An Issue

First of all, I just want to say a big, big thank-you for all of you who came with me on my 31 Days challenge.  I am so grateful for your support, your reading of my sometimes-lame posts, and your comments and emails.  There was only one day out of the whole month that I missed posting!  That's pretty darn good, says I, since I didn't really think I'd succeed in making half the month.  So if it's possible for me to write something daily for a month, then it shouldn't be that hard to get something up once a week, right?  I should put myself on a schedule.  Maybe I'll put myself on a schedule.  Tuesdays.  Or Fridays.  Hm.

Ok, so the issue...

...goes like this:

My coworker is a Comparison-aholic.  He and I (and one other guy) share the daily flight load (but the other guy's ship is a little more limited than the two of ours', so he effectively doesn't count): I take a flight, he takes a flight, me next, then him, etc.  At the end of most days, he asks how much I flew.

Now, I'm not an idiot, I know what he's doing...he suspects that he gets flown more than I do and is therefore doing the lion's share of the work while I get preferential treatment (ie I get to sit around more, gag me), so he wants to compare scores and confirm his suspicions.  I, however, do not want to play into this game for a couple of reasons:
1. The dispatchers are doing the best they can, and no one can predict the little add-ins and extra work the fields will throw at us once we've left the base...it's not fair to them to get all testy and resentful over it.
2. I can't usually be bothered to check the clock and see how much time I had at the end of the day.  And...
3. I believe that, no matter the time involved, I do a better job with a better attitude than this guy anyway, and I don't want it lorded over me if I flew fewer minutes than him on whatever days that may be the case.

So what's the issue?  Do you see it?  Because my biggest issue is......number 3.

It's me.  It's my self-satisfied, self-righteous self.  It's my pride and my rights and me being offended.  Me.  And the trouble is...I know better, but I can't be better.   So what am I supposed to do?

I just finished Emily Freeman's Graceful (much like Grace for the Good Girl, but a bit shorter, some new insights, and geared towards teenagers).  Her whole premise can be very basically summed up as an answer to my issue:
You canNOT be better.  All you can do is believe...that His grace is sufficient, that He loves you, that you're only running your hardest in a hamster's wheel anyway, and trust me it's not getting you anywhere.  Your working to be better is not needed.  You have been set free, you don't need to prove anything.  Turn your eyes off your sorry-ass case, and into the face of God.  Believe.  Then and only then will you begin to be the better You that you know you can't be on your own...and it won't be because your reputation is at stake...it will only come about as the graceful result of love.  Love, trust, belief.  Pure and simple.

And hard.  Dangit.  I'm only glad...that at least I'm not a teenager anymore.  I may not have gotten all that much farther along since then, but at least I have a job now, so that's not hanging over me.  And I'm finally, finally beginning to believe the things I 'learned' in childhood.  Screwy, right?  I never at any point would have said I didn't believe those things...but I'm only now beginning to believe that they're true not just for salvation, for Heaven, but true now, here at work with this Compar-aholic coworker and my snobby self.  There is grace for me when I'm a total jerk, not just when I make it to church consistently, and not just when I have good motives.

And it's late now, and I'm at work.  I'm not really satisfied with this post, but I'm not going to put off posting it any longer or I'll just never post it.  Which is why I never thought 31 straight days of having to post would work.  Speaking of, YAY that that's Over! Thank you again for reading, everybody.

The Baby Shower Egg

Yes, i got to Dallas, and today is/was Kimie's baby shower.

We were at the Chocolate Angel. It was beautiful and delicious, and I'm So grateful i got to be here for it! But guess who forgot her camera in Cleveland????   Moi!
Sigh. C'est la vie.
Yay for Texas sun!

The Sandy Egg

Today comes Sandy. As far as i know, our basement is not yet flooded, but we have ditched the place for the day in favor of not getting stuck there this evening.

My goodness, y'all, yesterday was a rollercoaster. I got a new phone (they totalled the old one, YES!!), my flight into Dallas was canceled (with a big kerfluffel and much ado, mom got me on another flight, hooray for mom!!), and i was operating at about 70 percent all day. Then this morning, i looked out and saw the road out of our house slowly washing out. Dave was released from work for the day, and we were both worried that we would be completely flooded in by the time it would be time for me to catch my flight out...so i made myself a smoothie, and we escaped to Giant Eagle. We've been here for three lovely hours.

Ok, dear Dallasites, as long as this flight doesn't got cancelled too, i will be seeing y'all soon! Here's hoping!

The Cleaning Up Egg

Yesterday was a great day of rest for us, a day of literally lying around all day watching silly movies. We did absolutely nothing productive except make a pot of soup (out of practically nothing since we haven't been to the grocery in weeks).  And it was good.

Today our kleenex supply is running low, but my energy is way up, and Dave feels good enough to go to work. So while he's away, I'm going to clean. Well...I'm going to tidy and straighten, anyway. We'll see if I get around to actually cleaning anything.

It's rainy again here today.  We're thinking Sandy will flood the basement, but probably do no more than that. Hopefully.

The Recuperating Egg

We're home again, my dears. David is almost back to health now, though still not great, and I am still pretty miserable.  But it's cool and rainy here and perfect for staying warm inside and convalescing. Hope your Sunday is merry and bright.

The Stuffy Egg

Good morning!

This is me and Dave in a hammock.

We aren't trying to look like punks, we're just looking straight up and not believing that I have us both in the view finder.  That's where that punk-ish look comes from.

This is the view from the hammock.

 And this is where the hammock is:

And yesterday was a wonderful day of antiquing!  We even made it to Luckett's, home of Miss Mustard Seed, which was kind of a big deal.  And then we had a lovely massage before bed.  And I have good news!  David is almost over this cold/congestion/sinus infection (?) thing.  And I have bad news!  Heidi is in the middle of this cold/congestion/sinus infection (?) thing.  And a little more bad news...no more photos for today :(  Sorry, y'all, I'm gonna have to catch up later, but I feel pretty crap right now, and we're about to miss breakfast, so I gotsta go.

The West Virginia Egg

Good morning!

Last night we arrived at Hillbrook Inn in West Virginia.  Yes, we did cross the Shenandoah River on the way, but the Blue Ridge Mountains were shrouded in mist.  And yes, it is gorgeous here...I'll post more later, but we've got to get going to find some beautiful antiques before they're all gone!

Later!

The Central Perk Egg

Good morning! 

This is my 100th Post!!!

Yea!

 Yesterday was a nice, easy day for us.  We took a walk in Central Park, I had my coffee, and we got to pet some people's dogs including two sweet chinese pugs.

 And David teased a squirrel with the promise of a treat.  We saw some practicing dancers...

 ...and then we tried out another famed pizza joint (this one in Brooklyn):

See that?  "Worth the wait"?  Well, they were right, it was worth the wait, but the wait was still long.

 We finished out our final night in New York with a couple of warm cookies from Insomnia in Greenwich Village (why oh why didn't I think to schedule a little more time in this area???), and Dave got his first New York taxi experience.

 And now we're off again!  Off to West Virginia!  Blue Ridge Mountains!  Fall beauty!  Antiques!!!

The Wonderful Wicked Egg

Ah, what a lovely day we had yesterday!

 We visited the truly awesome Natural History museum.

 And David took me to see Wicked on Broadway.  It was much funnier than I'd thought it would be and every bit as magical and beautiful as I'd hoped.  I happily recommend it, thought I also probably recommend learning the soundtrack before you go...it's a lot like an operetta in some places, and you need to understand the lyrics.

Before the show, we passed this little French restaurant, Chez Napoleon.  "Would you like French tonight?" my David asked.  "Sure," said I.

 This is apparently the sort of place 'everyone' knows about, and you really ought to have reservations for, but we got in anyway.  I had duck l'orange and Dave had venison au poivre with creamed spinach, and then I had my very first cherries jubilee...it was the most delicious French I've ever had!!!

Now for the presents.......David gave me a beautiful silver and sapphire necklace in the same rose design as my ring.  And I gave him a book made of all the emails we sent back and forth while dating, before Dave took the job in Cleveland.

And that was our wonderful, wonderful first anniversary!

The Feliz Uno Annum Egg!

Happy First Anniversary, David!

This was from the top of "the Rock."  We could look down into Rockefeller Center from here, where the ice skating has already begun.

In addition to the US sledding team, the Rockettes, and Darth Vader, I found myself milling around down there!

 David took me out last night for pizza...

 ...at Patsy's, a favorite of Frank Sinatra's.

...and Santa Claus.

I get to give David his present today!!! I can't wait!!!!

The Big Apple Egg

Good morning!  Yesterday was a big day for us. It felt like we walked over the entire big city, including the Met, Central Park, the flea market, and Carnegie Deli, where they serve sandwiches as big as your head.

Which is what people like.  Lots of people.  Important people.

Like Santa.

We also hit up The Empire State Building, like good Americans.

It was monster crowded, being sunset on a Sunday, but it was totally worth it.

This was taken facing the convenient one-way mirror on one side of the building.

 We've just been reading Love and War, the chapter about sharing an adventure as practice for sharing in the Grand Adventure.  I think this is excellent practice, so far.  We've been snippy to each other, been tired and irritable, missed communication, been thoughtful and generous, and been lovely and patient with each other, and I've got two big blisters on my toes due to poor footwear choice.  Pray for us, friends, as we adventure together.  And pray for my poor toes.

The Jersey Egg

We are in New Jersey!
I can't believe I missed yeaterday, y'all, but I will have more to post later today or early tomorrow.  Thank you for sticking with me!

The Last Sunrise Egg

He doesn't always, but I sure felt like He saved the best for last.

Since I'm going home today, this will be the last of these (at least for this series).  Nineteen down!  Twelve breakfast eggs to go!  Hey, that's only a dozen!

Look up, today.  Notice the clouds and the leaves on the trees.  They'll be gone soon, you know, so take the time today to love them and to feel the love of the Good Giver.  Notice today how much you have, how richly He has blessed you, and how personally involved your Father is in your life.  It's easy to think no one sees you, no one appreciates all you do, and no one really cares much about you...but it's just a lie, you know?  It's a sickly whispering shadow that blinds and chokes and steals your joy.  And it just isn't true.  Even if it feels true.  And if it does feel true?  Cling to hope.  Keep talking.  Cry, if you need to.  Write.  Paint.  Go for a walk.  And look up.

The Break Day Egg

Good afternoon!  It's break day around here.  For some, that means rushrushrush, get done here, get out of here, and get home.  For me...

...I fly home tomorrow.  So today is kinda just like any other, except that tonight will be laundry, packing, and cleaning, instead of vegging out for an episode of "Love It Or List It."

It was really overcast this morning.  I think it's really hard for me to maintain a perky attitude under an overcast sky.  I don't know what it is.  Maybe it's the lack of sun.  Maybe it's the getting-wet in the dreary drizzle.  I don't know.  I think it's beautiful, truly, and I love looking at the shapes and shades...I don't understand why it gets me so down at the same time.

*Is that yellow flower ragweed?  Anyone know?

The Steamy Egg

Have you got enough time to make yourself a hot egg breakfast before you get out the door?  No?  Me neither.

So I steam it.  You put it in, set the time, and walk away.  When it dings, run it under cold water a second, then eat with a glass of cold water/milk/whatever.  Voila!  Hot breakfast that is both better and cheaper than a Pop Tart.

I made a hat out of this sweater yesterday.  I made my own pattern.  Was it brilliant?  Uh, no, not really.  I'll tell you about it later, though.

The 16th Egg

 (Half-Way, Woot!)

Good morning!

Japanese anemones, anyone?  Don't they look like sunny-side-ups?  You're welcome.

I've found a hat to imitate.  I feel ambivalent about posting it here, since it's from someone's shop.......oh, alright.

McHats

The problem is that this darling hat is for sale as a pattern, not a hat, and it's also in Australia.  So....again with the ambivalence.  I'm not going to buy it (with $5 shipping for paper), and it's not like mine is going to look anything like this anyway without the actual pattern.  Um......

It's Troubled Tuesday!  Happy Tuesday!  Two days 'til I go home!  So there's very little time left to get this hat done, so I gotta go.

The Simple Egg

I was preflighting this morning singing 9 to 5 in my head and thinking about that icky book I read and also about that debate, and feeling a little icky myself.  I thought about just clearing my mind and thinking nothing at all, try to save this day for myself...a day that begins in brooding rarely turns out well, I find.  

 I wondered why the book and the debate popped into my head this morning.  They weren't really anything alike.

And then I realized...the blanket contempt in the debate and the unchecked contempt of the main character in the book really actually are the same.  And that book won a Pulitzer, and that debater apparently won a "sound victory."

I still can't believe that so many people, even most of this country, seem to enjoy watching one person knife into another person's soul with weapons like disgust, contempt, and derision. For all these are the easiest weapons on earth to wield (what seven-year-old doesn't know the power of a roll of the eyes or a derisive grin?), they seem to garner respect and high praise among people who should know better.

I just don't get it.

What could the attraction possibly, possibly be?

And then I started writing this post and looking for some photos I could use...

 ...and I thought, "This I get."

Or rather, I don't totally get, but I want to.  Beauty in motion, the pursuit of that beauty with a lens, working with technology and nature, and it's like a grown-up game of catching fireflies.

This brings joy.  And this is the sort of thing that is worthy of attention and energy.

It has nothing to do with power.  At its core, it has nothing to do with pride. Maybe it won't run a country, but it's surely a better way to run an individual life.  It has everything to do with the creation and the Creator.  And as I looked back on these photos, I could feel the frown leave my face, and my soul sighed with relief.

Nothing saves a broken day for me like stopping to look at flowers, butterflies, birds, grass, sky, and sun, and paint them into a photograph....it is the best sort of escape.  I feel reintegrated and grounded.  What do you do to get to that place?

The Green Egg

It's Sunday, so how about some pretty flowers now?

I was supposed to have posted this months ago, back when everything was just sprouting and the garden looked like this:

I kinda went nuts with the mail-order bulb place, springhillnursery.com, and in the seed section at Lowe's.  And the grocery store.  Anywhere, really, that sold the promise of green, yellow, red, pink, and beauty.

 We planted ranunculus in this pot and got giddy when they sprouted.  Unfortunately, due to the chipmunk's vigorous dirt baths, they were all smothered in their infancy.  We got not a single bloom.

I planted columbine seeds (the pinks on the upper right), but they never sprouted, as far as I could tell.  Our tulips came up beautifully (top left and bottom right), but a late freeze erm, froze them out, and they never flowered.  The morning glories (bottom left) actually did come up!  But only the darker ones, and only a few of those.  The maple seeds the chipmunk planted, however, sprouted up in the planter in great profusion.  It's a shame we couldn't tell what they were from the beginning...I'm thinking they must have choked out my poor annuals.

We planted some gorgeous roses in the front bed:

Dave picked the incredible peach one, and I picked the sweet little whites.  The dead one used to be red. It also used to be alive.  It used to be pretty.  It's dead and gone, now, though.

One of our favorites of this season,

...our begonia pot.  I told you here about how the yellow ones in the center all bloomed beneath each others' leaves, the shy things...but the fabulous orange ones (bottom), seemed to be trying to make a break for it and escape the pot.

I ooed and awed over these fabulous blooms for months before they started to fade.  I know I have more (and better) pictures of the entire pot, but I can't seem to find them.

And these late-comers Dave was a huge trooper to plant all by himself:

 (The wire is to keep them from being dug up by, we believe, a nasty raccoon.)

 All but one succeeded and thrived, even this late in the season.

We got mostly yellows in our grab bag, but one was pink, and we got this one brilliant orange one:

We didn't go as wild on the edible plants, knowing we have little herbivores wandering the property and not wanting the frustration of having all our produce eaten by foragers, but David did buy a few pepper plants.

 We started out with a lot more than just the three pepper plants that ended up producing, but the wicked raccoon dug them up and killed them.

These grow wild around the property:

The bottom ones are tiny snap dragons!  Aren't they cute??  The flowers are about the size of my thumbnail.

You know what else is wild around our property?  Wild animals:

Poor possum.  We were trying to catch coons, not possums.  So Dave carried him over near cover and he ran off, seemingly none the worse for his ordeal.

We had woodpeckers earlier in the season.

 And I caught this leaf bug watching me paint those magnet boards the other day.

This is a kildeer:

Ahem, a baby kildeer.  See it's nubby little wings?  This little family came running past the window down the driveway, cheep-cheep-cheeping, and a few minutes later came running past again...running laps around the house, apparently.  They build their nests on the ground, so when the babies hatch, they all go for nice little family runs before they're able to fly. If a threat happens to come too close (like our poor chipmunk), the mom will either attack the threat (if it's small, like a chipmunk), or will feign a broken wing and lure the predator away from the babies.  And their call is pretty, too.  We have them in Ohio and down here on the Gulf coast, too, so I guess they're pretty wide-spread.

And of course, no discussion of the Mudlake Yard is complete without mention of the groundhog:

...who is not so afraid of us as he used to be.  He allowed me within 20 feet of him for this photo, phenomenally close, I felt.  And then he never actually hid, though he got ready to, as you can see.  He just sat by his house (the shed) and watched me walk away.

Over by the lake,

 I had a little more Photoshop fun, trying to enhance a dark sky without losing the green of the grass.  That reflection in the lake was pretty darn tricky.

Not terribly successful, but a valiant effort, I thought.  I have a terrific book for beginners, but...I haven't read it yet.  I need to transfer it to my Kindle, I think.

It's another beautiful day down here...I hope you're having a great day!

P.S. I forgot this photo that I randomly exported to the wrong folder! 

This is unfortunately the only bloom we got from our 8 dahlias (grrr, raccoon!), and then we discovered that you have to dig up and replant dahlias every year if you want them to bloom more than once.  Gaaa!