MMMMM . . . STRAWBERRIES!

MMMMM . . . STRAWBERRIES!

My daughter-in-law Kris came over yesterday and installed non-slip material on my front steps, plus left me a jar of strawberries from her and son J.D.'s garden. I didn't hear her due to being upstairs next to the air conditioner, but I came down later and found that she had been here. The front steps now look like this:



Great job, Kris, and will make it so that no one will slip on the slippery steps, especially in winter, and sue me!

The strawberries were lovely. I nibbled on them all day and then in the evening I cut the last of them up and ate them with Equal and 1% milk (a diabetic's treat). Here are a couple of shots of the berries.





Somewhat earlier, son Jeff had come down and done away with a bunch of thistles out by my garage. Online friend Andree commented yesterday that she wondered what kind of thistles they were, so I found one in a different area of my place and took this picture of it:



I do not like them, the stickery things!

Thank you to both Kris and Jeff for their assistance yesterday!!

*****

Someone else that I had meant to mention, who was a big help to me on Wednesday, was a cashier named Rachel at the Fred Meyer store in Canby. I was quite sore when I went through her line because of my earlier physical therapy and I had a lot of items in my cart. She was very cheerful, friendly and still professional. She said this was her first job of the day; that she would be shopping and then going to her second. We talked about working and how it was like the old commercial where the baker said it was "time to make the donuts." I was much happier for having been through her line, and after I got home, a bit later in the day, I found on the receipt that Fred Meyer had a web site and I went there. I found a place in which to make comments and I did so, thanking the store and Rachel for the good service that day. I have never done that before but I felt it was very much deserved. I gave them the information for getting back to me but in my comment I said it wasn't really necessary. I think I would have been embarrassed, actually. But if you see Rachel at the Canby Fred Meyer, tell her "hi" for me. :-)

*****

I tried to start reading Stephen Colbert's "I am America (and so can you!)" a couple of days ago. Colbert is clever but I am afraid I don't share his sense of humor. I am ready to give the book away. J.D. and Kris, do you want it?

*****

I am blogging earlier than usual today because it is a working weekend. Right now, I need to go make the donuts. ;-)

THE SHACKA good

THE SHACK


A good friend of mine read the book, "The Shack," by William P. Young, several weeks ago and she told me how she had felt about it: unclear and possibly somewhat confused, but ultimately she believed that it was about forgiveness.

I ordered it from Amazon and I have spent the last several days reading it, just finishing it yesterday. I also as of this moment have not totally crystallized my thoughts and feelings about it. I found it to be an enjoyable read that captured my imagination, although there were moments of sadness, but also parts of it that were joyful.

The book begins on a fairly low note, describing the main character's childhood of abuse, then after he (Mack) has married happily and has had 5 children, he experiences a parent's worst nightmare, the abduction and apparent brutal murder of his youngest child, a daughter named Missy.

A key component of the story that unfolds after this is in the Oregon wilderness, where Mack has been summoned back to the apparent site of Missy's murder in a tumbledown shack by what appears to have been a note from God. There, he experiences some remarkable happenings.

I am not going to give away the ending, but I think that it may have been reading this book over the previous few days that brought about my awareness of my independence issues, which I mentioned in yesterday's entry.

"The Shack" does present some thought-provoking ideas about evil and good, and why there is evil in the world, and what God thinks about it. It also does touch more than once on the question of whether independence is a good thing or not.

My friend told me that she learned after reading the book that it is considered quite controversial. I can see where that could be the case among conservative churchgoers. It does skewer some stereotypical ideas about race and gender and religion -- including expressing God's acceptance of one large church that I especially don't like, as well as one major world religion that I have difficulty accepting. I was made uncomfortable, but maybe that was a good thing.

If you are able to take in concepts that may be new and different, even regarding religion, then you probably will find this book quite intriguing, if not enjoyable. I believe it may be worth giving it a chance, even if it tells a controversial story. I'm thinking that it's not necessary to accept every idea it presents; I certainly don't. But, ultimately, I did feel better for having read it and -- to me -- that counts for a lot.