weather.

so this is what happened on Thursday in Baja California, Mexico. (I wasn't there though.)

Here is a before-esque shot.





This video shows water in a almost always dry river bed. This river runs through the town I lived in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmjGkSUnqiI

Close up of the bridge in my town, crumbling. the first seconds are cool, middle is boring...and the last 2 seconds are sweet. The river is stinking WIDE. 4x4's and people on Zip lines are currently crossing it. It seems there is a lot less water now than there was during the storm on Thursday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTxrsS2tqOo&feature=related

This is one of the 6 bridges down between my town and the States...check it crumble.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frlQD9_ptpU&feature=related

This screen shot shows the long gray strip that is the river. This is def. a dry photo. I love the way it curves in the mountains. I'm supposed to go visit in 3 weeks. I hope the bridges get rebuilt by then...

Apparently there is tons of dead wood 10-15 feet high at the beach now, washed down from the mountains which is great b/c it takes a lot of work for trees to grow in the desert. Everybody loves free firewood!

Although all of this is "exciting" it's also sad for the people it affects negatively. People's shelters falling down because the mud they are built on is eroded away. Drinking water being polluted with out house water. Food/Propane/Gasoline shortages. Pray for them.

Click to make bigger.

Antartica

These 11 photos are worth a look at...

http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/heart-of-the-great-alone/1

oh, and I ate Haggis today. A co-worker brought it in. yummy? not so much.

and P.S. I'm going to visit Mexico middle of February. Let's just hope they've rebuilt the bridges by them. I hear 6 are out between Tijuana and my town. If I think of it I'll post a you tube video of the bridges collapsing.

Cold Sunday...

Normally I love dressing up and wouldn't enjoy wearing fatigues everyday. But for some reason at work I have become perpetually cold in my business-ey attire, AND dress shoes are not good for clopping through the mounds of snow in the parking lot. What I wouldn't give for a pair of those high laced military boots on especially slushy days. I don't think just wanting the clothes is a good enough reason to join the military though :)

Last night I visited a Spanish speaking church that I had been wanting to visit. There are maybe 3 or 4 of them within a few minutes of my house. For about half the service I was sorely disappointed b/c it was more of a bilingual church. We would sing in Spanish and then the same lyrics in English, and the songs weren't ones we sang in Mexico (as if every church sings the same songs. dur. what a silly expectation.) The preaching was done in Spanish and English with the pastor repeating himself in both languages. Then I realized... Maybe this helps bridge the gap between the Spanish speakers and the English speakers. Maybe they are learning each other's language this way. Maybe this ministers to those who live nearby but don't happen to speak Spanish. sigh. It was nice. I think I'll visit once a month or something.

EVERYONE.
LOOK OUTSIDE.
It is a VERY beautiful day with the trees all white and picturesque.

ok. Happy Sunday!

What are your priorities?

These four quotes I think are good food for thought:


On the 10 Commandments:

When Rabbi Menahem Mendl Morgenstern of Kotzk read in Exodus 24:7, "We will do and we will hear," he explained that some actions simply cannot be understood (or heard) until they are performed (or done). By doing, we understand...[we understand what great treasure is being offered.] Rabbi Lawrence Kushner, Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Intro for Christians

On Wealth -quotes from Alain De Botton's Status Anxiety:

Being truly wealthy, does not require having many things; rather, it requires having what one longs for. Wealth is not an absolute. It is relative to desire. Every time we yearn for something we cannot afford, we grow poorer, whatever our resources. And every time we feel satisfied with what we have, we can be counted as rich, however little we may actually possess. pg 43


Humans have a tendency to cease being excited by anything after we have owned it for a short while. The quickest way to stop noticing something, my be to buy it- just as the quickest way to stop appreciating someone may be to marry him or her. We are tempted to believe that certain achievements and possessions will give us enduring satisfaction.



Ruskin wished to be wealthy in kindness, curiosity, sensitivity, humility, godliness and intelligence, a set of virtues to which he applied the collective name "life." The wealthiest people would be those who felt the keenest wonder gazing at the stars at night or who were best able to sense and alleviate the sufferings of others. "There is no wealth but life," he intoned: "life, including all its powers of love, of joy and of admiration. That country is richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence, both personal, and by means of his possessions, over the lives of others...Many of the persons commonly considered wealthy are, in reality, no more wealth than the locks of their own strong boxes, they being inherently and eternally incapable of wealth." pg 199

Practical Joke

On a Monday morning, this is the gate security officer's idea of a practical joke.

"Mam, You've been selected for a random car inspection."

(mouth open, confused look on face, wonders what she'll have to do to make up for being late to work)
"uh, ok."

"Just kidding. Have a nice day."

Hey Jen.

Sometimes nice things happen and you forget, well, I don't want to forget this.

Background: This last summer I attempted to practice Spanish in a playful manner with my friends little boy who is three. After a few failed attempts we gave up (he preferred his mom to me. understandably so.) I let his mom know of some resources that she might enjoy using with him, cds and books from the library- so that whether it was from me or not, he learned Spanish.


So fast forward 6 months.....I went over to my friends house the other night and the child came up to me and said, "Hey Jen. say uno in Spanish."
"Uno."
"Hey Jen. Say dos in Spanish."
"Dos."
"Hey Jen. Say tres in Spanish."
"Tres."
"Hey Jen. Say cuatro in Spanish."
"Cuatro."
Hey Jen. Say cinco in Spanish."
"Cinco."
Hey Jen Say ocho in Spanish."
"Ocho."

and then he got distracted by something his brother was playing with. Even though he skipped from 5 to 8, and then quit, it was incredibly ADORABLE. I think my favourite is that he added "in Spanish." to every command, like we didn't know which language we were practicing :)


P.S. Happy Epiphany. Yesterday was the 12th day of Christmas.

Books Read 2009! 67

Last year, Sue did a post recounting the books she read. So I kept track. In her honor.

I also started keeping track here

I can't believe I read this many books this past year. My goal was one a week. I surpassed it. Some of these were short, but some were long, so I figure it all evens out. Quite a few were *audiobooks, whose ease of listening to in the car or while wandering about the grocery store greatly augmented the number of books I read. I would love to give any feedback you might want about a particular book. Let me know! Hope everyone had a Happy New Year!



PENDING->Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body by Pope John Paul II (I've got 300/525 of the pages I wanted to read, read. I decided to not read the 130 page introduction. Maybe some other time. I got this for Christmas last year so I was trying so hard to finish it before Christmas, it was that book that I took everywhere with me, but never cracked. Mom was like, "really? you're going to read that on vacation?" and I didn't. :) )

Jewish Spirituality: A Brief Introduction for Christians by Rabbi Lawrence Kushner

*Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis

*The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Radical Hospitality: Benedict's Way of Love by Fr. Homan and Pratt

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (this book made me soooo uncomfortable.)

Prayers for the Domestic Church, a Handbook for Worship in the Home by Edward Hays

*The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis

*The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

How Proust Can Change YOUR LIFE: Not a Novel by Alain De Botton

*Dress Your Family in Courduroy and Denim by David Sedaris

*Ida B:...and her plans to maximize fun, avoid disaster, and (possibly) save the world by Katherine Hannigan

Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community by Wendell Berry

*Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work by Alain De Botton

So Far From God by Ana Castillo

*Blink by Malcolm Gladwell

The Spirit of Early Christian Thought by Robert Louis Wilken (sooooo good.)

Reclaiming Our Roots: An Inclusive Introduction to Church History by Ellingsen

*The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

*When you are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

*Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side of Everything by Levitt

*The Yellow Wallpaper by Gilman

*Reflections on the Psalms by C.S. Lewis

Thousand Cranes by Kawabata

Green Mansions by W.H. Hudson

*Carry On Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse

Schaum's Quick guide to Writing Great Short Stories

Veronika Decides to Die by Coelho

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice by Christopher Hitchens

Mother Teresa: Come be my Light by Mother Teresa

Heavy Words Lightly Thrown by Roberts

*Interior Castle By St. Teresa of Avila

*Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife by Irene Spencer

101 Things I learned in Architecture School by Frederick

Pictures of Hollis Woods by Reilly

*25 Things to Say to the Interviewer by Hawk

The Maytrees: A Novel by Annie Dillard

Till We have Faces: A Myth Retold by C.S. Lewis (extra-large print while on the treadmill!)

The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain de Botton

The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton

On Love by Alain de Botton

Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art by L'Engle (sooooo good.)

The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner's semester at America's Holiest University by Roose

Operating Instructions by Lamott

Cold comfort Farm: A Play by Doust

Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack by M.E. Kerr

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis

Biting the Wax Tadpole: Confessions of a language fanatic by Little

Reunion by Uhlman

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

*Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

*Lilith by George MacDonald

Persepolis 1 & 2 by Satrapi (twice)

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis

The Divine Conspiracy: Rediscovering our hidden life in God by Dallas Willard

American Gods by Neil Gaimen

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Steward

Posers, Fakers, and Wannabees by Brennen Manning

The Twenty-One Balloons by Pene Du Bois

The Curious case of Benjamin Button by Fitzgerald

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancy

The Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul by Douglas Adams

Jesus Wants to Save Christians by Rob Bell

67 Books
19/67 Audiobooks



Books that were on my shelf that I never quite got to:

Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean

The World Is Flat by Friedman

Outline of an Anglican Life by Louis Tarsitano

Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus



A book that I can't count as part of this list because I read it today:

Girls Gone Mild by Wendy Shalit