Peace Offering

Simmy had always loved this little church. It was now mostly inhabited by birds but it had always stood out as a little warm welcoming kind of church. Sandwiched in between two highways, it now had 'historical' status and had even been given a new roof in recent years.
The Jewish Encyclopedia states, "There are three kinds of peace- offering: 1. the thank offering...
The thank offering is a a response to divine beneficence;..."
Now, those are big words and so Simmy had to find a book to read on divine beneficence. She found a good old book called 'The Divine Law of Beneficence' written by Reverend Parsons Cooke in 1850.
We'll see what that book has to say... you can actually read it on-line at...
http://www.archive.org/stream/MN40211ucmf_4#page/n5/mode/2up
The first quote that got my attention was this one, "And when he put in motion the broad mechanism of his mercy, he put upon it laws of action and reaction, and made the work of heavenly charity, in all its branches, twice blessed, blessing him that gives and him that takes." p.6
"... to give scope to our benevolent affections." p.7

Loyalty to the Ring

The bridal shower at Old Winery Inn was being hosted by a sister and the other triangle of sisters were all in attendance.
The mood was tense as the festivities began because Betty and Veronica had been shielding themselves from the other for five years already.
Veronica would make sure Betty wasn't invited to any of her parties and Betty would hide the secret shame of the overt and public rejection by staying mum on the subject. Sort of... Betty has a passion for writing so she started her own little sorority column which was proving to be quite popular.
Betty had provided very lovely bling rings for prizes and for some inexplicable reason, there just happened to be three, four and five winners for each game. The bling rings started to adorn the fingers of the guests.
Suddenly, Veronica won one of the games and as each woman at the party encouraged her to go choose a ring, she sat there in angry defiance, showing all the young ladies in attendance that to be in a relationship with her meant... her rules of rejection had to followed.
She was refusing the gift that Betty was providing. Now, Betty wasn't the blonde most people mistook her for and she had, in advance, gifted a young woman with one of the rings and asked her to be the ring model for the day of the shower.
This had worked out rather well as Veronica had not put the social hit out on this young woman so all the winners of the game were actually allowed to receive a ring when she would announce the winners.
As the bridal shower drew to a close, Veronica was one of the first to exit the party. Another sister also took her leave but there was one sister who hung around.
Betty, always ready to help people with their problems, sensed there was a reason that one of the sisters was hanging about so... she kindly said, "You may have a bling ring too if you wish. I purchased lots of them and you are welcome to have one."
Now, this sister knew she had to stay loyal to Veronica or her social life would suffer so she said with a blush, "Thank you! I thought it looked so nice on the model who was wearing it today!"
Betty sighed, knowing that she had worked the party very well... but, it was a sad thing that this woman had to wait until the others weren't looking to receive the gift of the ring.    
And Betty also wondered, 'Would the ring have to stay hidden in a drawer now?'

Penalty Foul

... for offensive action.
Simmy had spent too much of her day responding to angry sisters... this, of course, created a vicious circle of anger because that made Simmy angry... and so on and so on and so on...
Now, there was this quote that some evangelist had once said on television but because this was second- hand information it would not be right for me to credit that person but I will write the quote because Dr. L, a pastoral professor had spent some time teaching on this subject after a big church fight and split.
Oy!
So, here goes, "There is no grace for the person who picks up another persons' offense."
So, what does this mean in preschool language?
'If Betty punches Veronica, Jughead, who listened to Betty later on and decided to take her side in the matter, actually has no right to spend time hating, berating, or creating more problems in the situation. He can listen but he has no business making it his business until Betty and Veronica try to make up.
Matthew has a good example of the order of things.
'Conversely, if Veronica had been constantly bickered at by Betty until this day when she'd had enough and  socked Veronica in the nose for her unending impudence, Archie, who listened to Veronica and understood her plight should not be hating, berating, or creating more problems in the situation either.'
So, on this football weekend, a penalty or sanction may have to be called for an offender who 'meddles' in the messy relationship of Betty and Veronica.
This violation of the rules is called a foul. There must be a time out for the offender.
Now, Dr. L used to run 'kids club' with very loose football rules. If you got a yellow card, it was a warning and because it was kids club, there was a two yellow card warning system before...
the dreaded red card was given for the offensive action. (pun intended)
If the dreaded red card was given to the offender... he or she would have to go see the referee, Dr. L or a.k.a. the pastor.
Oy!
Football, being a high contact sport requiring a balance between offense and defense requires many rules to exist that regulate equality, safety, contact and actions of players on each team. (We'll leave out contact hoping the differences of opinion don't end in contact.) It is very difficult to always avoid violating these rules without giving up too much of an advantage.
Ergo... an exhaustive system, (exhaustive for most wives of husbands who love football anyway), of rules regarding fouls and penalties has been developed to 'let the punishment fit the crime.'
The goal of this is to have a balance to maintain a good flow in the game and to follow the rules.
To quote Dr. L., "Rules make it fair and fun for everyone!"
So, Betty and Veronica are going to have to follow the same rules in order to make it fun and fair for everyone.
So are Jughead and Archie, by the way!
So is everyone... that is in the game.
So, why is there 'no grace for the person who picks up another persons' offense?'
Well, after going through a huge church split... I think the answer lies in there... rules are for everyone... when someone feels they are exempt from following rules... well, that is a problem. If there is no 'face to face' communication but a whole lot of 'behind the scenes gathering of forces,' there is no reasonable way to resolve something.
'Creep' becomes the slippery slope in the problem. Creep in functionality, feature, mission, and scope is a problem for any project manager like (Dr. L), where the initial objectives of the project are jeopardized
( people getting along and moving towards wholeness), by a gradual increase in overall objectives
( gathering bullies to be on your side), as the project progresses.
Proverbs 6: 6-19 is a good warning for everyone.
Let's accept the fact that rules are to make things fun and fair for everyone... and everyone wants things fun and fair.
Yes?

White Friday

Decorating the white tree, on Black Friday, gave Simmy the catchy blog title of White Friday which, of course, it cannot be because that would be the first Friday after Pentecost.
Why is it that the United Kingdom seems to be the only country that celebrates this holiday?
'Scholars' Walk' or Whit(e) Friday, carried with it a tradition... girls would have a new dress and boys would have new trousers.
Simmy remembered her mother sewing them new dresses for each Pentecost and now she finally knew where that tradition originated.

Which Jewel this Yule?

Jewel tones will always be a natural Christmas element, for historical and precious reasons, and both perhaps. There has always been this niggling belief inside of me that Biblical symbolism has a physical and metaphysical meaning and that the two do hold hands quite nicely when we understand... or just get to know something. I think the clues for understanding do reside in tangible history. One needs to know a lot of history though, to get even a little glimpse of what it all means.
In ancient times lapis lazuli was known as sapphire.
Cylinder seals were often made of lapis lazuli and were picture stories. Seal impressions and texts in cuneiform told the story.

L. Michael White, Professor of Classics and Christian Origins at the University of Texas wrote an article entitled 'The Book of Revelation- Understanding the Book of Revelation.'
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/apocalypse/revelation/white.html
Quote from the article...
"Now we see another important component of how Revelation works by thinking about its sense of the time-line of the story. The various visions of Revelation are not a linear progression, so that the events in chapter 12, for example, do not follow in time after the events in chapter 11. Quite the contrary. In the way they set up, the events described in chapters 12-13 are meant to explain how those circumstances in chapters 5-11 came about. So the time-line of the story moves in a kind of cyclical fashion so that we keep coming back to the "present situation" as it stood for the ancient readers of Revelation."

So, are the cylindrical Babylonian seals that 'tell a story' ( See 'Babylon Myth and Truth' Exhibition for an example-  http://www.smb.museum/smb/babylon/show_text.php?page_id=2&child_id=76&lang=en) the tangible real life item for the symbolic language of the seals in the Revelation?

We'll have to ask White.

Fairly Forgiving Attitude Latitude

Simmy had been thinking about forgiving since Saturday... when she had been at a party with someone she had worked hard to forgive but... felt very awkward around.
Let's face it, she thought, we all think so differently that the thing that bothers one person doesn't bother another... and the thing that bothers another is silliness to many... and the thing that is silliness to many is the thing that ends a friendship between others.
So,... how does one go about dealing with an issue, a boundary crossed, a unforgivable injury as Beverly Flanigan calls 'an offense that forever changes your life?'
I don't have all the solutions but I've waded through a hell of a lot in relationships to be willing to offer an opinion.
Now, this injury happened to have happened in a churchy setting.
Gasp! I know! Unimaginable!
My friend, Deborah, has told me that she thinks church people are: always kind; always generous; always a bunch of other good stuff that I can't quite imagine anyone living up to... well, okay, just One very special person.
I have told her many times that people who go to church tend to be in need of help or helping a need... basically... and both simultaneously, quite often. 

Now, I grew up with three words coming out of my mouth constantly.
'That's not fair!'
And, that is why I have been trying to level the playing field for those less empowered for a long time... since the playing field was quite literally the playground.
Many bullies have found themselves at the wrong, or is that the right, end of a tongue lashing if they gang up on someone.
Bad power! We all despise it but do we do something to keep it in check?

The two things that I think are at the core of all successful life skills are communication and a forgiving attitude.
There are definitely things like timing that do tend to be rather crucial too but communication and a forgiving attitude really lie at the center of all successful aspirations.
So, how exactly I will adopt a forgiving attitude this season..., I am still working on.  Actually, I am always working on it... it is a daily thing, isn't it?
I mean, each act of latitude should really come with an act of communication.
Right?
Latitude without communication will just create repeat offenders.
Right?
But, latitude with communication should create another opportunity.
Right?
To get it right.
Right?
So, this Christmas season I'm going to try to offer some latitude of forgiveness... it's only fair but fairly good!

Shuffle the words around and it seems good no matter which way you phrase it!
A fairly forgiving attitude brings latitude.
A forgiving attitude brings latitude fairly.
Latitude, fairly forgiving, brings a good attitude.
Latitude attitude brings forgiving, fairly.

No matter how you parse it, it just works out!

Storybook Crescent Moon

5:00 a.m. Monday
After battling a flu all weekend, Sam got up and went to work. Simmy looked out the window and noticed the storybook sliver of the moon shining brightly in the sky.
National Geographic, in an article written three years ago, says, "In fact, some historians think that a similar conjunction between Jupiter and Venus in 2 B.C. may be the source of the "star of Bethlehem" story related in the Bible." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/11/081125-venus-jupiter-conjunction.html
I cite this article for the purpose of drawing attention to the fact that some scientists are watching the sky shoulder to shoulder with historians and comparing notes so to speak.
EarthSky reports that tomorrow morning will be a lovely Saturn, Spica and crescent moon alignment forming an arc in the sky.
If this is a little exciting to me... the scientists and historians are probably all atwitter.

As part of my Christmas cleaning this week, I took all the pots off my pot rack, washed everything thoroughly, and put up a little glass galaxy of my own. For a household that tends to be a bit clumsy, I know it is risky but a fresh viewpoint helps the mind to get some new perspective and clarity...
about many things.

Housewarming Traditions

Running errands and having lunch and giving instructions on how to bake the dinner gift for the out of town folks had left Sam and Simmy a bit worn out.
They arrived at construction sons' home for the housewarming party ready to celebrate a new start to something. Snacks were just the thing to rejuvenate after a day of serving.
Lovely one, construction sons' wife, had taken the day off to throw the party and things were bedecked and in newly decorated order.

Glass droplets on the chandelier hung like crystal lollipops of welcome. All the parents showed up to celebrate the start of good beginnings... buying a home is a responsible step in the journey of adulthood. Young people arrived to congratulate this next level of responsibility but the chatter was light and unburdened. Philosophical topics of 'now you're contributing to the big picture' by paying taxes to... were not spoken on this day of good- hearted toasts.
Cards of congratulations stood like little soldiers of salute on top of the refrigerator.
So, here's a poem to the new homeowners out there...

Entertaining… is hard work

And it can get distressing

As you chop and you dice

And work on the dressing

When the doorbell rings out

Ten minutes too early

Hostess face masks

Feelings of surly

If the tie’s a bit crooked

And your buttons askew

Remember they’re mostly

There for the food

The hours pass quickly

By gosh and by golly

The time spent together

Quite charming and jolly

When the guests say adieu

With warm hugs and good wishes

The only thing left

Is a big stack of dishes?

              Cheers to the New Home owners! 

                       Light the way!

Be... a Jeweller

...jewelled.
If one is jewelled, they are treasured or esteemed. We are precious stones, gems of incalculable value.
Simmy had decided she would give a whole bunch of clear jewels to Mama Chaste so she could hand them out to her friends at the old folks home.
Hmm, maybe a note on each one that said, "You are a precious jewel, a special gem of incalculable value."
That sounded good. There weren't too many people who were spreading
   joy, joy, joy... to the old folks  

To Make a Lampshade

... can take all day, almost. If you've never made one, you will discover all the 'areas' of difficulty by the time you're all done the silly thing.
Mostly, you'll know how many times you will likely make another one, if ever.
Happy Friday!
On went the winter boots and Sam and Simmy went for a walk!

They came across the candy house and Simmy snapped a quick pic. The lights on the house zigzagged around the windows in a haphazard way and all the coloured bulbs looked like jube jubes.

It Takes All Day

... to be poor.
Simmy set her mind on making new drapery for her Christmas design scheme. It took all day (or five hours) to make these drapes.
Now, if I was making these drapes for a client instead of just myself I would be in the poor house unless I charged $75 for the time it took to make them, $170 for this particular fabric, (which I bought at a greatly reduced price), and $25 for notions. So, I would need to get $270 for these drapes in order to earn a lower- middle income.
Simmy carefully monitored her time, watching the clock to make sure that the pies that had been ordered by 'who resembles God' would be ready for 3:15 p.m. He 'who resembles God' had stopped by the bake sale on the weekend and asked if it would be possible to buy pies on Thursday...
'I get paid on Thursday, he said.'
"Of course I can make them for you on Thursday," Simmy had replied.
People all want to have the same things... the social ability to live a decently prosperous life to be able to hold their head up in the presence of their peers, without shame, even when there are obvious and visible disparities in how everyone gets to live. 
A knock at the back door showed tired eyes and a bone weary worker. Simmy opened the door and said, "I just pulled out the apple pie and I'll just quickly take out the pumpkin pie. I wanted to have them as fresh as could be for you."
"They smell so good," he said.
"Good! So, what do you do for a living?"
He 'who resembles God' said he had worked in a factory for 33 years and Simmy said that Sam had been doing the same kind of work for about that long as well.
"Does he get a half hour lunch though, because we don't," he said.
"Well no, he takes two 15 minute breaks back to back and then he gets to go home that half hour earlier."
"Well, we don't get any formal breaks. We had to sign off on that though... for the labour laws... but every worker gets to take a bathroom and smoke break every hour."
"Well, that is something at least. It keeps people from getting careless from monotonous work."
"Oh, we rotate every hour as well," he said.
"That should keep injuries down then," Simmy said.
As she placed the hot pies in his hands, he let out a little groan of appreciation and said, "Oh, I know these will be good just by how good they smell."
As he walked down the street, Simmy was happy that she had made the day of a hard worker just a little better.
The next thing she would have to pray for was a dental and health plan for these workers.
The article below is a good read and poignant in light of the rich versus poor riots currently happening in the world.
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/sites/default/files/uploads/publications/reports/docs/SIC_2009_report_120909.pdf

Flower Power

Simmy made her first fabric flower in greens and gave it to Youthful. It was bohemian chic with lovely burnt edges. Sorry I don't have a picture of it... I gave it away too quickly.
The second fabric flower was a velvet, crepe and organza violet ballet. It was quite easy to see why people charged so much for them. They do take a long time to make... 20- 30 minutes apiece unless you cut out multiples.
The riots all over the world have inspired me to be riotous in making beautiful things... my little protest against the too rich is to buy from my own business this year... somebody has to support me... might as well start with people who appreciate me... why, of course I appreciate myself... I do great work. 

Diamond in the Rough

 

"Guess what I saw at my favorite department store, Sam?"
Sam was just up from his nap and he was getting his coffee so he wasn't too reciprocal in his responses.
"You know that rough cut diamond tree that I made last year at the shoppe? Brian Gluckstein has got trees that look exactly like that in this years' Christmas decor. He must have had a factory make them though because his are molded without framework underneath. I had to use a frame to hot glue all my acrylic rock crystals onto. It took me seven hours to make my tree. I'm guessing his didn't take quite that long to make."
Sam chuckled good naturedly at the frustrated tone in Simmy's voice.
"I wonder if he had the idea before you had yours," Sam mused.
"I've always liked his stuff so I'll assume we had the idea at the same time," Simmy huffed.
"Oh, Sam, I forgot to tell you what happened to me... when you had your nap."
"Hmm?" Sam sounded a little less than interested but Simmy needed to tell her little story so...
"Do you know that new little paved path that we rode our bikes on last time we went out for a cycle?"
"Mmm Hmm," Sam monotoned with toothpaste in his mouth.
"Well, I decided to go roller blading seeing as the snow that fell yesterday had melted. So, I get to that new little paved path and I think to myself... what a wonderful little path to try my roller blades on. I get about halfway down the path and I noticed that the green space, right beside, has brand new sod on it. It must have been laid just hours before this because the overlapped pieces of sod weren't even cut off yet. I'm a bit distracted and suddenly I find myself slipping on greasy mud and I almost face plant before I jump onto the sod to avoid that unpleasant experience. I decide to walk on the sod to get to the paved street but after a few steps I look down and my roller blades look like Sasquatch feet there is so much grass stuck in the wheels. I stand there for a few seconds trying to decide how I'm going to get out of this predicament. I'm feeling pretty silly but desperate too. I decide to walk on the mud encrusted path to try to stomp some of the mud and grass out of my wheels."
"That must have been cute. You were probably in the mood to stomp by then anyway," Sam said with amusement.
"No kidding," Simmy agreed. "I finally get myself onto the pavement and I start roller blading really slowly because if the wheels lock my face will meet the pavement really fast. I've learned that the hard way," Simmy quipped deliberately.
"I managed to get the wheels free enough of mud to get them spinning fairly quickly and I was just glad I didn't have to walk home in my socks like that other time," Simmy shuddered.
"The workers who laid that sod probably thought some stupid kids had to go and roller blade on their work before they even had it done," Sam said.
Simmy got a wide- eyed look on her face, realizing that she hadn't even given the fresh sod one little thought she had been so concerned with getting out of this little predicament.
Guilt flashed across her face, the kind only responsible people can experience... responsible, grown- up people who have raised responsible children.
Simmy whipped her head around at the sound of a little snort and Sam was doing all he could to hold in his laughter before Simmy suddenly found the whole thing too ridiculous not to laugh at it.
"Well, at least they won't suspect me! I'm way too old to be that stupid kid!" 

 

"Think of it this way! Brian Gluckstein's blog is boring compared to yours. His stories aren't nearly as entertaining!" Sam said cajolingly.

"Thanks Sam! I don't think I'm feeling consoled. I'm just a diamond in the rough, literally and figuratively... today anyway!"

Duller Color?

4:00 Colour still looks best taken without a flash. I tried it many different ways but it looked 'truest' without a flash.

5:00 Colour still looked best without flash again... it's the shiny Christmas ornaments coming to life as it gets darker outside.
Experimenting with light and colour never 'gets old.'

Always enlightening!

P.S. To the person looking for non- copyrighted Christmas images... do your own work... at the end of the day, you'll like yourself better if you just put your nose to the grindstone and apply yourself to creating your own life and life's work. Taking from someone else will only make you feel inferior and when it counts you may not be able to pull it off because you won't have 'done your homework.'

November Afternoon Light

Every designer knows that 'light changes everything.' Natural light and artificial light make colours look completely different.
One of the most difficult colours to 'show true' is purple... and blue...
in some light, purple looks blue and in different light, blue looks purple.
I was watching a design show a couple of days ago and the fabric that the designer was holding and moving about was 'blue' but each movement of the fabric made the colour flip from purple to blue to purple and back to blue again.
With all the 'on- site' filming that is happening these days... and dealing with lighting, often florescent,... that the scenes are filmed in... this little phenomenon is likely to happen more often.
It is less contrived and, maybe, the learning will be in the 'less perfected' images that we watch.
Bright sunshine will reflect off of shiny purple spandex football uniforms and, like the Western Mustangs football game the other day, those pants showed purple, then blue, then purple, then blue... so, to the color purple, or is it blue...
we'll pause for that moment of silence for the all victims of abuse in all walks of life... it isn't always pretty, is it? 
Here is a non- traditional Christmas wreath for the non- traditional.

Putting the decoration in a new and brighter spot, very non- traditional spot, provides a new look altogether.
... brighten the corner where you are.

Lemon Pie Special

Simmy couldn't resist the lemon pie. She cut a piece and decided... hey, are my customers worth more than my own taste buds?
No!
The knife slipped through the pie like butter... it was still slightly warm but it didn't fall apart when she cut it... perfect!
Can you sell a pie with a piece missing?
Sure you can... we'll call it a 'Lemon Pie Special.'
It's fit for a King or Queen... they always have to have people taste their food to make sure they're not being poisoned. Right?
It's perfect! I could type this story with ease... now, where's the royalty that wants to buy 3/4 of a pie?

Freshen Up!

Start a new romance with a fresh colour scheme and fall in love with your home all over again!

Cinnamon Buns

The whole house smelled like a big yummy cinnamon bun... old fashioned taste and timeless treasured scent. Mmmm! Good!

Mailbox of Memories

The Christmas Shed would be open for business on the weekend. Simmy thought it would be nice to include something special for people who wanted to celebrate Remembrance Day.
So, the...                                Mailbox Of Memories 
Will be available for anyone to drop a note… a prayer request for healing- of relationships or physical healing, a special memory, a happy memory, a note to someone who has left this world, a note to someone who hasn’t…
 

Each note will be handled with the utmost respect and a little prayer will be sent up for each note and then...

shredded for your privacy. If names are to be attached to the notes, first names are all that is needed.

 The Christmas Shed will be open for you to shop and browse but wear a coat... it's a little nippy outside.