Sometimes you happen to read something you wish you’d said or written that clarifies something you’ve been struggling with on topics heavy and light.  You can claim it as your own.  I don’t think it’s actually plagiarism.

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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”

— BERTRAND RUSSELL (1872-1970)

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Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20). You are smart, motivated, unique and inspired.
Believe it. Value yourself and your services highly, and others will, too.

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– The Daily Astorian, May 20

This decision was squarely within Oregon’s inherent strain of live-and-let live libertarianism. Most Oregon citizens believe families of every kind are worthy of society’s approval and support. Life is more than complicated enough without states putting up barriers to those wishing to step within the love and protection of marriage.

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Well, maybe that last one is not something I embrace, but I am striving to be more of a free spirit.  Goody-Two-Shoes are just so annoying.

I feel sure this post will be revisited and enlarged over time.  Helpful hints come at us from so many directions these days.

Gospel on Sunday was about our being told that we had been given abundant life.  Not a pitiful life.  Not one motivated by guilt.  Maybe motivated by fun or joy.  Maybe we can go workout at the gym just because we like to see friends there, not because we feel guilty if we don’t do our ab work.  Maybe we can read a book just because it is a good read, not because we need to work hard at this age to keep our minds sharp.  Maybe have popcorn instead of salad for dinner.  Today was nothing special.  Just abundant.

As usual, started out over at The Minto with Roxie where there seemed to be a party going on at the new watering hole on this exceptionally warm, sunny day.  Only took a year to get the plumbing turned on.  It’s even more popular than the local coffee kiosk.  Actually, I would sure like to be the owner of a coffee kiosk right there next to the dog fountain.  

Came home and tossed my walking shoes in the pile and went upstairs to get some sandals.  I think this is a very honest picture of how I tend to organize things.  No pretense here.  And no guilt.  I like being at a place in my life where I don’t feel that I need to set a good example all the time for any impressionable household children.

Next, I went downtown to look at a very amazing and amazingly brief art exhibit.  Numerous local artists contributed works to be auctioned to benefit the local medical foundation.  I really wanted this piece by Valerie’s Daughter Elizabeth Bauman, but the bids were already way over my budget.

Stopped by my favorite neighborhood junk-food place on the way home to pick up a favorite hot weather treat.  Peach green tea, no calories, with lots of their soft, crunchy ice. Pure chemicals, I’m sure.  Fun. No guilt. Abundant really big cup.

Came home then to this wonderful old house.  It was constructed of  lath and plaster, which provides excellent insulation from the heat, along with the big trees out front that shade 1880 from the afternoon sun.

You can’t tell from the front, but the house is three stories.  You can just turn on the furnace fan all by itself down in the basement and it blows that cold basement air right up to the top level.  Nothing special   Just such a nice day.  Abundant.

Still, around Mother’s Day every year, I love to think about my mother and how much I love being a mother.  

At choir the other night, we were each asked to share a special thought about our mothers. For some reason, what popped into my mind was how my very young mother dropped out of college to have me.  It was what young women did in those days.  Then, about eighteen years later, she worked to help put me through college, making me the first one in her immediate family to graduate.  But she was the second.  Once she got me launched, she went back and finished college herself.  This was followed by a long career as a classroom teacher and a librarian.  Not a day passes that my life is not better because of something she taught me.  I imagine there are hundreds of  her students who could say the same thing.  Happy Mother’s Day.

Every third May, the Willamette Master Chorus stages its spring performances in the Abbey.  It is always a special privilege for me to help organize the volunteer staff for the Chorus’s concerts whether at “home” on the Willamette campus or at The Abbey.  It is an amazing venue and it’s very hard to believe that it sits high atop a hill amidst beautiful farm lands right here in our county.  I expected to again be awed by the beauty of the nave and the acoustic.  I did not expect to snap these shots with my iPhone.

Today’s vocabulary word: bucolic

Use it in a sentence: The Abbey is known for it’s bucolic setting.

Went out early this morning to power hose a lot of dirty lawn furniture and other garden accouterments.  Pulled out Roxie’s wading pool just to check it for leaks, but she wasn’t interested in waiting.  Not even for the sun to warm it up a little.

And across the street, there is a huge cherry picker in the Reid’s driveway.  Looks like they are re-shingling the witch’s hat turret.  Never a dull moment on Saginaw.  Everyone is always sprucing up these wonderful old houses. Sure to attract a crowd as soon as all the dog-walkers get out.