Lazy snowy day

Today it snowed nearly all day. I slept and read a lot - though I should have been wrapping packages and cleaning. Ah well...

Here's another picture from yesterday's walk.

I rarely use black and white, but I thought it worked for this photo. The lake is frozen and the fisherman can no longer use the boat that used to be tied up on this dock. Instead, they go ice-fishing, either sitting out on the lake or in those little houses you can see in the distance. I don't quite get the attraction.

I'd rather sit on my nice comfy couch in my nice warm house, sip hot cocoa, and read a good book. I wish you all a warm, comfy, happy Christmas Eve.

Celebrate the light

Today is the winter solstice. In the Twin Cities, the sun officially rose at 7:48 am and set at 4:35 pm giving us only 8 hours and 47 minutes of daylight. I've recently met a family that holds a solstice party every year. It made me realize that this is a day I really should celebrate, for from now until June, we have a little more sunlight every day. I will be thankful for each additional minute.

Of course, today I did not get out in the sunlight very much. Well, there wasn't a lot anyway - it was cloudy most of the day. But I spent about 6 hours in malls, getting my shopping done. Yes, I put it off for a long time - I had only barely started before today. But still, I didn't really stress out about it. I just shopped methodically, and now I think it will be ok if I don't buy anything else. Though I still may...

When I did get home, I decided I should take the dog on a walk and get some pictures after the dusting of snow last night. Here's the best of the bunch:


This picture reminds me of how much fun the simplest things can be. I'm happy that I can run, that I have a great camera, that I live near the woods, that there is snow on the ground, that my family is safe and warm at home, and that I have a dog to show me how to live in the moment.

Tree's up!

Our Christmas tree is finally up! We usually do get it up closer to Thanksgiving, but this year my son has his own apartment and my daughter is at college. We didn't make a point of putting up the tree over Thanksgiving break, so we decided to wait until the daughter made it home. She got home tonight, so my son came over and we all decorated and ate Candy Cane Pie.

You know those trees you see in malls and magazines that have color themes and symmetry? Our tree will never, ever look like that. A lot of our ornaments are handmade - some made by us, some by friends and family, some purchased at crafts fairs. A lot of them are of animals. Some are just so darn cute. But few of them are alike. It's comfortable, homey, relaxed, even haphazard - a lot like my family. That's my kind of tree.

Recognizing Christianity and Islam

On one of the blogs I recently started reading, I noticed today's entry about H.R. 847 Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian Faith. Naturally, as I read I was getting ready to rant away about separation of Church and State, that Christmas certainly needs no protection, that it is already a national holiday, for gosh sakes.

Then I got to the one little line about H.R. 635, recognizing Ramadan. Here is the text, from religioustolerance.org

"Recognizing the commencement of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal, and commending Muslims in the United States and throughout the world for their faith.

Whereas since the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, threats and incidents of violence have been directed at law-abiding, patriotic Americans of African, Arab, and South Asian descent, particularly members of the Islamic faith;

Whereas, on September 14, 2001, the House of Representatives passed a concurrent resolution condemning bigotry and violence against Arab-Americans, American Muslims, and Americans from South Asia in the wake of the terrorist attacks;

Whereas it is estimated that there are approximately 1,500,000,000 Muslims worldwide;

Whereas Ramadan is the holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal for Muslims worldwide, and is the 9th month of the Muslim calendar year; and

Whereas the observance of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan commences at dusk on September 13, 2007, and continues for one lunar month:

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That--

(1) during this time of conflict, in order to demonstrate solidarity with and support for members of the community of Islam in the United States and throughout the world, the House of Representatives recognizes the Islamic faith as one of the great religions of the world; and

(2) in observance of and out of respect for the commencement of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal, the House of Representatives acknowledges the onset of Ramadan and expresses its deepest respect to Muslims in the United States and throughout the world on this significant occasion."

Now I'm a little conflicted. Again, separation of church and state! To me that means, no state actions for or against a specific religion - even something as benign as "recognizing" it. And yet, with all the negativity against Islam today, I like to see the government making such a gesture towards the Muslim community.

If I'm going to allow that H.R. 635 is not such a bad thing, then I don't see a consistency in completely condemning H.R. 847. So I think instead, we should all campaign for similar resolutions regarding Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Sikhism, Jainism, Shinto and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. And that list is by no means exhaustive, so recognizing all world religions will keep the House busy for a while... Oh wait - did we expect them to actually govern??

One other little quote regarding this issue: "Congress regularly passes resolutions commemorating holidays such as Christmas, Kwanzaa and Hanukkah. But the Oct. 2 vote marks the first time Congress has passed a resolution recognizing Ramadan, which ends Oct. 12 this year." (Pew Forum, quoted by religioustolerance.org) So maybe Congress has made more progress on my list than I thought. I'm still waiting for the resolution recognizing the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Fortune cookie of the day:
The Tao that can be described is not the everlasting Tao.
(Well, I was on the subject of religion, and I found that one in my collection)

Random excitement

Last night when I came home from agility, there were two police cars with flashing lights on the main road by my house - one on the corner where I turn, and another further down. Soon there was a helicopter overhead, lighting up our yard with a spotlight. One of my co-workers has a daughter who works for the local police, so I told her about it today. She found out that a repo guy was trying to repo a car and the owner took off, almost dragging the repo guy with him. The cops were trying to find him - and finally did, at his house. Nice to have contacts who can tell you these things...

Agility was great. Bravo was clearly glad to be back after a month off. And he was really good. Frankly, he was pretty much the best of all the dogs. And we were the only team who tried the off-side weaves from the very first. See, the dog always has to enter the weave poles with the first pole on their left. This seems to be easier for most handler-dog combos if the handler has the dog on the left. If the handler has the weave poles and dog on the right at entry, it's off-side. The handler has to decide which side to use based on the best path to the other obstacles. In the course last night, choosing off-side weaves gave the handler the shortest distance to travel. Which is best for us since Bravo is so fast - gives me a little more time. Bravo did miss the entry slightly - he kept making his first entry at the second pole instead of the first - but still better than many of the others who made the "easier" on-side approach. All in all, I was quite proud. And really happy to be out for something other than work. Glad to be feeling mostly better!

Fortune cookie of the day:
Calamity is the touchstone of a brave mind.

Of books

I am currently reading two books - unusual for me, especially since they are both non-fiction.

The first is Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet. It is a memoir of an autistic savant - a very interesting view into an alternative way of seeing the world. He says he sees numbers as shapes, colors and textures, and explains how this helps him with things such as remembering what cards have been played. It's so unusual for an autistic person to be able to explain how they are so different - it's fascinating.

The second is Fair Game, Valerie Plame's memoir of life in the CIA and betrayal by the White House. Even though large sections of the book have been blacked out (the CIA had to approve publication, and made numerous redactions), there is enough to make interesting reading. And there is a postscript written by someone else that puts together the story based on published materials and independent research. I've taken to reading the relevant section of the postscript first, and then going on to read the main memoir. It makes the story easier to understand.

I'm still recovering from a bad cold, and since it is frigid outside, I've been staying home where it is warm and doing a lot of reading. And watching HGTV.

Fortune cookie of the day:
The best way to destroy your enemy is to make him your friend.

What's up, Minnesota?

When I first moved here, I was shocked at how well Minnesota handled snowfalls. Our cul-de=sac was always plowed within just a few hours of the snow's end, and they even plow the sidewalks! But that has been gradually changing, and yesterday's snowfall was a shock in the other direction.

Yes, it snowed all day, but not hard - we got less than 5 inches. And according to the news, rush hour started at 2 because people wanted to get home before everyone else. So why was it still impossible to get on the highway near my office 3 hours later? The road in front of my office was totally clogged because cars weren't moving on the highway, and the on-ramps were clogged. So when the lights changed, people making left turns would block all of the lanes, and even those of us going straight couldn't move. Total gridlock.

Apparently the streets downtown were just as bad as the highways. The paper said it took one driver an hour to go six blocks. And 20-minute commutes were taking 2 hours. I was lucky - my 5-minute commute only took 30 minutes. Actually, it went very well once I got past the highway.

Have we gotten soft after a few years without much snow? We should be able to handle 5 inches much better than this.

Snow stopped by bedtime last night. This morning, the sidewalk along 86th Street is plowed, but the streets in my little neighborhood are not. I think that's ironic.

Fortune cookie of the day:
Memories make what we are. Dreams make what we'll be.