Life Begins, Life Ends

 Definition of "abortion": the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.

late term size

Adelaide, born at 24 weeks
If an unborn/fetus can be aborted at 23 months, it is deemed not viable.
At 24 weeks, the moniker changes to "baby".

Sizes of  unborn, right to left, 12 weeks, 18 weeks, 24 weeks, then 28weeks

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/fact-checking-the-washington-post-on-late-term-abortion/

Information is readily available, both pros and cons. The term "abortion" is also considered to be: feticide: act of destroying or causing an abortion".

Infanticide, genocide, Judeocide, Matricide....all the words ending in "cide" refer to killing. 

The issue of abortions are big in the elections and now the Supreme Court decision. A few states allow abortions right up to the time of delivery (even the day before). The above site has some information that might be helpful to understand the current situation.

Mother Teresa comments about abortion:

"What is taking place in America," she said, "is a war against the child. And if we accept that the mother can kill her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another." February 1997 - National Prayer Breakfast in Washington attended by the President and the First Lady.

 

O brother, where art thou?

                                                    Baptism in the creek 

 As entertainment goes, there are just a few gems back in the 1990s. There were some we will always remember those gems. This one is a definite. Each video is about 3 minutes long, fast forward. 
 

                                                            O Brother, where art thou?

                                Our favorite quotes from the movie, non-sequential:
 

         Ulysses:  Damn, boys!  We’re in a   tight spot! (This our is my favorite  line; my husband and I say it to each other many times. 

Ulysses: Damn it!  I’m a Dapper Dan man.  (Dapper Dan is a pomade used by men of that period. Ulysses was so vain that he even wore a hairnet at night.)

         Delmar: Them syreens did this to Pete.  They loved him up and turned him into a horny toad.

                                                        The Sirens were enticing.

Ulysses: I was not hit by a train. Dammit, I am the paterfamilias!

 (Mother told the line of 6 or more daughters that he was killed by a train.)

                                                        Moral fiber

Pappy O’Donnell:  Moral fiber?  I invented moral fiber! ( Pappy was played by the late Charles Durning.)

                                                A Secret Society

Note:  The writers, producers and directors are Joel and Ethan Coen.
The music is pure blue-grass, memorable and superb.
  
The over-all plot lines are a loose parallel to the ancient adventures of Odysseus. Loose to very loose. Word has it that the Coen brothers never read the real Homer play, but instead read the Yellow Cliff-Notes, so beloved and used by many students.

I never ever used them.  Seriously. I am a reader.

Basically, try to see this film.
  
I am very picky about movies I will watch and appreciate.  My husband, on the other hand, will watch just about anything.  We have conflicts.

I will having surgery on my left thumb joint. Only God knows how long healing takes!  I will post some old writing (which you may or may not have seen) and I hope you write comments.There is precious little to do.   

Words or Words

 

The dialogue of so many programs is absolutely insane. So predictable! Boring! (Each video is about 3 to 5 minutes.  Fast forward always works.)

While watching some inane show on TV, I started filling in with my own script. So much better. My husband and I enjoyed that.

Zuckerberg ? When he was being interrogated by Congress, Zuckerberg proved to having a minimum grasp of vocabulary. But, but, what if? 

Nothing is safe when we let the words tumble out of our mouths, but what about, if...  Inserting a better line of words suddenly makes sense of it all?

I thought same thing about Yoda and his obsession with sea gulls.  The guy is not normal, not at all. Maybe it is the eyes. Give him some new words, and things change.

Hans looks mighty pissed. By giving him new words, Hans will be better able to express himself?  
 

Sacrosanct! You better believe it. Take your pick. 

All writers out there: let's take over the screenwriter industry. We could blow them away. Our combined skills and feisty natures will show them. We could do this.

 

 I will be having hand surgery on left hand on April 28th.  My posts will still be popping up, and I hope you read them.

Leave comments! I most likely will answer or not. Your comments make me happy. I will need some joy for the first weeks.

 

You can do this.

 

 Rip it off.

 

Quick!  You can do it!

 

James heard Bob’s voice.  He trusted his friend and followed him blindly.  Whatever Bob said was the law.

Bob shifted from foot to foot, his breath coming out quickly.  “Come on!  We gotta go!  Just do it!”  Bob watched as the backs of his pack of boys disappeared around the corner.

James hesitated.  He heard Bob hiss, “Coward!”

James stared up into Bob’s eyes.  Without breaking contact or even blinking, James grasped the loosened edge of the band aid.

We did this, many many times.

Read Any Good Books Lately?

 It begins so early, when a boy and girl meet.  Their eyes connect, hormones rise to the top, and tuh-duh!  It all goes from there.

Grandson Benjamin and unknown floozy

But, must it start so early?  When both are still in diapers/nappies?  When running without falling is an accomplishment?  When words are understood by the parents, but few other people?

I guess it does.

Re-post from 2015. Little boy is our grandson, all of 3 years old. 

Diapers at the Altar

 There’s a storm comin’!  I tell you a storm!” Pastor yelled, pounding the pulpit.  “ARE YOU READY?”

The congregation shouted Amen, Praise the Lord…waking Emily from her nap on the pew.  

 

 

Mama was standing, being one of the Amen group.

Emily rolled and then planted her chubby little feet on the maple floor.  The walking thing was still iffy, but she had the crawl-ing down.  Distance to the pulpit wasn’t far at all, and at a fast crawl, Emily could cover it before Mama noticed.

And, off she took, under pews, between legs, around feet, past purses.  Oh, Emily knew she was fearless, and this would be another time she found freedom, with her white diaper bottom wagging behind.

“Can you make a joyous noise to the Lord??” Pastor roared. Cue the organist, who joined in with a chorus from different hymns.

Emily reached the pulpit and pulled herself up, pounding on the cross.

Source

  “Root out sin!  Let joy rise as a fragrance to the Lord!” He raised his arms, pointing to heaven.

Emily plopped down on her bottom, onto a loaded and ripe diaper.  You betcha!  Emily clapped and cooed as Mama came running.

Thank you, Elephant's Child  at its original form for providing the bold underlined italicized words!  She tossed 6 to 12 words out at writers to take up a challenge in their writing each week. 

 

For the month of April the words burst from the mind of messymimismeanderings Should be good!

This is a 2015 post. 

Wherever we go, there are some amazingly cute precious babies. I look at the parents with a smile, pat my chest                                                                                    and say "Grandma". They smile.

 

I remember a blogger writing about a child in her church doing something similar, but way more adventurous.

The Power of the Cross

     

 

 

 

.

  

 Wikipedia

Have you ever entered a place, and felt an unease? I mean, like you needed or should leave. Something about it hung heavy.

 It was a moment in our trip with our granddaughters. Hard to describe, but it was definite.

We had just gone on a winding road drive from Sequoia to a small town on Lake Isabella. It was one of those roads where one curve swung onto the next, then the next, then more and more. We laughed at first, then we made jokes, and ended the trip with robust singing, and asking "Are we almost there yet?"

One gr-daughter arranged for an AirBnb, nice quiet place. The yard was filled with New Age art sculptures. It was amazing. Lots of stain glass had been formed into a garden that one doesn't forget.

When the owner came, he showed up the house, gave us tour, listed the places to eat. He was a young guy, and this was his house. I don't know why, but there was a heaviness around.

 I was wearing a white gold crucifix on a nice chain. The latch was coming loose, so I pulled it from under my shirt, and started to re-attach it. The young man's eyes opened wide, and he took two steps back. 

I still think of that few minutes when he took two steps backward. I wonder now: What would he have done if I had taken two steps forward.

He quickly left, we thanked him, and settled in. The darkness left.

Have you ever been in a place or situation where you felt this heaviness somewhere? And then you left?

 

He listens. Do we?

 

Uh huh. Yes. Oh really?

 

Perhaps one of the annoying habits and the hardest to break that people possess is not listening to what other people are saying.  Not just nodding politely, but is one actively listening with understanding in their eyes?

Guilty. I am so guilty of this. 

Over my lifetime, my mind has always been wandering, thinking about what I want to say in answer to their words. I want to tell my story! Let me interrupt you and tell my story. Their last sentence comes to a logical end, then I grab the reins before they reach the full stop.

Their eyes glaze over briefly before I hit my stride and then they relax. Oh, well, they think, politely smiling. Are they also mind-plumbing for their next reply?

It doesn't end with conversations. When our progeny were small, I would sit in church and the pastor would be preaching, sincerely presenting the Word of God. I fed my youngest progeny Cheerios and let the middle progeny play with his cars. The oldest one was quietly drawing.  

What was I doing? Hearing Pastor talk and nodding my head in agreement. What was I really doing?  

I was wondering if the crock pot chicken would be done. Would Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce) be on after I washed dishes? Did I move the wet clothes to the dryer?

Yes, inane random thoughts would invade my brain, while I nodded in response to God's message.

Perhaps the worst not-listening is when God is talking to me.

We have an on-going conversation throughout the day with me querying Him and then hearing His first four words, before I jump in: Yes, I am right.  Then my mind wonders off to laundry or dinner.

Let God Talk.  Then, wait. Don't cut Him off. He knows what you are going to say, but He wants you to hear Him. 

Let God Talk. He knows the answers to questions you are asking. He understands your fears, your worries. God is in charge.

Let God Talk. He has a plan for your life. Even though you groan and shout at Him, He is big enough to absorb your pain and your anger.

Don't interrupt God. Don't ignore God. Don't guess what He is going to say.


Be still and know that I am God. Psalms 46:10

Ask and it will be given to you;
seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened. Matt. 7:7

Let. God. Talk.

AND then LISTEN.

 

He listens. Do we?

Waiting, waiting

Clare in the mist, courtesy of http://1stwrites.blogspot.com

‘Today, I will watch for him. Today,’ Clare thought, staring out across the bay.

The mist roiled about her, soaking her to the skin.  Clare shivered and then her skin relaxed in the warmth that followed.  Listening for a sound, she found herself in a cocoon of mist and silence. 

How many days had Jackson been gone?  ‘Today is three-hundred eighty-four’, she rolled the number around in her head.  Flash images of his back as he slung his rucksack  over his shoulder, growing smaller in the distance as he rowed his curragh away from her—that’s all she could see now.  His face was a blur, lost in a mist itself.

Still no sound, Clare strained to hear, to see just a hint that Jackson was coming back to her.  That he would stay this time.

Then a sound, ker-plunk, broke the stillness of the air and the glassiness of the water.

Click on the link.  This is from a photo prompt, way back in 2011 or 2015? I was looking for something else, and found this instead. Great photo prompt. Stirring the pot of old stories, I enjoyed scooping it up.

Dead-or-Alive Alligator

 

                                                        Pet?

Some of my family stories are true to the letter, while others have been stretched yet maintain that kernel that started it in the first place.  The following was told to me by my brother, as his son had told him. My brother Don is a prolific talented story teller, but he insisted that this is true.

Late fall was coming on, with blast of premature snow.   Nathan Peck was a Chicago city engineer who worked with all departments. Nathan has a gift, one of many.  He makes friends, tells awesome stories, and plays the most unimaginable practical jokes on any vulnerable person.

The saran wrap across the toilet seat?  Amateurs.

 

Change out the black and white keys of the keyboard?  Smirk.

Collecting all the chairs from the waiting room and stacking them in the CEO’s office? Hmph.

In one freezing November in Chicago, Nathan received a call from one of the field workers who reported something that caused Nathan to race out the office and squeal out the parking lot.  

When he arrived, the guys pointed to the frozen specimen of a five-foot alligator, sticking out a drainage pipe. They wrapped orange cord under and around the frozen carnivore, and it took all eight men to dislodge the swamp dweller from the ice.

Left Alone to Crumble

 

                            

Cold gray clouds scrambled across a dark sky as Joseph carefully opened the door to a shadowy house. It had been left empty, almost swaying in the coming storm, but once had been a solid home where families had lived in better times.

A curio cabinet had been left behind, a lifetime of collectibles. Peeling wallpaper dripped from time past and plates were set.  All rooms were part of frozen time, and framed photos seemed to float over the walls.

I gotta get outta here, Joseph muttered. No excuses, he wasn't afraid. No, he just needed to close the door behind him. Outdoors enticed him, so off he ran. But one photo would haunt him for the rest of his life.

I hope these opened up! Let me know. Others have said the same.

I wanted to post the site addresses, but there were too many to write.

Seeing abandoned houses and buildings fills me with a sadness that can't be described. These are just a few rooms shown from several houses. There are so many buildings like this. They feel like people decided they would leave today, grabbed some clothes, and left.

Wed. Words are above. Go to River and find these words. Join the WWwords. Take the challenge, experience. 

Above house: Haunted house