Bill's Posterous

General Store

There is an old fashion general store that I often pass by, I have always wanted to get its picture. I took some last night with my iPhone. It was really too dark but I do like what I was able to produce.

Taken with the iPhone 4 using Camera+, processed with Camera+, MonoPhix, & PhotoForge 2

Thoughts On Losing My Mother

If you have lost a parent, then I'm not going to tell you anything new; if you haven’t lost a parent, I don’t think I’m going to tell you anything that will help, but these are just my thoughts on losing my mother.

My mom, as it is with moms, was great, and I will miss her terribly. But a lot of what I will miss was already gone in the sickness and pain in which she was living. The lively, vivacious woman, who at my wife's bachelorette’s party was still raring to go when the young women were calling it a night, was no more. The heart attacks, the diabetes, the pain, the general decay of the body had suppressed that. It didn't kill it, because it was a part of who she was, but it was buried under the crush of decay.

My mom was a small-town girl, who married the love of her life, lived many different and sometimes sophisticated places, at times had to be a single parent, but never lost that small-town wonder and optimism, and never lost the love and respect she had for dad; they would have celebrated their 60th anniversary this month. She was a good person and loved life and people and music. Her passion was music and in her life she always pursued that passion.

Mom could be tough at times; she knew what she wanted and was not willing to settle for second best. She thought she was worth the best, and I agree, she was.

I got my love of cooking from my mom; she started me with easy things: hamburger helper hash or spaghetti but we moved on to better things. I remember one time when I was in the Navy standing in a payphone in California calling her for instructions on how to cook a turkey for Thanksgiving. Some of her recipes continue to be family heirlooms: her potato salad and her version of macaroni and hamburger being two particular favorites.

Mom and I didn’t always agree, but we always loved each other. I learned a lot from mom about acceptance, faithfulness, and longsuffering. Even while she was sick and in pain she looked for the little joys she could still have: getting her hair done, a particular lunch, a drink at Starbucks. She struggled with her body’s betrayal of her joyous spirit, and sought to extract every joy out of life she could.

I remember mom’s laugh. She loved to laugh and laughter came easy to her. She would often laugh at her own foibles, such as getting lost on trips. Long before the age of the GPS, she would embark on trips and eventually get to her destination with funny stories of how they got lost, but finally made it. Life was always an adventure she delighted in.

Mom, as is the way with moms, loved her children and supported them in what they wanted to do. She loved and accepted our spouses as her own sons and daughters. She delighted in her grandchildren, and was proud of every accomplishment no matter how small or insignificant, because for her, nothing her children or grandchildren did was small or insignificant.

My favorite picture of my mom I took about two years ago when I was down for a visit. I had set up the lights and posed mom and dad just so. After several shots I had dad give her a kiss on the cheek. It turned out better than I imagined. There was the beauty, love, and tenderness that over 50 years of marriage can produce in that one picture.

Mom also loved the Lord and had a true, deep abiding faith. It is a great comfort to me to know that now she is with her true beloved in heaven. She will also be with her granddaughter, Laura Grace, who went home some years ago. I imagine them now playing together as they never could here, mom singing with her, laughing with her, delighting with her, all in the radiance of Christ. Both of them free from the pains and corruption of the body, fully enjoying the life they now have before the throne of grace. To paraphrase David, they will not come to us, but one day we will go to them, and find delights with them in God’s kingdom.

While in DC...

Random Window in DC

Winter's Last Hurrah

(download)

Why I despise Valentine's Day

Why do I despise Valentine's Day and refuse to celebrate it? There are several reasons and I will take them in no particular order.

First there is the commercialism of the enterprise. Everything is geared to forcing men to buy expensive, useless gifts for their women. Please note, men are the target, we will look at that in more detail later. This whole enterprise is to make us spend money, on greeting cards, candy, flowers, and jewelry and not much else. For woe is the man who would actually think about what his woman needs and buy a practical gift for her. We have been taught that he is a dolt and will end up in the dog house. You must buy the "approved" gifts. Buy your woman a vacuum instead of a bracelet you are an unromantic slob who just doesn't get it. It doesn't matter that you actually took the time to think about her and her needs, you did not meet the official (i.e. merchants who are expecting you to drop loads of cash) execrations.

Secondly there is the symbology of the whole thing: strictly pagan. It is named for a pagan god and it continues in that vein. Not something that a Christian should support.

Next there is the stereotypes: Men are unromantic dolts who must be told by a greeting card company when to tell their woman that they love them. Really, the man who wooed and won his woman is now so bereft of any romantic feeling and actions that someone else must tell him when to tell his woman that he loves her. And the message is we really only need to tell her that we love her once a year - as long as it is accompanied by the correct product.

Note: I tell my beloved that I love her all the time and in many different ways. I don't need a greeting card company or jewelry company to give me pointers (along with a lot of my cash).

But also, what is it really saying about women? That they are shallow and vain and will only be appeased from their doltish men if they are provided the latest approved gift. Women, is this the image you really want to represent you?

Also, please note, the ads are targeted to men, not women. Why is that? Are women not required to give a gift? Oh, that's right, they are, and that brings me to the next point.

One other point, the subtext is that if men buy the correct, approved gift then they will "get lucky" that night. Now we are back to commerce. What do we call a woman who engages in intimate relations for payment of some sort? (Answer to be provided by the student). Personally I think better of my wife than this.

Usury

From Calvin's Commentary on Psalm 15: "With respect to usury, it is scarcely possible to find in the world a usurer who is not at the same time an extortioner, and addicted to unlawful and dishonorable gain. Accordingly, Cato of old justly placed the practice of usury and the killing of men in the same rank of criminality, for the object of this class of people is to suck the blood of other men. It is also a very strange and shameful thing, that, while all other men obtain the means of their subsistence with much toil, while husbandmen fatigue themselves by their daily occupations, and artisans serve the community by the sweat of their brow, and merchants not only employ themselves in labors, but also depose themselves to many inconveniences and dangers - moneymongers should sit at their ease without doing anything, and receive tribute from the labor of all other people. We should keep ourselves from plundering and devouring the poor who are in distress and want. The gain which he who lends his money upon interest acquires, without doing injury to any one, is not to be included under the head of unlawful usury."

I think these days, pretty much all credit card companies practice usury. Free yourself from their "tender mercies."

Great Heinlein Quote

“Political tags—such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal conservative, and so forth—are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire. The former are idealists acting from highest motives for the greatest good of the greatest number. The latter are surly curmudgeons, suspicious and lacking in altruism. But they are more comfortable neighbors than the other sort.” - Robert Heinlein

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