Ding-a-linging

We had our first of two handbell choir concerts tonight. All I can say is thank goodness it's over! We've had better rehearsals, especially on a couple of songs in particular. The trouble was largely due to one of our key members breaking his ankle last weekend. We needed two subs to replace him. Add the snow last Thursday, which prevented several of our members from rehearsal, and well, it wasn't pretty. I got plenty of compliments, as usual. Our playing is always well received, and maybe they didn't notice some of the mistakes!

I'm hoping the next one will be less painful.

At least tonight was a chance to eat cookies and socialize a little! Cookies make everything better.

Introspective

Someone told me recently that the very act of being aware of something changes it. I'm sure I don't have the wording just right; it's a priciple in physics that also applies to psychology.

With this in mind, I have tried to find the source of certain patterns in my behavior and have come up with interesting solutions. F'rinstance, if I'm feeling sluggish, I first think about when I last ate and what it was. If it was healthy and recent, I turn on more lights and it seems to work. It's a matter of being more aware of what's happening around and within me.

I know this all sounds wierd and rather metaphysical. I haven't gone off the deep end. I've just been watching snow fall all day and I guess it's got me turning inward.

Or maybe my brain has frozen.

That's a distinct possibility.

First signifcant snow of the winter

It started snowing about 8:30 this morning. Six hours later, it's all but stopped and we have 3" of snow. We're happy!

BTW, these are the holly bushes I planted a couple of months ago.

Do you think it might be time to buy a proper snow shovel? Alex is clearing the driveway with a big outside broom and the garden hoe! *G*

Ripped from the headlines

In my travels this morning I ran across this headline on WorldNet Daily:

Dean: America can't win in Iraq

This totally gets under my skin. I won't pontificate, and I'm not here to bang on the pulpit. He might be right; the only personal memory I have of Vietnam was being irritated because the news coverage of Americans coming home pre-empted Saturday morning cartoons. When I have a knee-jerk reaction, I usually try to step back and find some facts.

A quick search took me to this site, which has a timeline for the Vietnam war. (I haven't looked at anything else on the site, so please don't write me hatemail because the pictures were graphic and I didn't warn you. They're war pictures; I'm sure they're graphic.) According to the timeline, the US started training South Vietnamese troops in 1956. The last Americans were evacuated when Siagon fell in 1975. That looks like nineteen years of official involvement; we won't speculate on how many actual years it was. I know, we had men in Cambodia when we didn't have men in Cambodia.

OK, fast forward: Iraqi troops rolled into Kuwait in late July, 1990. I know this because I was in the hospital after having just given birth to Alex. American troops entered the region in August, 1990. I know this because Alex was three weeks old to the day when Eric landed over there. Troops started coming home in the spring of 1991, but many of the troops who were deployed originally have been back because we never actually left. Not fully. We were there to witness the farce of the UN sanctions and enforce the no-fly zone. So far we've got fifteen years of official involvement.

Some will argue that they are separate conflicts. I disagree. If all of our troops had come home, and then gone back I might be persuaded, but we have had troops on the ground continuously. Men and women have left their families to keep the peace over there. They've missed holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, births, and deaths.

My big question is this: Are we there to win? The last time I checked, we were there to help the Iraqi people get back on their feet. We cut a cancer out of their society, and now we're helping them heal. How does one win? Will we have won when the Iraqi government goes fully on line? Or when Saddam is executed for his crimes? Or when the remnant of the terrorists are routed?

You're right about one thing, Mr. Dean. We won't win because winning and losing is not the point. The point is to make the world a safer place.

CO-HO-HO-HO-HO-LD!!!!!!

It's 21* here. That's -7 celcius, if you're interested. I personally only like the celcius scale in the summertime. It helps me to feel cooler to think of 80* as 20* (or whatever it is), which right now feels freaking cold!!!

I almost had to get peeved with a major retailer today. Since it's SOFREAKINGCOLD, I decided we needed a set of flannel sheets. I had some presents to buy, so I started with the sheets so I wouldn't forget. Five aisles of sheets, this major retailer had, and on the first pass through I didn't find a stitch of flannel!

Since I'm not one to fly off the handle and find an employee to yell at (been on both sides of that one, and both will ruin your day), I wandered through more slowly, much, I'm sure, to the consternation of other shoppers.* Finally, in the last aisle, next to the faux suede duvets, were flannel sheets! They're in the drier now, and they'll be on my bed as soon as they're done. Bliss!

*I thought it was safe to shop in the middle of a Monday. There are still 19 shopping days until Christmas, and I'm still trying to figure out why there were so many people in my way at the major retailer!! Don't these people have JOBS, for pity's sake?

At least the kids were still in school; children were limited to cranky babies and ticked off toddlers. This is the only time of year when retail therapy really isn't therapy; it's an exercise in the limits of one's patience.

Oh, and Val, I haven't forgotten your meme. I tried to copy and paste it yesterday and it didn't work. This evening your blog doesn't want to load; I'm getting the 'blogger not found' message. Darn. A long meme that would require me to think was JUST what I wanted to do...