The other reason fall is officially here, Hood River, peaches, pears and jams. We put up some peaches, not much because the peaches themselves were just going over, and better for jam than anything else, but 6 quarts of Lady Elbertas' are just enough. We had a case of white peaches also, which turned into this lovely pink jam, as you can see from the pic. Now today I have to do the pears, they are perfectly ripe and tomorrow will be spoiling. I gathered elderberries for jam, but it turned out to be syrup, which is good too, I love fruit syrups on waffles and french toast.

Fall is here, officially

Oh the agony, oh the pain. Yes, we know fall is really here, the first cold of the season is upon us. Every year, as regular as the equinoxes, the arrival of the first cold, brought home, lovingly gift wrapped in kleenex by our kids, just one sneeze away from becoming your own best friend for the next several days. Luckily, I bought the three pack of Puffs Plus a while back, but where oh where is the Robitussin???

Trick questions

I remember my senior year in high school, I was in AP English and had a teacher whose name I cannot remember right now. It started with S, like stiles or strickland. She hated me. I don't really know where that came from, who knows about those things? But her dislike was quite undisquised. I wonder if she thought she was hiding it well? It may have been that I had a boyfriend who rode a motorcycle, she commented on that, really none of her business in my mind, It could have been my friend Maggie, a very precocious young lady, street smart, from the south side of Chicago. Not really a smart mouth but she was smarter than most adults I knew. They hate that. I can see that now as an adult myself. The sheer terror you feel looking into the eyes of a teenager who has all the knowledge in the world and no real life experience to hang it on. Maggie was great. Mrs S. thought, I think, that we were just trouble. At the yearly field trip to Ashland for the Shakespearean Festival we were roomed together along with our cohort Angie. Angie was an angel faced beauty, and she could charm anyone. Mrs S loved her, she could do no wrong. Everyone loved Angie, you couldn't help yourself. Mrs S didn't know Angie was doing drugs, and partying like crazy. She looked too innocent to be any trouble. While I was trying to sleep Ang and Mag were talking and giggling, Mrs S comes storming to the door because of the noise. I got up to answer it and she yelled at me, blamed me and Mag totally, would not believe I had nothing to do with the noise. She even called my mom to tell her I was misbehaving. What a witch. The thing I remember her doing which most made me mad was during a class room discussion. She presented a situation and wanted to discuss our views on it. The case was some protestor in China, I think, who set himself on fire as his protest. A reporter, rather than trying to save his life, filmed the protest. We heard a range of views, and, thinking this was an actual discussion and that we were supposed to actually present different views, I decided to play the other side and point out that if the man wanted to set himself on fire, he was free to do so, and no one was obligated to stop him. She turned on me like a cobra, hissing and spitting, how dare I hold such a view, what horrible kind of person was I to even think such a thing? I think I said something to the effect of, why did you ask for our views if you didn't really want them? Funny thing is, I still feel kind of the same. I don't know what I would do if I actually were in that situation, but I do think we are free. I don't think we are free to strap bombs to our bodies and blow others up, and I think that abortion kills a living person, that is different. But what we do to ourselves is out business and our right. I was most hurt by the fact that she didn't even know me and she just made a decision to not like me based on some superficial evidence.

Finally anglican clergy with balls

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2366419,00.html

I was heartened ans cheered to read this article about former anglican archbishop Carey and his comments regarding the pope vs the muslims. Yeah for Carey!

Ok, so here's what the pope said:
Benedict quoted criticism of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad by 14th century Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Palaeologus, who wrote that everything Mohammad brought was evil and inhuman, "such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."

Predictably, the brainless rabble of muslim extremists further punctuated the pope's words:

*an Italian nun slain in Somalia in an attack possibly linked to the uproar over his recent remarks.

*Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called for more protests over the pontiff's controversial remarks on Islam.

*"We tell the worshipper of the cross [the pope] that you and the West will be defeated, as is the case in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya," said a statement posted to a website by the Mujahideen Shura Council, an umbrella group led by Iraq's branch of al-Qaeda.
"We shall break the cross and spill the wine. ... God will [help] Muslims to conquer Rome ... God enable us to slit their throats, and make their money and descendants the bounty of the mujahideen," said the statement.

Wahfa?
With the muslims so very busy proving just what assholes they really are, any further comment from the west seems almost superfluous.

The pope, the muslims etc, etc.

Ok, so I am not the biggest defender of the pope, and I think in general, the Catholic church is pretty dysfunctional. There are great Catholics, but... So, not to knock Catholics, but to underscore that I am not a kneejerk "whatever the pope says is good" kind of person, what a load of shit coming from the Muslims. Unbelievable. I am sorry the pope capitualted enough to give them an apology at all, it just makes things worse, and they won't be satisfied. It's like giving in to a child having a temper tantrum and letting them get the cookie after all. If in this world we can no longer speak our mind, without fear of retribution from the lunatic fringe of the lunatic fringe, save the handbasket, we're there already.

Roses in front of our house

Trail up the block leading to a beautiful overlook.


This is a view from just up the street toward the downtown part of the city, a bit further and you can see down to the river.

now I remember

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]. 1Corinthians 10:13

The first verse of this chapter Paul says he doesn't want the people to be ignorant that all our fathers were under the cloud and passed through the sea, and goes on to explain how the things that happened to the children of Isreal happened as an example to us, learn from their mistakes. The point is, however, the example is the children go through the sea, not around, not over, they didn't fly, the had to go through it. As do we all. God promises that he will help us bear it, not that we would avoid the problem all together.

New news

Today I realized a new piece of what it means to let go. Over the past few months God has said to me, you have moved on physically (i.e. we moved to a new home) you need to move on in the spirit. Move on from the past, stop dwelling on what has been and move forward. I thought that meant move on as in get back to how things were before I had my break(i.e get over it, get better). I guess it should clue me that even in my verbage "get back", it is clear that is not going forward. I am dense I guess, slow sometimes to see what is right in front of me. I was praying for guidance, that I would have peace about this process of getting better. I still struggle with anxiety, depression some times but it doesn't rule my life. I just want it to go away, and my frustration is trying to get back to being the way I was before it came. Gos isn't saying go back to the way you were, he is saying, however, move on. Go forward. I have a new neighbor who is wonderful dear person and a great blessing. She deals with chronic severe migraines. There was time when she didn't have them, but now they are a part of her life. I am sure she has tried to get healed, to pray them away, but they persist. That is kind of how I feel, I wish it just wasn't there. I can't go back to the way I was, I have to go forward. I wear myself out trying to get back. I wear myself out. It's not a matter of giving in, but it is accepting where I am and believing God is willing and able to get me through. I guess that is lesson in going through the trials, not getting out of them. Time and again, in the bible God takes people through difficulty, he doesn't often remove them from it entirely.
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
I can't find the exact scripture but it says roughly that we are saved through the trial, not that we are saved from the trial. Anyway, an object lesson for me. Praise God!