Gryphon's Word of the Day, February 28, 2008

The word of the day for February 28, 2008 is "congregation noun 1 a: an assembly of persons : GATHERING; especially : an assembly of persons met for worship and religious instruction b: a religious community: as (1): an organized body of believers in a particular locality. (2): a Roman Catholic religious institute with only simple vows. (3): a group of monasteries forming an independent subdivision of an order. 2: the act or an instance of congregating or bringing together : the state of being congregated. 3: a body of cardinals and officials forming an administrative division of the papal curia.

Sybil tells us about meeting the new minister. I don't know what the rules are in Great Britain, but Methodist ministers in the United States rarely stay in one congregation for more than ten years. There are good reasons for this, but it is sometimes difficult to find a new minister to fit in with the congregation.

A good number of years ago, my sister's pastor and her husband, who was pastor of another church nearby, made the difficult decision to take a sabbatical. I believe they intended to visit Jerusalem. Sister's church decided to allow everyone, even the children to have a say in who would become their new pastor. One of the five-year-olds, when asked what he thought they should ask candidates for the job, said, "We should ask what her husband does for a living."

Our quote for the day is from Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), British novelist, poet. Satires of Circumstance (l. 21–24):

     re-enact at the vestry-glass 
     Each pulpit gesture in deft dumb-show 
     That had moved the congregation so.

;^) Jan

Tags: congregation

Prayer Request

Please add Ona Whaley, step-mother to one of my friends, to your prayers. She is to have brain surgery by cyberknife for cancer. She is already on chemotherapy for another cancer, but the brain filter keeps normal chemo out.

 

Thanks, Jan

Tags: prayer request

Gryphon's Word of the Day, February 26, 2008

The word of the day for February 26, 2008 is "drainage" — noun — 1: the act, process, or mode of draining; also : something drained off. 2: a device for draining : DRAIN; also : a system of drains. 3: an area or district drained.

There was a question yesterday about where the water here runs to when it rains. The answer is that the streets have an ever so slight down grade to the south and east. The water runs along the gutter channels until eventually they get to a ditch or a storm drain. North of Wildwood Park there is a catch pond put in about 25 years ago. The dirt dredged from this pond was thrown onto the field that became the park. It now serves the neighbor children as a sledding hill.

The area where our house is built is actually on the flood plain of the Arkansas River. During the 1950s Wichita built a floodway canal around the west side of the city to minimize flooding. As the city has grown westward beyond the "Big Ditch," we get more flooding along the Cowskin Creek. People west of the "Big Ditch" are now agitating to have another canal built to protect them from the creek.

Our quote for today is from Anne Sexton (1928–1974), U.S. poet. “Three Green Windows”:

     I have misplaced the Van Allen belt
     the sewers and the drainage,
     the urban renewal and the suburban centers
     I have forgotten the names of the literary critics.

;^) Jan

Tags: drainage

Gryphon's Word of the Day, February 24, 2008

These are some photos of our neighborhood, taken during Bubble's daily constitutional.

The word of the day for February 24, 2008 is "necessity" — noun — 1: the quality or state of being necessary. 2 a: pressure of circumstance. b: physical or moral compulsion. c: impossibility of a contrary order or condition. 3: the quality or state of being in need; especially : poverty. 4 a: something that is necessary : requirement. b: an urgent need or desire. — of necessity : in such a way that it cannot be otherwise; also : as a necessary consequence [further changes will occur of necessity].

It snowed again yesterday evening after a day of just-above-freezing, on-and-off rain showers. The kind of weather for which one is just as happy to be inside. I did the laundry, including the bathmats and bedsheets. Today there is just enough snow on the ground to be a nuisance. I don't intend to do anything about it as we are staying in today.

Today's project is cleaning out some of the paper in the computer room. I am always amazed at how quickly we acummulate such huge quantities of paper. I could just bundle it into sacks, but it isn't all catalogues and advertising flyers. There are books in there—and computer disks and tickets stubs from movies and Renaissance Faires. One has to be selective in what one keeps as well as what one throws.

Our quote for the day is from William Shakespeare (1564–1616), British dramatist, poet. John of Gaunt, in Richard II, act 1, sc. 3, l. 277-8.:

     Teach thy necessity to reason thus:
     There is no virtue like necessity.

;^) Jan

Tags: necessity

Gryphon's Word of the Day, February 21, 2008

The word of the day for February 21, 2008 is "justification" — noun — 1: the act, process, or state of being justified by God. 2 a: the act or an instance of proving or showing to be just, right, or reasonable : vindication. b: something that justifies. 3: the process or result of justifying lines of text.

Bubbles does have a Kong—along with a Kong ball that has an asterisk shaped hole for the doggy equivalent of Slim Jim's jerky strips. He also has several sizes of rawhide chews (which someone told me the other day aren't good for puppies, but I'd rather he chew them than Lloyd's shoes.) I only give the dog paper towel rolls for variety. If I truly minded picking up the little pieces of cardboard this creates, I wouldn't give him the cardboard in the first place.

For those of you who do not know what a Kong is, it is a piece of hollow rubber, shaped like three graduated balls squashed together. You can put dog biscuits, peanut butter, cheese, etc. inside for the dog to work at while he also works on his chewing needs. Apparently the Kong Company sells other toys for dogs—along with consumables like meat paste in squeeze cans and chewy biscuits. They also have toys for cats, horses, ferrets and birds; however, I can personally state that the rubber chews are really great for dogs.

Our quotes for the day are from Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95), British biologist and educator. "Reflection #4", Aphorisms and Reflections, selected by Henrietta A. Huxley, Macmillan (London, 1907):

     The man of science has learned to believe in justification, not by faith, but
     by verification.

and from C. S. Lewis, recalled on his death 22 Nov 63:

     An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.

;^) Jan

Tags: justification

aoljpictureUpload, aoljpictureUpload_1

Gryphn's Word of the Day, February 18, 2008

The word of the day for February 18, 2008 is "somnolence" noun : the quality or state of being drowsy : sleepiness.

I wish I had today off as it was President's Day. This holiday is the Monday chosen to celebrate the birthdays of presidents Washington and Lincoln, both of whom were born in the month of Febrary. Since our unions have negotiated a full week hiatus for the Christmas/New Year week, we do not get a day off to celebrate this holiday. It would have been nice to have the day off. I picked up a work package this morning and almost finished it before quitting time. At least I know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning.

Lloyd has apparently been dozing on and off all day. I had to wake him for his meals and again for his last blood sugar reading. The dog. on the other hand, has been pulling everything he can get ahold of from under the bed. He has also been chewing up cardboard. This is my fault; I've been giving the empty paper towel rolls to Bubbles for his use. He pushes them all around and chews them into little bits. It is then my job to pick up the bits and pieces. Sometimes I put one of his puppy biscuits into the tube and let him get it. He is so cute when he tries to look into the tube and get his muzzle into it at the same time.

Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Walden (1854), in The Writings of Henry David Thoreau, vol. 2, p. 99, Houghton Mifflin (1906):

     The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the
      awakening hour. Then there is least somnolence in us; and for an hour,
      at least, some part of us awakes which slumbers all the rest of the day
      and night.

;^) Jan

Tags: somnolence

Gryphon's Word of the Day, February 15, 2008

The word of the day for February 15, 2008 is "funereal" — adjective — 1 : of or relating to a funeral. 2 : befitting or suggesting a funeral (as in solemnity).

We got word last night that Lloyd's uncle by marriage died Monday. Uncle Elliott was in his ninties. He had lived alone for some years after his granddaughter, whom he had raised after the death of his wife, moved halfway across the country to Washington D.C. post-university degree. His daughter lives in California. Unc is to be buried beside his wife in Omaha, so we are gathering from all around the country.

Lloyd feels as though he has just gotten a generation older. Unc was the last close relative of his generation. Now Lloyd and his generation are at the head of the line. He has two cousins in Omaha—one older, one younger than he—and an older cousin in Denver and the much younger cousin in California. There was another cousin living in Florida, but we have lost touch with her. Still it seems so few and so far between. Plus our children are also dispersed far and wide. If we lose touch, so do our children.

Cecil Beaton, on automatic insurance machines in US airline terminals, It Gives Me Great Pleasure John Day 55:

     On close inspection, this device turned out to be a funereal juke box—the
     result of mixing Lloyd’s of London with the principle of the chewing gum dispenser.

;^) Jan