather cold enough to kill bugs. Disheartening to me to hear that the groundhog predicts only 6 more weeks of winter--ugh. Summer will all too soon be upon us, with unrelenting heat:(
We did have a brief moment of snow as February arrived Thursday:) It didn't stay, but what a pretty snowfall it was, very peaceful, and what a nice vacation day it was for many:(
For snow lovers and winter lovers, it's the hope of beautiful white snow and weather cold enough to kill bugs. Disheartening to me to hear that the groundhog predicts only 6 more weeks of winter--ugh. Summer will all too soon be upon us, with unrelenting heat:(
We did have a brief moment of snow as February arrived Thursday:) It didn't stay, but what a pretty snowfall it was, very peaceful, and what a nice vacation day it was for many:(
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