The Lamp

Kim0 will buck me on this and goodness knows I owe her, but I had to feature her gorgeous mug with The Lamp.  She was not excited to be in the photo.  

Kim surprised me with this beau-ti-mous poppy lamp.  It is the centerpiece of my Grand Room.  Dale Chihuly should create such a lamp.  

"It's your birthday present for the rest of your years!"  Kim declared.

"Thank you!"  was all I could muster. 

Insight of the week

"Then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." Luke 20:25  

The folks at the fed may have my dime but God owns my life.  I am His and He is mine.

Thank you, Nathaniel, for the article that inspired this truth:  "Render unto Caesar:  A Misunderstood New Testament Passage"

Fingers crossed, eyes lifted  

Hilarity of the week: Show and tell

A family brought a picture to conferences this week.  It was Grandma's heart.  The room started to spin as I glanced at the grizzly photo.  The children had missed a week of school due to Grandma's surgery to remove a tumor from her heart.  A note from the doctor might have been less startling.  But it did give a whole new meaning to "Show and Tell."  

Let's just say I haven't laughed that hard - after the family departed with photo in tow - since Danny Beth and I nearly brought home boxed wine from a Vegas grocery store.  Some may recall that sorry incident.  Hilarious!

Quote of the week: the big, the bad, the ugly

It is fashionable to vilify Big Oil, Big Bad insurance companies, doctors and Big Banks.  The only thing allowed to get big is Big Government.

Al MacHendrick's comment on the divide and conquer strategy of the O administration

My favorite leprechaun

Scottish blessing

If there is righteousness in the heart,
there will be beauty in the character.
If there is beauty in the character,
there will be harmony in the home.
If there is harmony in the home,
there will be order in the nation.
If there is order in the nation,
there will be peace in the world.
So let it be

Worldview differences ~ political correctness vs. virtue

In the absence of Righteousness and Holiness, we have this linguine noodle called, “political correctness.”  

Political correctness dictates that we strive for “equal outcomes.”  Now that is an enigma to me.  Does not it matter what one does?  Doesn't input effect outcome?

PC should be replaced with PAE - priorities, attitudes and effort.  These three CHARACTERistics determine how well one does in their family lives, their neighborhoods, in school or the marketplace.  “Priorities, attitudes and effort” furnish the ingredients for a diverse soup replacing the gray gruel of PC's “one size fits all.”  

But in the Alice in Wonderland world of political correctness those who are lagging are to continue to think and act as they have in the past — and yet somehow have better outcomes in the future on the shirt-tails of those who exert effort.  And if the ‘less fortunate’ don’t get the same outcomes as others then according to Alice, it is society's fault!

"Society may lavish thousands of dollars per year on schooling for a youngster who does not bother to study, and yet when he or she emerges as a semi-literate adult, it is considered to be society's fault if such youngsters cannot get the same kinds of jobs and incomes as other youngsters who studied conscientiously during their years in school."  Thomas Sowell

Life is full of inequities.  Equal outcome is nowhere to be found in the shoe leather of our actual experience.  Track meets discriminate against those who are slow afoot. Tests in school discriminate against students who did not study.  Most folks will never earn a Michael Jordan salary.  God did not inplant the athletic ability.  That certainly is an “unfair inequitable outcome.”  Should it be ‘fixed’ ~ micro-managed so that we all earn Jordan salaries?  Where does the micro-managing of re-distribution stop?

"Disregarding criteria in the interest of 'fairness' — in the sense of outcomes independent of inputs — adds to the handicaps of those who already have other handicaps, by lying to them about the reasons for their situation and the things they need to do to make their situation better."  Sowell

Self delusion will not alter one’s direction in a positive sense.  Adopt these virtues: priorities, attitude, effort.  Then trust the One who created each individual with  talents, skills and a perfectly customized personality.  Use them to glorify The Maker.  

Remember the parable of the talents?  One person was given 10 talents, another 5 and still another only 1.  There was no whining about that.  Just the encouragement to nurture what's been given with thanksgiving.  

Santa year round

Let’s define insurance and health care vs medical care.

Health care is what you do in the moments of your life to assure good health.  It is action toward good health or away from it.  If one ingests smoke like a chimney, black soot will collect in the lungs.  Not a wise health care decision.  

Medical care, on the other hand, is what you receive when you go to the doctor.  I am in charge of my own health care but my doctor helps with decisions regarding my medical care.  

Insurance hedges my bets against disease.  The purpose of insurance is to cushion the financial crunch if I find myself in dire straits on the sickness front.  An otherwise healthy person who has worked with the finely-tuned body in good stewardship - health care - may want to have insurance to offset costs of ill health.  Insurance is an answer to a probable math problem.  If my health flies sideways, I have paid into an  insurance fund, so to speak, from which I can draw to cover unforeseen expenses.  Nothing more.  Insurance in America is not a right.  


Each person decides if they want to purchase insurance or not.  Nearly everyone has some income to spend in ways they deem wise.  It's kind of like time in a day:  We all have 24 hours, 1440 minutes to use in one way or another.  In a similar way, individuals decide how to best use their monies earned.  Unlike time, everyone does not have the same income.  But they still decide where to spend it.  Some decide not to spend their limited dollars on medical insurance.  Their choice.

But the Santa Claus politicians who love to give other peoples’ cash away, have proclaimed health insurance "a right."  They have said it enough times that the group-think non-thinkers believe it.  And there is a long line at Santa’s workshop to receive his goodies.  Only trouble, Santa produces not one thing.  He just grabs from one and gives to another.  His creative production is nil.  

Someone wiser than me once said, "If people decide that government's primary role is to give them goodies, it's over."  And I would add that if politicians - aka Santa - figure out that the offering of endless 'free' goodies to the folks helps assure their re-election, the corruption of power will replace the virtue of service.  When the 'giver' plays to the greedy, we're done.  The weight of bureaucratic re-distribution and the costs thereof will bankrupt the nation.  Stick a fork in.  It's pert-near done. 

just cuz it's purdy

uptown Watertown

I love this place!  Amy and I recently relished guitarist extraordinaire, Don Ross, then joined the town-folks for complimentary bread pudding and coffee.
Amy said, "It doesn't feel like we're in Watertown."  No offense intended fare city, but correct assessment.  It seemed like we were in *SF or Fargo.  Fabulous food, wine bar and exceptional musical guests woo me to Goss Opera frequently.  Nothing else like it in town.  And even though it feels culturally "out of town," we are, after all, in Watertown where every other person greets you.  Best of both worlds.

What say you, O Scottish Ones! When are we goin'? 

Highly recommend

Jade Mountain Merlot is densely packed with heady aromas of ripe fruit laced with exotic spices. Flavors of rich dark cherry and plum intermingle with caramel notes and hints of Asian spice and cinnamon. The texture is rich and generous, with firm but approachable tannins. This wine is well structured and harmonious. Cutting to the chase, this wine is delicious!

Ronaldus Magnus

Reagan quote:  The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, "I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

two lives converge ~ Friendship

Jonathan and David - of Biblical fame - exemplify a friendship beyond compare.  Pastor David H. Roper examines this rare but attainable relationship in this article:  http://www.pbc.org/files/messages/18136/18137_3056.pdf

Note the tie-in to marriage: "God's intention for all of us is that we should experience this degree of friendship in marriage..."

Reading this is time well spent over a cup of java on this fine Saturday.

Make a Wish

Joy and her buds karaoke-ing for a worthy cause:  Make a Wish foundation.  Joy's employer - Family Health Care Center - won!

The mom's wish: To see the Last Born mixing it up for the cause.

Let's all change our passwords to gratitude2010.  Would not the world be a happier place?

Who thought of stained glass first?

Glasswing butterfly from the Ecuadorian Amazon

Something whispers that Heaven will be abuzz with these Wonders

don't ask

50 guesses who came up with this wild hair Idea.  But the first 49 don't count.  It's asparagus.  We're all smoking asparagus.  So if it takes me awhile to toddle to the phone next time you Mystery Bloggers call, it's because I had to put out my asparagus.  Don't want the smoke filling up the place.  Green smoke

on earth, 'tis in Heaven

Folks who have visited the Invisible City and returned, speak of flowers that look like glass.  Fragile, transparent.  Did the Maestro Artist  share His skill with Dale Chihuly?  Does Chihuly's glass foliage mirror those seen in God's celestial city? 

Who gave Dale - the glass virtuoso - the idea?

God has given artistic skill to people through the ages.  God enabled skilled men to construct His tabernacle - the place where He dwelt among men.  "See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts - to engage in all kinds of artistic craftsmanship."  The idea and design for His earthly dwelling was God's.  The construction was man's work.  Partnership.  A thing of fragile beauty.

And just to stretch the point, God no longer dwells in tabernacle's made by human hands.  He now dwells in individuals.  You ~ me.  If we are willing.