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Beautiful weather!  We enjoyed a hot dog roast, croquet, and visiting over at my brother's this evening.  I saw, for the first time in many years, a shooting star.  It was quick and over almost before it begun - if I would have blinked, I would have missed it. 

Today I ripped out all the garden plants that were struggling along.  I gave up - BUT, I'm thinking about planting a fall garden.  I've got bean and beet seeds - could it be that I could actually grow something now that the weather has moderated?  Hope springs eternal...  We're working on putting in two more boxes along the back fence.  I really like this "box garden bed" concept.  We have to clear out years of honeysuckle vine first, so it'll be awhile.

I'm reading "The Help".  I can't put it down!  Well I can, but it's difficult.  What a great book - I can't wait to see the movie. 

After a rousing chorus of the neighbor's three dogs barking for almost an hour today I'm this much closer to checking on getting a privacy fence put up.  Yes, they'll still bark at me, but I won't SEE them.  I think that'll help.  Please, God, make it stop.

Problems at church.  Problems at work.  Problems with family.  Problems all around.  What's the old adage - do what you can about the things you CAN control, everything else, let it go.  I need to be reminded of that every once in awhile.

I can usually work the sudoku puzzle all the way up to Thursday, most of the time I can get Friday's, and rarely, I can get Saturdays.  I usually try to work the Cryptoquip and the Jumble too.  Sometimes I wonder if that's the only reason I subscribe to the daily paper.  That and the comics.  Love Pickles, Zits, Sherman's Lagoon, and Non Sequitur.

Speaking of Non Sequitur, did you know that it's Latin for "it does not follow"?  In formal logic, it is an argument which its conclusion does not follow its premises.  For example:  in advertising - a commercial might state if you do not buy this brand of dog food, you do not love your dog.   Wiki goes on to give several other examples of different non sequiturs. 

It's late.  Time to get to bed, in order to, get up early, in order to, go to work tomorrow, in order to, come home, in order to, go to bed, in order to, get up early, in order to...  well, you get my drift.  Have a good week. 

A long two weeks

It has been a difficult, long, last two weeks. Briefly, there was a crisis which touched one of the schools I serve.  It was an incident of domestic violence where one of our first graders was shot to death, her 4th grade sister critically wounded, and her mother and grandmother wounded as well.  The little girl's funeral was yesterday, and although I did not go, it certainly was uppermost in my thoughts as I worked at school.
Events like this always cause me to reassess my worldview regarding good and evil, of what happens when you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and who really is in control of what in this universe.  I am finding that really, when I'm called on to serve in a crisis, I can do that running purely on what I know my job is and what I have to do.  It's usually days later before I really begin to mull things over and process the horrific nature of what happened, and then begin to put it in proper persepctive in my mental filing cabinet.  PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) occurs when that system breaks down.  Sometimes people have to deal with trauma, tragedy, and things too indescribable to talk about - and I wonder if those who truly suffer from this disorder ever can regain a sense of normalacy about life. 

Rest in peace, Reimy.  I pray Dayonara recovers, and certainly for her mother and grandmother as well - the healing required to deal with this tragedy will be much more than just physical.