80  bar steady  29.97  2mph W dew-point 64   Summer, cloudy with possible storms

Waxing Gibbous Thunder Moon

“Everyone is a prisoner of his own experiences. No one can eliminate prejudices — just recognize them.” – Edward R. Murrow

My dental hygienist told me I had an “open contact” between two back teeth.  When I questioned her on this seeming oxymoron she replied with a giggle, “I don’t know.  We just always say that.”

Mesial drift is a term I learned the last time I visited the dentist (over a year ago.  I missed my last appt.  Bad boy.).  It seems as we get older our teeth drift toward the middle of our jaw.  My hunch is that it comes from increasing brain size squeezing the outer jaw further apart, but I might be wrong about that.  When Dr. Mahler, my new dentist since the old dentist decided to hit the links full time, came in he told me it was also because those teeth have nothing to stop them from drifting apart.  Guess where it is not happening?  On the right side where I still have my wisdom teeth.  Get it?

George Carlin would nod and say, see, if he drove along France Avenue.  Before Centennial plaza, where Dr. Mahler grinds on, there used to be a space, then the Dayton’s Home Store.  Many changes later it is now the Macy’s Home Store.  The open contact between Centennial Plaza has a filling.  It is a very large two story store, The Container Store.  If Nicole, the dental hygienist has it right, this is a very large where you can buy stuff in which to store your stuff.  In the First Book of George the Prophet we have his famous dialogue on just this topic.

Before I sign off here, a comment on the Edward Murrow quote.  I fully agree with him and in that agreement recognize my own racism, sexism, classism and agism. I would go further than Murrow though to this:  We must recognize them and choose not to act on them.  Easier said than done, but the great project of any age.

62  bar rises 30.09  0mph N  dew-point 51  Summer, cool and pleasant

New Moon (Thunder Moon)

Great day.

We’re going in to St. Paul today to see one of our financial advisors.  She’s been very good for us.  After that, lunch and home.

Hopefully, the red car will have had its head restored and be driveable sometime later today.  That will make life simpler.

Garden work over the holiday weekend.

Thoughts on patriotism come later today.

The tab, Superior Wolf, is a novel I’ve had underway for over six years.  On again, off again.  In an attempt to finally finish it I’m going to present it (write it, actually) at the rate of a chapter a week, like the serialized novels of the Victorian era.  I will post on Sunday nights.  Due both to space limitations and creative considerations I will leave three chapters up at once, taking down the fourth, or oldest one to replace it with the next chapter.  If you get interested and want to read what came before, send me an e-mail.

 These are excerpts from a Washington Post article on the PEW survey of religious beliefs.  The title is a link to the full article.

 More Than 90 Percent of Americans Believe in God, Study Finds

More than 90 percent of Americans — including one in five people who say they are atheists — believe in God or a universal power, and more than half pray at least once a day, according to results of a poll released today that takes an in-depth look at Americans’ religious beliefs.

• Pew Religious Survey

• Full Report

The poll, by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, also found that nearly three-fourths of Americans believe in heaven as a place where people who have led good lives will be eternally rewarded. And almost 60 percent believe in hell, where people who have led bad lives and die without repenting are eternally punished, the poll found.

Majorities also believe that angels and demons are at work in the world and that miracles occur today as they did in ancient times.

Two-thirds of Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists are Democrats or lean Democratic, compared with 22 percent of Mormons. Also, 77 percent of historically black churches are Democrats or lean Democratic, while only one-third of evangelical churches are Democrats or lean Democratic.

But most Americans — even many of the most religiously conservative — have a non-exclusive attitude toward other faiths. Seventy percent of those affiliated with a religion believe that many religions, not just their own, can lead to eternal salvation. Just about one-quarter believe there is only one true way to interpret their own religion’s teachings.

“Even though Americans tend to take religion quite seriously and are a highly religious people, there is a certain degree of openness and a lack dogmatism in their approach to faith and the teachings of their faith,” said Smith.

There is a Summer Solstice posting now in the Great Wheel.

Leaving Texarkana this morning for the Ozarks, then Kanasas City or so.   See you in a few hours with trip news.

63 bar steady 29.86 1mph SSW dewpoint 32  Beltane

                            New Moon (Hare Moon, English medieval)

Outside this morning planting Chiroggia, Golden and some other kind of beets–this morning they were plants, already started indoors.  Nantes Carrots, too.  Same thing.  All four are heirloom seeds, species of long ago, kept alive and healthy by the folks at Seed Savers Exchange.  This also means we can collect seed from any plant we let go to see and expect them to reproduce their parent plant, an expectation only realized among hybrids by cloning or vegetative reproduction.

Kate made a call, after we consulted about where to plant the beets and carrots.  “This bed,” she said, “was not too stressed.  It hasn’t had tomatoes for a couple of years.”

The call was to Jon, checking up on little Gabe, still in the hospital.  As she talked, I only heard one end of the conversation.  “You’re kidding.”  She looked toward the ground, eyes hooded, “You’re kidding.”  You’re kidding is Kate talk for OH MY GD.  Gabe is a factor 8 hemophiliac.  This is the same kind as the Czar’s family, a particularly intractable kind.  Treatable, but tough to deal with over a lifetime.  A chronic disease.

Gabe has the right Dad.  Jon is a model diabetic, controlling his insulin levels and remaining lean, athletic.  He’s suffered from diabetes, fought his own demons with it.  Once he had it fairly well controlled, he developed Addison’s, another immune mediated disease.  He had already added a poorly functioning thyroid gland.  In each instance he has learned about the disease, managed it and gone on with his life, allowing himself no secondary gain or restrictions other than those absolutely necessary for handling his conditions.  Then, on top of that, he began to have aches.  Rheumatoid arthritis.

Jon understands both poles of handling a chronic disease:  the physical and the psychological.  They are equal in importance since a stubborn resistance to manage a chronic condition only makes it worse.  On the other hand, good management creates a sense of psychological well-being impossible otherwise.  Good psychological health makes handling the various regimes more doable.

I’ve never been sure of the old, God doesn’t give us more than we can handle, but in this case I can say that if any one can handle Gabe’s life in a psychologically and physically optimal way, it’s Jon.
 

 42  bar steep rise 29.72 12mph NW dewpoint 42  Beltane

                 Waning Crescent Moon of Growing

The sun.  The sun.  What a relief.  Sunlight is a balm all on its own.  No wonder we worshipped it in so many of our cultures across the globe.  And why not? 

More and more daffodils have opened, they give a cheery feel to the garden.  Tulips will open in the next few days if we warm up as predicted.  The garlic has shot up and all the iris look healthy.  The hemerocallis has emerged, too, giving the whole garden a greenscape.  I’ve got way more hemerocallis than I need or want, so a lot of it will get moved or given away.

Tonight we will have the first salad with lettuce from the hydrponics. 

Another errand Saturday.  I’m going to go check out Landice treadmills in Arden Hills, pick up some groceries and wait until it  warms up a bit this afternoon, then plant beets and morning glories.        

32  bar steady 30.06  0mpn NNW dewpoint 25 Spring

            Last Quarter Moon of Growing

A three day flurry of activity has come to an end.  On Friday I gave two Weber tours.  On Saturday I attended a workshop on Natural Rhythms and Time.  Today I preached at Groveland.  Now I have three days in a row to catch up on this and that.  I need it.

Kate’s been gone since Wednesday.  Life is more empty without her here, but one of the beauties of our relationship is our mutual ability to function on our own.  That makes both of us freer for family and for other things that come up.  I talked to her twice over the last two days and both times she was with Ruthie at the playground.  She comes home this Wednesday.