Sometimes, they're really statues

Blog Action Day - October 15


Blog Action Day is an annual nonprofit event that aims to unite the world’s bloggers, podcasters and videocasters, to post about the same issue on the same day. Our aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion.

This year's issue is Poverty.

I'm planning to take part. Are you?

Find out more.

Jumbunna Lodge

Find out more.

What I really want to know

The following poem from X facta reflects my thoughts and sentiments exactly.

I want to know

I don’t care which denomination or religious community you align yourself with.
I want to know how spiritual you are as a singular person in the daily movement of life.
from xfacta.blogspot.com
I don’t care how many fundamental beliefs you cherish in your head.
I want to know what your heart cherishes, for that is what your hands will ultimately do. Show me what you do with your time and how you spend your money and I will know what your real beliefs are.
from xfacta.blogspot.com
I don’t care what doctrinal knowledge you possess, or how many times you’ve proved your position through the selective use of scriptures.
I want to know how many times you’ve proved God exists by being His helping hand to the lonely, the sick, the poor, and the unseen, unheard voices.
from xfacta.blogspot.com
I don’t care if your church building has fancy stained-glass windows, cushions on the pews, or beautifully landscaped gardens.
I want to know about the people inside. Do they act differently when inside those four walls than when outside? Do they use different words, put on different mannerisms, or even dress differently? Do they have any friends outside those four walls?
kh copyright 2006
I don’t care if you pay tithes and offerings to your local CSP [church service provider], or how much you donate to charities or other tax-deductible organisations.
I want to know how the other 90 percent of your income is spent. Your generosity in all of life speaks more to me of who you are and what kind of God you serve.
from xfacta.blogspot.com
I don’t care where you are on the ladder, or what your title is.
I want to know how much family time was sacrificed to get there and what you will sacrifice to stay there. Show me how much family time and personal time you spend with God, and I will have a clearer picture of where you are spiritually.
from xfacta.blogspot.com
I don’t care which food you choose to eat, or drinks you choose to drink.
I want to know how often you share that food and drink with others. If you practice hospitality - whether your table is groaning with gourmet delicacies, or simply bread and water - that tells me more about your “inner health” than any dietary preferences.
from xfacta.blogspot.com
I don’t care what special days, seasons or festivals you observe.
I want to know how you live sunset-to-sunset every day of the year. Your daily pace, rituals and observations reveal more to me than your beliefs about specific days.
from xfacta.blogspot.com
I don’t care which books or magazines you read, conferences or seminars you attend, or even how much Bible study you do.
I want to know how all that information is making a difference to your ability to live in such a way that I might be attracted to That Story as my own Truth.

RAK ten

I got some lovely yarn from the Random Acts of Kindness group on Ravelry a couple of weeks ago. They weren't enough to make much of anything in one colour, but I managed to combine two of the yarn colours to make this fabulous neckwarmer (pattern by Yarn Ball Boogie - I love his designs).


I initially thought the project was cursed or something. It's a real easy pattern, but it took me about ten false starts before I got anywhere.

The pattern is done in what he calls brioche rib, although some have called it fisherman's rib. I'm not sure which. Either ways, I absolutely love it.

And the most amazing thing was that I had just the right amount of yarn. Nothing left over.

Love the star buttons.

Car rego YAC 477

If you are the owner of car with registration numbers YAC 477 (NSW), YOU ARE AN EXTREMELY RUDE DRIVER.

Parking across a driveway used by eight cars is not cool.

I have had to cancel my plans this evening simply because I could not get out of my driveway.

The hospital across the road does provide a car park. Don't inconvenience eight other people just because you are too cheap to pay the fees.

Depicting reality, or just being too graphic?

Maybe old age is making me more sensitive, but I've been feeling more and more sickened everyday by the time I finish reading the newspapers.

The number of wars and violence probably hasn't changed much over the last few years, but I think the number of graphic images is ever on the increase.

I feel that I'm viewing more and more photos of actual dead bodies, or dismembered body parts, of blood and gore, and whatnot. And I'm talking close up shots of blood oozing from people, or of dead bodies lying on the ground, with their eyes staring vacantly and mouths open.

If memory serves me right, if a photo of dead bodies taken a few hundred metres away used to be considered graphic. But now everything is brought much closer.

Do photographers simply have more powerful zoom lenses than before?

Or are we on the brink of getting (or have already gotten) disensitised by such violence?

I'm not saying we should paint life as filled with sunshine and happiness where violence doesn't occur. I'm all too aware of the many atrocities that we happen to like inflicting on each other. But do we really need to have 10cm high colour photos emblazoned on a page?

I've just seen a photo in the newspaper of an injured journalist trying to hold up his dead comrade. Both have blood everywhere, and honestly, the only thing I feel like doing now is throw up.

One moose, two ??

If one mouse, two mice; and

if one goose, two geese; then

is one moose, two meese?


Photo credit.

Murphy the travelling gnome

A very amusing news report on the travels of a garden gnome.

Yes, one of those clay ones that stand in a garden.

I wanna find a gnome and travel with him too.

Link.

Languished fingerless gloves

So, I've been waiting forever to own a pair of fingerless gloves. I've made two, but I've given both away, so it is with much gladness that I finally have my own pair.

Never knitted a striping pattern before, but I loved the idea of one, so how better to experiment than on my pair? It was a bit of a hassle, changing yarn every six rows, but I love the end result. I'm going to do more striping patterns from now on.

I wanted to embellish with like a cute little flower with leaves, but the knitted flower turned out gigantic, so I'm not sure if the gloves now look pretty or more like I have a strange growth. I'm contemplating putting the leaves on the right hand, so that when my hands are together, they look like a joined plant. But we'll see. I've moved on to my next project now.

The weather is still fairly cool, so I'm looking forward to finally having warm hands without needing to stuff them under my armpits or something.

Making plans

What do you do when you know you have big decisions to make that will change your life, but no idea which way your life should exactly go?

It's really easy to give a knee-jerk reaction when you feel that you're at the crossroads and either need to make a choice, or simply desperately need a change in your life.

You want to plunge in, and do something completely different and go in a totally opposite direction to where you initially thought your life was headed.

But what do you do?

I've had to make those kind of decisions once too often in my life, and often, I realise that all I needed to do was to practice a little patience. And it's usually easier said than done, particularly when you're sick of what you're currently doing or the situation that you're in.

But we need to remember that our time lines are often very different from God's time line.

Everything has its place and time and just because we want something to change does not necessarily mean it is actually time for a change.

What we need to do is to put our faith and trust in God that something will work out, keep praying and keep hoping.

It's not going to be easy, but it will soon become clear.