ANOTHER WRIST FRACTURE

To tell the tale briefly, at 5:00 AM we noticed people entering the neighbor's house. Very rare; very strange, since this elderly couple always sleeps late into the morning. Fearing for Rosemary's health, Betty struck off barefooted in the dark to see whether the vehicle was an ambulance or a fire truck with paramedics and, of course, to offer her help. At the property line she tangled her feet in some low-lying shubbery and down she went, again. As we are all prone to do, out went the hand and the wrist took the weight of the fall, as always.

At first, hoping for a mere strain, a brace and sling were employed, and she went back to bed. However, after Sunday morning services the pain and swelling required a closer, medical examination. I was ill at home with a raging head cold, and did not dare risk the public health by taking my draining and sneezing to the Emergency Room, so we asked Super-daughter, Patty, to taxi her Mom to the ER and stand-in for me. After X-Rays, a cast and sling, and advice to promptly see a bone doctor (and a shopping detour for Thanksgiving groceries), they returned with confirmation of a wrist injury.

REBOUND, a local orthopedic and neurological medical practice is famous for (1) tending to the breaks and strains of the Portland Trail Blazers and (2) for tending to Betty's related needs. It was Rebound who repaired and pinned her right wrist a while back, and it was Rebound who pumped super-glue into her crushed vertebrae recently. This time, the diagnosis - another classic wrist stress fracture - and the cast/sling are first steps in another six or eight week period of healing time, with all the challenges of dressing, bathing, and daily living that are complicated by a"hard-splint" which currently reaches from mid-fingers to above the elbow. When one is already balance-challenged, having one arm mostly immobile just complicates balance and getting around the house. After a few days we hope, Rebound may install a shorter cast, and that will help a lot. Meanwhile, we are starting to figure out how Memaw is going to hug on Eli when he comes for Christmas vacation.

"What can I do?", you ask? Cards and calls and reassurance are nice. She's expressed feeling kind of dumb and useless. Assure her she is neither, and that I vitally need her all the time to make me feel worthy. Our deepest thanks to Patty who somehow found abundant time in the midst of her 36 hour days to lend a hand even in the middle of preparing a pulled pork dinner for thirty teenagers.

To check out Betty's blog too, just click here http://www.wordsndeeds.blogspot.com/

Oh. About the neighbors? The were just leaving on a brief trip for the holiday. We are glad that it wasn't what we feared.

A DOG NAMED SPOT

Many of you who read my blogs are aware that my Bride, Betty, is an accomplished writer. Much of her recent acclaim has been the result of her book , "JESSIE", which you should obtain and read if you have not done so yet.

Betty also writes for other venues. In the example I am sharing in this post, she had written about one of our youngest son's favorite toys, Spot. Because we all enjoyed the story so much, she was encouraged to submit it to her favorite magazine, "Christian Woman". After a few rounds of correspondence, and a period of waiting, the story has been published as the second featured article in the Nov/Dec 2009 edition.

The little tale is about a special stuffed animal which is so loved it needs to be recovered time and again as it accompanies our son through his childhood. Granny Ruth, Betty's mother, rebuilds Spot each time his hide begins to fray from all the shared adventure. Although Spot's appearance consequently changes from time to time, his vital companionship never fails the boy who caries him through life. There is a lot of love in Grandma's repairs too, and the precious story is told in heart touching words. This is one of Betty's best "Short stories".

Ask around and find a friend who receives the magazine. It's a good publication and quite popular among ladies in our congregation.

Christian Woman magazine is published in Nashville. I do not know of any newsstand or magazine rack or bookstore in our region where copies may be purchased. Perhaps a copy could be arranged by calling 1-800-251-8446 or by clicking http://www.gospeladvocate.com/. If I understand the inserted subscription postcard, a new, first-year subscription costs $10.00 at Gospel Advocate Company, 1006 Elm Hill Pike, Nashville TN 37210-9910. This would be a great gift for any reason or season for any Christan woman. Ladies: Tell the significant "him" in your life you want a subscription; leave the address and price in plain sight; remind him often. Men: Always wondering what to get for "her"? Take a hint for Christmas.

"CLEANING-UP" THE LAPTOP

Like everything else around here, this laptop finally became so cluttered and packed with cyber-dust-bunnies that I caved in and took it to our unofficial guru, Greg.
He dumped everything, reinstalled the essentials, dosed me with some encouragement and sent me home with precise instructions which turned to vague fog before I mustered the courage to began pecking away at the little tasks of restoring data for programs I had purchased over several years.
The worst irritant was the penchant of the touchpad to be wildly erratic and the cursor to jump madly about during typing. Apparently this well known phenomena has plagued others since there was a lot of advice and commentary which led to another driver download that seems to have mostly cured the problem.
The process, which some call a "dusting" others call "detox" and other terms not suitable for this family blog site, I am calling "rehab." The fix is mostly in place, but over time I will still have to deal with the erratics and minor glitches one at a time; for example, many of the windows look different in size and font than I have been used to, and some windows are different in appearance than before.
I just mention this to explain why there have been recent gaps in my blogs, e-mail responses, and follow-ups for some folk. Next week, to deal with one peculiarity which has stumped me, the computer will do another overnight on Greg's bench for what I hope will be the last necessary tweaking.
Why is it that these computers, which promised to save us so much time and effort, require so much time and effort to maintain? Why do these superfast devices consume so much of the time of our lives without improving significantly the times of our lives? That seems "oxymoronic"!!

TIME TO CLEAN-UP "THE FALL"

It's Fall, i.e. Autumn, and the leaves are falling! These two street-type maples dropped almost everything in a couple of days after a cold spell and a heavy rain.

We have a several dogwoods and they are quick to drop their leaves too, taking turns according to their specific variety. That helps with the raking/mowing chore the mess requires.

The larger trees - ornamental cherries, the zelcova sawtooth (a type of elm), the Chinese elm, and others - are just getting started. These take their time and dribble loads like this for two or three weeks, so they take a lot more time to clean up after. Worse yet are the Austrian Pines which hold dead needles until a strong wind blows which causes them to foul the lawn with needles and cones. Ugly mess.

Finally, is the interesting ginko biloba tree, said to be an ancient contemporary if the dawn redwood, both of which come from somewhere in central Asia. Long thought to be extinct, once rediscovered they have become quite popular as a landscape tree and the leaves are reputed to be an aid to memory. Ask any herbal pill shop. The curious part is that our tree will cling to its odd shaped leaves until the first heavy frost and will then drop them all (99%) overnight. We haven't had a strong frost yet, as you can tell.

We love the brilliant hues of this season, and 2009 has been especially colorful. Still, all the leaves eventually come down, must be gathered, and eventually end up as compost for the garden or as fodder for a nearby worm farm. Would it sound too morbid to point out that this is pretty much the story of our lives? We start out as seedlings, struggle a while as we grow tall, eventually come into a more or less colorful prime, worry all the time about broken limbs and such, and at the end we all become compost. Hmmmm. Were it not for God's intervening Grace, we would have no hope at all. I prefer thinking about what our creator's wonderful craftsmanship can make of us if we conform to the touch of His hands. You can become a work of beauty if you conform to His will. Our destiny can be in a place of honor and splendor; it need not be a worm farm after all.

OUR BIRTHDAY BOY!

Without a doubt, I love my sons, and that includes this bonus one my daughter married nearly twenty-two years ago. He's a fine hubby to her, a great dad to their three girls, a good provider, and he is quick to lend a hand wherever needed.
As to that birthday, Edwin is only slightly over-the-hill today - just a couple of years. [Trivia: He shared the date with my mother who would have been 90 today, but he's not that old.]
We all enjoyed a special dinner tonight at Outback. My joy is seeing how caring and gentle he is with the girls, especially "Twinkie".
The plan is for him to enjoy the camping / recreation chair that was in that great big birthday package.

CONGRATULATIONS, Son, on another year.

READING REPORT #3 - Books I plan to read soon.

Should I list all the books I have on hand - in the "to be read" line, so-to-speak - the list would number several dozens, I suppose, but many of those are mysteries or pulp fiction that only take a day or two to finish and are often by authors who turn out a book or two annually. I may never catch up on these authors. However, there yet remains a list of books for which I am still searching, and this list steadily grows even though I make periodic rounds of favorite bookshops and websites. In other words, the rate of gathering the books never seems to match the rate of adding new possibilities to the list, so I am always on the lookout for books, but the specific titles keep changing as targets are acquired and read.

Next I must decide whether to keep the book - to be reread someday, to become part of a collection by that author or on that subject, or for other future use. If I decide not to hold on to a title, I must figure out whether to give it away, resell it online or to a local book dealer, or donate it to Goodwill or a similar outlet. Even the list of book sets I keep is flexible since my tastes change, the quality of a writer's work may decline, or I occasionally thin the book holdings for various reasons.

OK, Time to refocus and return to the purpose of this entry. Here a few books that are physically actually stacked up and destined to be read next.

3:16. The Numbers of Hope by Max Lucado. Actually, this book has been on the someday list since it was mentioned to me last year (and because I am selectively collecting other books by Lucado). After struggling with my own opinion of Max Lucado's doctrinal anomalies, I realized that he does not always inject into his writings the aberrations to which I do not subscribe. He does have a wordsmith's way of identifying describing some of the fundamentals of faith I hold to be essential - for example, the purpose and particulars of the Passion of the Christ. When he focuses on that without becoming mired in random storytelling, I find I enjoy the story and detail of the salvation saga wrapped with Lucado's language and emphasis.

The Case for a Creator by Lee Strobel. Clearly, Creationism is a hot topic in modern times and is under severe attack by the scientific thought police. Since so much effort and energy is being put into trying to discredit the concept of an "Intelligent Designer", and to destroy the the case for creation, these realities are clearly the strongest foes of the "evolutionary camp". Strobel is a journalist who once he examined the facts became convinced that ... Well, look again at the title. I understand that this book recounts his re-examination of the claims of evolution and his dual conclusion that there is indeed convincing evidence for a Creator and that a host of flaws exist in the data to which the opposing camp clings. If you read Christian Apologetics, join me in reading this one.

Made in America; An Informal History of the English Language in the United States by Bill Bryson (who earlier wrote A Walk in the Woods). What retired English teacher could resist? Looks like a great subject by a good writer. If you like words and word histories, Bill Bryson will delight you. I'm looking forward to this one.

Seldom Disappointed; A Memoir by Tony Hillerman. Just about the first mysteries, and certainly the first mystery series I ever read was the Hillerman collection which features two great fictional lawmen in the Navajo Southwest. Then I worked through all the non-fiction I could find, waited impatiently for subsequent stories to be published, and fell in love with Hillerman's work. Now I am eager to read his story about himself and compare it with my impressions of the man and his mission and the half-dozen magazine articles I have come across during the past twenty years or so. What I already know about his writings and his other accomplishments lead me to think this was a remarkable fellow. It should be an interesting read.

You only Die Once; Preparing for the End of Life with Grace and Gusto by Margie Jenkins. What I know about this book and the author is in the title and on the back cover. I'm going to tackle it now because I am teaching a class for the Senior Saints on the loosely related topics of death and the hereafter sometime referred to in ecclesiastical circles as "last things" or "eschatology". I plan to mine this book (and others) for some practical applications as to how each of us should prepare for the inevitable, both spiritually and in terms of pre-death decisions and paperwork. (I am open to receiving helpful materials in this area if you have anything useful.) Vital Papers? Cherished memories and possessions to pass along? Medical care options? Plan your funeral or memorial and get in the last word? live to the fullest meanwhile? Gotta start somewhere, and this book seems to have possibilities.

As always, I reserve the right to change the books in the stack and opt for another book which catches my fancy. In fact, I'm already working on the second in John Dunning's series that starts with Booked to Die. Thanks, Ted!

READING REPORT #2 - Books I'm Reading Now

Actually, blogging on my current reading is rather like baking bread on a galloping horse (or something equally complicated). I can't pre-select the books on hand in precisely enough in advance for the subsequent blog to be completely accurate since I'm reading furiously, as always, and often behave like the little red blood cell who lost contact with his companion because he abruptly changed streams in the middle of the horse. OK, that's a really crummy pun, but... I rarely read all of one book without reading from other books in the same time frame, and I don't read every page of a ho-hummer anyway, preferring to pick up something else that catches my fancy instead.

Nevertheless, here are the main books I am currently reading at various rates.

The Song of Hiawatha by William Wadsworth Longfellow. This edition is the renowned publication that features illustrations by Fredrick Remington of scores of American Indian artifacts and Objects d' Lore. Since I was kid I could quote snatches of the epic poem and now I am seeing them again in context somewhat different than my childhood images. I'm really enjoying it this time.

The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. From the Isabel Dalhousie series comes the first story featuring a lady who edits an philosophical ethics publication in Edinburgh.
This inquisitive woman seems to pick up on seemingly inconsequential events and soon finds herself enwrapped in a mystery which draws her into the secret aspects and lives of those around her. I am assured that the series gets much better after the first couple of books in the set.

High Tide in Tucson by Barbara Kingsolver. In my search and deliberate effort to explore the works of more women writers, I have been intrigued by this author's Poisonwood Bible and particularly by her ability to turn a catchy phrase. "High Tide" is a collection of personal essays written after several of her novels, and it gives an interesting look into Kingsolver's worldviews and attitudes, many times touching on topics and observations of high interest to me. I'm pretty sure this will impact my reading of her fiction work as I get to them later.

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. Sometimes a book manages to hide on my shelves for years before it comes to the top of the list. Because a good friend once recommended Yancey to me I have not previously culled this text, always intending to get to it someday. Finally looking into the opening chapters, I am still looking for the hook I had been given to expect. Still, I suppose, any material that causes me to reflect upon the life of Jesus and compare the validity of its content to the truth found in scripture will be worth the time spent. It's too soon to render an opinion.

The Development of the New Testament Canon by Stanley Paher. Such a deep, complex and scholarly topic for such a small text. This is difficult, even ponderous scrubbing for facts and chronology and not at all designed for pleasure reading. The author openly reveals he bears bias against the common fundamentalist viewpoint about the assembling of the twenty-seven NT books, before he sets about a systematic consideration of the important major manuscripts and significant other portions from which the contemporary New Testament has been compiled. As always, one should compare each new source with proven and respected material as revealed in other trusted texts.

Here is my usual disclaimer: In a couple of weeks this list will likely be out of date, and a new set of books will probably have replaced most of these. Meanwhile, even if I compared these titles to what is actually on my shelves and at chairside and bedside, the lists would not be identical. Every errand day, and each visit to bookstores (or Goodwill) will bring home another handful of selections I will be eager to dive into. In fact, when I get to the list of books I am planning to read next, I have to face a stack of maybe twenty books which will conspire to complicate my decision.

Ain't it grand?

READING REPORT #1 - Recently Read Books

I'm turning to an old standard in order to revive my blogging engine. The "vacation" has been long enough. Maybe I can get back to a weekly entry using this timeless old favorite. I'm going to hold each third to five titles since ten seemed to be a bit overwhelming when encouraging others to follow suit.

These are among the books recently completed:

The Sea Runners by Ivan Doid. Set over a decade before the purchase of Alaska, this novel is based on a true escape by a quartet of mismatched Swedes from their virtual slavery in the Russian commercial post called New Archangel (Sitka, Alaska). After a period of hording stolen supplies, the men steal a Tlingit canoe and strike out south for Astoria, Oregon, the only settlement on the Pacific shore of which they are aware. It will be a journey of over 900 miles along one of the world's most challenging coastlines and against a host of hazardous obstacles. This is an intriguing read in style and content and is easily equal to more familiar classic escape sagas. [5 stars]

Prepared for Rage by Dana Stabenow. Breaking away from her usual genre of Alaskan mystery, Stabenow builds a suspenseful tale of an independent, but highly trained, terrorist who assembles completely secret cell of accomplices for the purpose of destroying a shuttle at the moment of launch. Through her protagonist the author shows insight to the Coast Guard as she weaves a plausible and intricate dual plot line. It was pulp mystery, but it kept me going. [3 stars]

The Cloud Atlas by Liam Callahan. A novel built in part around the secret efforts to discover and neutralize a host of Japanese fire-bomb balloons launched against North America during WWII. The intriguing background of this event was told recently in a PBS documentary, which did more to explain the plot of the novel than did the telling of the story itself. Still, a curious tale revealing an historical anomaly of the war virtually unknown until recently. [3.5 stars]

The Pinball Effect by James Burke. Here is a book that proves non-fiction can be fun. Burke, a popular science writer who can make the complex comprehensible to the layman, has tracked hundreds of discoveries showing how a seemingly inconsequential discovery often snowballs into profound results as it is propelled billiard-ball fashion from one developer to another. Here is a series of random findings and observations which seems to illustrate the "butterfly effect" in scientific and industrial application. As each idea or invention was identified it allowed others to move forward to greater and more complex advanced concepts for the greater good. If you like science and history combined, this book will fill you with scores of "I didn't know That" moments. [4 stars]

East of the Mountains by David Guterson. A surgeon, seeking to evade the consequences of his terminal colon cancer, goes back to the hunting grounds of his youth for his final hunt - thus east of the Cascade Mountains. While facing the weight of his life's memories he encounters some individuals who challenge his character and worth. Facing both his intention and his integrity make for a moral introspection full of honesty and new insight. Guterson, who also wrote Snow Falling on Cedars has kept me enthralled in this book too. [4.5 stars]

As always, this exercise in sharing is a thinly disguised attempt to learn from you what you are reading and enjoying. Share the best of your titles in a parallel blog, or if necessary, resort to e-mail, postcards, or send me the books. Just write it down so I won't forget. Watch for upcoming lists of books I am reading now and of books I am going to read soon.

PS OK, I do need to mention one more book recently read and enjoyed immensely. Water in My Veins is the autobiography of LCDR Ted Robinson, USNR, the Executive Officer of PT Boat 118, who was closely involved in the WWII rescue of John Kennedy, then a future President. (See Betty's blog "An Accidental Rescue") Remember the messsage carved into a coconut which led to the recovery of JFK and his crewmates? That coconut was first delivered to Ted Robinson who became a part of the recovery team which brought back Kennedy and ten survivors of his destroyed PT 109.. A great read, but probably hard to obtain still. It is a POD book, but available through Barns and Nobel and/or Amazon, however it is a bit expensive even in paper covers. It is a story full of heroes, from Grandpa John Oelkers to Robinson himself and is must reading for anyone interested in military history. Incidentally, it would stand alone on it's picture of growing up poor in America prior to WWII. [5 stars, easily!]