A Smattering of This and That

I've been thinking of too many things lately and with only a bit of time will attempt to convey here some of these thoughts. Some of these ideas could be a post by themselves, but alas and alack.

Baseball starts tomorrow. Still no grass on the infield, but not much water also. The new drainage system seems to be working and the addition of sod will help. This will be another interesting year in ways that I can see and some I can't yet.

Tomorrow I will be a cog in a meeting where more of the "plan" will be laid out for the six period day next year. I hope this time I won't lose the discretion that controls my tongue part of the time. The following will be an overstatement, but it's how I've been thinking lately. I feel like an extremely tiny version of the soldiers at Gallipoli in WWI. I recently saw a newer Robert Redford movie, Lions for Lambs. The title comes from a German general's comment about the British Army in WWI. Whether the quote is "Lions led by donkeys," or "Nowhere have I see such Lions led by such Lambs," you get the drift that somewhere decisions are being made that don't always make sense, nor seem to be thought out completely. But we're moving full steam ahead.

The movie is a good one to make you think. I've watched parts twice before getting to watch the whole thing in full. It's not a happy movie, but each time I have been focusing more and more on the Redford/professor and students sections. The idea of doing something for your fellow man is being shouted to me. Maybe it's only me, but that is a theme I've been dwelling upon lately.

I just finished Farm City, The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter. It is a book I grew into liking, then hoping it wouldn't end. She is a few years ahead of where we want to be, so it was an inspiration to read. Towards the end Novella wrote about the dumpster diving for pig feed/salami/prosciutto making of owning a pig. I became really intrigued with that, both the pig raising and the salami eating. Many ideas and thoughts will come from reading and rereading this book. Hopefully some action as well.

Maureen years ago led me to two wonderful writers, Susan Issacs and Diane Nienhuis. They led me to the Burnside Writers Collective, to which they contribute. While reading Diane today I wandered over to the Collective and stumbled upon this article by Karen Spears Zacharias. Maureen and I have been talking a bit about the Robertson comment, but more about the Prosperity movement within the modern Christian church. This article addresses some of those thoughts. Having someone in Haiti trying to do good has focused me again on whether my efforts to help others are effective or not.