In any case, we brought the whole family back on Sunday afternoon. I wanted them to get to see the Monet exhibit now, not have to wait until someday we were somewhere in which it could be seen. I enjoyed all the views I had of it on Saturday, and really enjoyed it again on Sunday. We started Sunday with Monet and then looked at other things, and then went back to the Monet Exhibition again to end the outing.

It was spectacular to be in the rooms with the huge paintings that Claude Monet himself actually painted. I took one of them and made that my phone background, and another and made a background for my Twitter page. I’ll get the photos organized and onto my Flickr pages and then hopefully be able to post about it better another time.

There is always tomorrow, though.

I do think that some might think me “depressed” when reading what I write, or hearing what I sometimes say. That’s just not possible for me though, for there is always tomorrow, always hope.

That’s one smile. I don’t feel it though, in real life, it’s out there far from me right now. I love my family but hate this house and the tediousness of organizing and getting others MOTIVATED. UGH!!!!

I have such hopeful ideas that just never see the light of day. I have a voice which no one can hear. So I wait, just as usual, every day, I wait. (I loathe the “waiting line” …)

1. A suffering with another; painful sympathy; a sensation of sorrow excited by the distress or misfortunes of another; pity; commiseration. Compassion is a mixed passion, compounded of love and sorrow; at least some portion of love generally attends the pain or regret, or is excited by it. Extreme distress of an enemy even changes enmity into at least temporary affection.

He being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity. Ps. 78.

His father had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. Luke 15.

link ]]> http://pastoralfarms.us/2005/09/28/compassion/feed/ 0 http://pastoralfarms.us/2005/09/02/biblical-christianity-and-catastrophes/ http://pastoralfarms.us/2005/09/02/biblical-christianity-and-catastrophes/#comments Fri, 02 Sep 2005 15:28:40 +0000 Maisy http://www.pastoralfarms.us/archives/2005/09/02/biblical-christianity-and-catastrophes/ Bret McAtee has a great post about the New Orleans situation and Biblical Christianity.

If y’all have read my earlier Hurricane Katrina posts, you might know that I have heard the “cess pool” term used in description of New Orleans, physically, on TWC and remarked at how that is a spiritually fitting term, also I have spoken of the temporal situation of this situation and that the soul is what matters here, not the stuff. It all goes to what Bret writes on the Backwater Report.

Note: Bret also has this posted on his site “acidink”.

Ode to a Lizzard

Death came quickly
to your doorstep

I tried to protect you
but all in vain

For I was the one
who wielded the weapon

I was the one who
caused you the pain

I cried with sorrow
at your passing

I cried with guilt
I cried with shame

But those around
me stared and mocked me

And will no longer
remember your name

by Marysue S.

——

I wrote the short poem above many years ago. I was still living at home (late teens, early 20′s), and some incident in my family’s living room caused this ode to form in my mind. The exact circumstances elude me. The sentiments in the poem tell the tale in full though, without recalling the exact details. I wrote it down right away.

I recall writing this. I recall the tears. The sorrow. I cannot, though, recall exactly what happened at the event. Something my mother did resulted in me dropping something is the best my fuzzy memory can recall, but it’s not surety.

I found out about “Mary Sue Candy” in the form of their Vanilla Butter Cream Easter Eggs long ago in Florida, when I was much younger. I found them in a drug store and bought one due to the name on the little package, and fell in love with the flavour of the actual product. It’s delectable!

I hadn’t thought much about this candy since moving to Georgia, but last year when in The Cracker Barrel one day, I spied a Mary Sue Easter Egg, and had the first one in a long time then.

It’s that time of the year and I’ve been thinking of them on and off, and then here someone else out there thinks about them too and seaches and find my site!

Anyhow, as for eggs, we haven’t had our hens laying any for awhile. The last day posted in my egg report for March 2005 before today is uptodate … no more eggs than that. Today though, we got a brown egg! That’s spectacular since it’s been a very long time since we had one of them. Let’s see now, my notes show: March 8 – 1 Brown egg. None of them since then until today. Last white egg: March 18 – 4 White eggs. None so far since as of right now.

We had better production in February, and March has been alright some days, I mean better than the none for weeks on end of winter! March days of laying have averaged about 3 per day, but that doesn’t include non-laying days. Production has been weak, very weak. I hope it’ll go up very soon now that Spring is officially here.

Back to Easter Egg talk. I’m hoping that Frank will get me some Mary Sue Butter Cream easter eggs today while he’s out. I reminded him where he can find them. He thought it interesting about the Yahoo search and me being at the top with the candy company in rankings.

I’m not super surprised though, I get good rankings on many searches. I’m not proud of it, it’s just a fact of being. I talk about things because they are interesting or it was a problem I had with something and I solved it. I like sharing info if it can help even just one person besides myself.

Anyone here know what Mary Sue is? There is a genre of writing that using that as a Litmus Test, there are Mary Sue Litmus Tests out there. It’s a strange genre, not my kind of thing. Good thing. My name isn’t suited to that sort of writing It’s a bizarre world out there.

I had that name given to me in 1966. It meant nothing more than splicing two names together as a compromise. Not my favorite name. Not a good life with that name. I don’t mind it as much now, but insist that I am “Marysue” … not “MarySue” or “Mary Sue”. That’s one reason to adopt a nickname for oneself, and that’s me, “Maisy”. It’s a better fit for me and that’s a fact of life for certain!

There are other “Mary Sue’s” out there, and they are popping up with internet getting more popular. They seem to be creative. I am too. But haven’t done much of anything with my creativeness. I have nothing but my amatuer photography in my Photo Blog, and my websites to show for my talents.

One of these days, if I can get stuff accomplished, I hope to have music available … my stylized singing, CD’s, MP3′s. Sigh, but that’s no where close at hand. I have to record somewhere, and just haven’t had that opportunity yet. I have no equipment to suffice for even a hacky job of it.

So I am Marysue, but will probably try to make myself moreso Maisy. I’ll be singing from now on as Maisy. I will be writing as me too, that’s Marysue and Maisy as one. Mary Sue was a trial to have as a name being a child … it’s hard to have as an adult too.

So here’s more of a Mary Sue rant:

When you meet someone new they hear your name and say “Nice to meet you Mary.”

Um, I said “Marysue”. I refresh it and retell it and they still say “Nice to meet you Mary” or “Right, Mary”. Urg.

When I send an email to someone it is signed “Marysue”. Responses are oft times to “MarySue”. Urg.

It’s just personal preference for what I like and what is right for me and I wouldn’t fool with YOUR name as such! Why my name? Just because it’s weird?

I could go on with the other types of names … all the forms of “Mary-whatever”. But I won’t.

Of all those, the only one that’s alright to give me is one that is never given, Sue … that’s just as much me as Mary, isn’t it? I see other people with “Mary” and another name attached, they can drop “Mary” with no problem, right inline in a conversation it’s acceptable for a “Mary Jane” to be “Jane” all of a sudden.

So who cares, right? I do. Me, plagued with a name that never has had consistency except to be blander than bland.

Even the Mary Sue of that writing Litmus Test fame isn’t a sweety. She’s the “perfect” thing, a writer putting themselves into their story as a character that is perfect, that’s a Mary Sue character and is not a desired thing in that genre. OK so it’s not a perfect description, I don’t know how to write one. I’m not perfect and know so little about this topic, more than I ever wanted to, in fact. It’s just another reason to want to be who I am without being “Mary Sue” or “Marysue”. Or then it’s the “Take back my name and make it something right”. But then I still haven’t been able to conquer the wrong put-my-name-together-isms, and so, after all is said and done, I am just “Maisy”. I am also Suzie-Q, btw. That’s another pseudonym of mine. As a child my mother called me, seldomly, just occasionally, Susie Q, and I don’t know why it never was upgraded to a real nickname, it was superb and I loved it. I otherwise had no real nickname, not that I needed one, but since my woes with my “real” name were so hefty, and easier nickname could have been real gain for me.

One might think that if my name is Mary Sue I would hear my name if I heard “Mary” called. I never have. If I hear “Sue” or “Susie” or “Susan” called I perk up and think of my name as being that automatically. It’s not that I conditioned myself to that. It’s always been that way for me. Hence my discomfort with “Mary anything” it’s just such a plain name, ever too popular for my own zone of living. Go figure I’d marry someone with the first name of “Frank”. Did you know that nearly every movie has a “Frank” in it, TV has an awful big share of them too. I do mean “character names” mind you. Passing through any smallish town you can see “Frank’s Garage” or “Franks House of …” or “Frank’s Pawn” or “Frank’s Bar and Grill” , etc.

It’s really plain, I’m being Frank about it.

I made a point about my children having true first and middle names, and that they’d have nice names. Able to be perverted, yes, isn’t any name? But less so needful and on purpose we’d call them their first names. Me, I was “Mary Sue”. It was my name. Not really first and middle names, just two first names that never were separated legally. They were one name, with a little tiny space between them. I put them together in my later young years. Legality people don’t care. Why should they anyhow? It’s me with a space or not, capitilized or not. I’m not a name, I’m a dumb SS#. :rolleyes:

So I am who I am. It’s not that people can’t change their names. Sure they can. Sometimes it happens in childhood, or at school or home at any point. It’s is sometimes oneself that does it, but more so rare, I think. I’ve done it. It’s me and no one else has been interested in naming me properly, that’s then my job. Being an Introvert it makes more sense about this who name thing … why it’s been as it has and why it’s come to me being the one to confirm a name choice on myself different from birth certif. name.

Do what y’all want to with that Mary Sue stuff. It’s a familiar name, but I’m not attached to it tremendously and think of myself as “Crazy Maisy” more oft than not nowadays.

But I still like Mary Sue Candies. Those easter eggs are good. Vanilla Butter Cream is my favorite. Chocolate Butter Cream is my second favorite. They are just little things, a nice snack. Grab handful. If you don’t like them, send them to me via post!

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don’t search around and look for the “coolest” book you can find. Do what’s actually next to you.

Book next to me -the closest one, sent by my mother the other week.

Page 123, sentence 5, (actually counted the 5th complete sentence, ignored the hangover from page 122)

If it grieves you deeply that your spouse seldom gives you a gift for any occasion, then perhaps your primary love language is “Recieving Gifts.”

The Five Love Languages: How to Express Heartfelt Committment to Your Mate –Now With Comprehensive Study Guide–
By Gary Chapman
——————–

I have a prior edition of this book, I think, as well as I do know that I have a children’s version of this book, which isn’t FOR children, but ABOUT children, learning how to read THEIR love language, as a parent. That’s what introduced me to this topic and I learned that what is on Page 123 sentence 5 is what MY primary love language is. So this Book Meme coincidentally snagged a real live post topic for me!

I decided to do this Book Meme and did it by starting this post, copying the Book Meme instructions into it, THEN getting the book closest to me. I had no agenda other than following instructions, not knowing with full realization what book was closest to me.

So this is the one “love language” that I think most people this is phony or dead-wrong, the one not to have as it’s selfish, materialistic and such. How wrong that all is!

It’s also not the opposite, that it’s fine and any old gift counts since “it’s the thought that counts”.

Bingo! It’s the source of grief for me all my life. It IS the thought that counts. It’s not the monetary value per se. It’s about quality … quality of thought. Light thought, no credit for gift given. Well maybe some, maybe a tad, or maybe a negative sum.

It’s that frivolous “It’s the thought that counts” which is usually employed to mean “You don’t like it, but you have to pretend you do since it’s “the thought that counts” they remembered your birthday at least.”

Yeah, but they put no THOUGHT into it.

For those people who like to Receive Gifts, it’s their primary love language, it means that their loved ones tell them they love you by their deep thoughts in how to show it through something of physical staticness.

It doesn’t have to be costly in $, or time, or thought, it should be easy to think deeply about your loved one. Consider something that would have deep value to that loved one, mean something truly wonderful.

For me it’s easy: I like blue, cats, flowers, candy bars, gadgets, computer geeky stuff …

Sure a pricey object is a gift of love sometimes. But then so is a candy bar. Particularly one I like. Rapunzel makes a good organic good chocolate bar. It’s pricier than hersheys, and so much better, but still cheap. It’s a great gift to person with Receiving Gifts as their Primary Love Language.

How about a coffee mug with a cat or cat saying, or bluebirds, or just a blue mug. Or a teacup that is rimmed with “platinum” since that’s something else I love.

Catnip for my cats, so I can play with them.

A flower picked by the roadside, of blue or gorgeous hue or design.

A new potted herb, to transplant into my herb garden. Something nice: fragrant or flowery, or culinary in purpose.

A pretty pot and some potting soil and a packet of seeds. Some sprouting materials to grow many of something. More than one pretty pot. Seeds that are good for the garden, flowers of herbalness, that can be in pot or the garden. Something like this is a super neat gift, a way to start something, have many of them and do multiple different things with them. Have plants inside and out from a packet of seeds.

A poem written just for me. A story written just for me. A witty comment written down just for me. Those are free things, just mind power need be applied and a steady hand to try and make it legible on paper for me.

A gift to me from my dear husband might be that he “teach himself better handwriting” and then use that to write portions of anything out to me on cards, note cards, index cards, pretty cards, anything.

Something else then is books. Bring me home a book now and then. Something you see in the used bookstore that strikes you as “something she’d love”. Bring me home children’s books. Picture books. Coffee table books. Journals to write in. Paper. Ink for computer printer. Stamps. Puzzles. Scrapbook makings. A desk. A craft carrying case. Boxes of all sizes. Wood crates from stores that give them away from their unpacking of goods, freebees or cheap couple of bucks. The things in this paragraph are cheap or cost a bit of something more, or more than that. This is the area to get super creative in, and find cool things for less by going to antiques stores, used bookstores, thrift stores, etc. Some of the things are useful needful, like computer printer stuff. It keeps one happy to know they can print in color

Now something I want that would really float my boat is a feather old-time pen and envelope wax seal kit and ink bottle. There are kits like that at bookstores lately. Really cute and right up my alley. This has a monetary cost though. Also in these sort of places are cool thermal coffee things (one at B&N is tall and stainless steel with pink outer shell, so pretty!) it’s a travel mug type. There are tea-pots-for-one of many designs. These cost too. Of course. One must use money of higher increments at some point during the year

I realize that most of my ideas here cost money. But they also are things that may just spark other ideas that don’t cost money.

This post is dedicated to my husband Frank. Feel free to refer back to this post anytime you need to or want to, bookmark it dearie!

My mom sent this book recently, I said above, the book this post is about. This copy has a study guide in it, so that’s different. Frank said he’d be happy to study it with me. That we need to do. I don’t know what his primary love language is. It’s confusing for some people and easy to understand in others. I didn’t understand it about myself until I read the book about finding your child’s love language. That book made it clearer than daylight to me. I saw myself in the child-examples, how I was as a child, and it transfers rightly over to adulthood, love languages don’t change much. It’s not that they don’t change at all. I think part of this is that all love languages need to be represented in one’s life, just one or two are of primary importance and will be in balance when all needs are met more or less. It’s that one’s primary may seem acutely too sharp if other things are out of kilter, I think.

I’ll close this post by reinterating what it is about Receiving Gifts that is key. It’s thinking deeply about what’s good to give someone like that. It’s meaning deep things by giving something. It’s not just “trying” but it’s excelling at trying to try one’s best to please deeply” It’s to truly know what one would like. It’s to not give something that will make them think “What did he give me THAT for!”. That reaction in someone like me is something of a bad nature. It feels bad, it’s a socked in the stomach kind of feeling. It’s truly blue and sad. It’s a letdown, failure sort of thing. It can be maddening too, depending on the situation. It happens to be more like that when relatives do something that is obviously not well thought out. Or they don’t understand that that thing is really weird, why would anyone want it, let alone me – a relative that … ok it’s this: give things you KNOW they want. OR find something safe and great, like a CD cheap. Don’t give white elephants. It might not hurt the giver, but the givee feels stomped on and can’t say anything, has to hold in that pain.

It’s the thing about having that as one’s love language primarily, that makes the givee in most situations a thoughful giver as well. So it’s hurtful to want to give lovely presents to others, and always get ugly present from them themselves. DH learned to get things from department stores and get them wrapped, for some gifts, there. That puts a huge smile on my face, it means he cares, he knows I appreciate a lovely wrapped box, with something lovely inside, small on sale cheap is fine as long as it’s nice and wearable, usable nice to look at, touch, use. Whatever. Wrap it up nice, put it in cute bag, frilly froo froo hanging out the sides, bows ah, that’s love. (but the insides have to have value too or else the wrappings don’t count as much.)

We have only come into contact with them physically at one place. Ted’s Montana Grill.

Wikki Stix are available to restaurants, and other businesses from their website. Restaurants usually have crayons and paper things for children. Do you know how argumentative that can be in a restaurant? “She has blue and yellow, I only have red and green. Make her give me the blue crayon.” Pout. “No, I don’t want your green crayon.” “Mama I don’t want to color.” “Mama play tictactoe with me” Wikki Stix is the wonderful alternative that I wish MORE places would utilize.

Yes I love to color. But no I don’t like the arguing it brings forth, with different places having a good coloring sheet and nice crayon colors, others pathetic waxy crayons that barely color but have a good sheet to color, but most are that or a combo of that and a bad sheet, or a sheet and crayons and no where to write on it at all (really, the exist!)

Also, tictactoe is no fun when everyone knows how to play it, KWIM? Mama and Daddy like to talk in a restaurant as we “wait for the food” to come to the table. That’s a long enough wait for the children to need something to occupy their hands and minds and keep them from desiring to “run their mouths”. So Wikki Stix are really perfect. They are a creative thing that children love and Mama and Daddy won’t mind helping with during that time and later, in most cases. Interactive for the whole family there in the restaurant, and the children can do stuff all by themselves with Wikki Stix as well, not bothering Mama or Daddy if the parents wish.

Wikki Stix are the answer to that boredom of waiting –the youngsters who must keep still and quiet to some degree of difficulty in restaurants. And they are just so good for the whole family, so good for 3 and up in particular, yes all the way up to Grandpa.

They come in that plastic bag (pack) with eight 6-inch Wikki Stix and a design sheet.

Ted’s in fact has a numbered dot-to-dot on the back of the design sheet, of it’s mascot.

Wikki Stix are available online for sale as well, and in some retailer’s establishments.

Here are some things we did with Wikki Stix on Wednesday in our home. (Just using the Ted’s packs)

Asa creating something … trying to copy Russell

Russell’s own creation

Victoria’s copied creation

Wikki Stix are re-usable, and let a child’s imagination run wild. For that matter, adults too!

On the Wikki Stix site they have their catalog of products for sale. One item is marketed for Adults as a stress reducer. Believe me, this is worth while for everyone to get some Wikkistix and see what they can do with them. They are great, and cheap, as toys go.

It’s just yarn and wax in nice bright colors. But it’s a unique patented wax and it’s not messy. It’s all so truly re-usable multiple times.

I downloaded some number-dot-to-dot pages to print out from the Wikki Stix site, and there are some other things at the craft section as well.

Here are what the children did with some of these:

Russell did this Bunny Number-Dot-to-Dot with Wikki Stix

Victoria did this Butterfly Number-Dot-to-Dot with Wikki Stix

This is Russell’s “Ted’s Montana Grill” Number-Dot-to-Dot with Wikki Stix

This is Victoria’s “Ted’s Montana Grill” Number-Dot-to-Dot with Wikki Stix

The Wikkistix in use above are a few weeks old. They’ve been used three or more times as well. (I keep them up on a shelf and take them down for special play)

One of these days we’ll get more Wikki Stix. The website has many products, and one that is sold under the Educational section are called workboards . These are white boards, a nice shape, perfect for Wikki Stix play in the car, home, or out and about. Not only that, as white boards they are writeon/wipeoff boards.

Other things on the site are different colors of Wikki Stix and different lengths, special occasion things for holidays, and kits and more.

Perfect product for a homeschooling family, or anyone else for that matter. Good for a classroom too. (we don’t do classrooms in our homeschool, and for children in classrooms/schools, I’d be happy to know they at least had Wikki Stix in school …)

It’s just a little trimmed, it’s a little tree. 4Ft. Tall, it looks like a minature Christmas Tree, it’s like a Full Fledged tree, just small.

It’s also ALIVE.

Alberta Spruce, of some sort, it’s going to get a couple or so feet taller, and end up about 4 to 5 feet wide. We’ll plant it in our front yard somewhere.

It’ll be something in future years for us or someone else to decorate for the season outside. We’ve not really had anything to do that with before.

I have a long strand of cranberries on it, and mini-white lights, 1 and a half strands of those. Also a couple of other little things. Most of my Christmas stuff is just too big for that tree.

I made a paper star for the top. [It's a kid's site, but the star was the only online directions for anything that'd work for a tree that I could find]

www.dltk-kids.com/usa/fold_and_cut_star_shape.htm

I made two of them, pooked out the fold lines of the stars after cutting the folded paper, to give it more depth, then used a stapler to attach them together, bizarre, but I figured at night it’s not visible, and even if they are, in day or at night the tree lights will add sparkle, hopefully At any rate that’s the only way I could figure to get them together with what I had available .

It looks alright, kind of nice. I have a light from the light strands inside of it.

The Gigantic Star atop our Huge Tree is nice. That what it looks like if one doesn’t think about it being a minature tree in the first place. I don’t have any other large ornaments on it, just a few smaller things, but most of my stuff is in the garage. It’s just too much, too big and heavy for this little tree.

So that’s that. Tomorrow is Christmas Day. Presents to open. Then in the afternoon we have a present for the whole family, we’ll be going to see “The Incredibles” at the theatre. Last Christmas we did that for the first time, we saw Peter Pan, so it’s a new tradition that we will “try” to keep each year. We don’t have any family around here, so it’s just us and since we love movies and are visual, it’s a nice thing to do. I used to think it a terrible thing to go to the movies on Christmas Day. But after all I always didn’t like Christmas Day much past the morning, it was dull and boring. No more excitement. No mystery about what presents you might be getting, or about the ones you are giving to others. The pleasures were had and gone. They linger, not entirely gone, but the newness of it all wears off, and a little time together seeing something new at the theatre seems to get our attention off of the “Stuff” and onto enjoying the time together, without being sprawled out in front of the TV or something like that.

Since we hadn’t seen The Incredibles yet, it was the one we decided to do this year for Christmas. We are looking forward to it!

You have the Reynolds girl look. Reynolds girls had
the typical British beauty. The eighteenth
century British portrait painters would have
been attracted by your brilliant complexion and
your classical features. Sir Joshua Reynolds
loved to paint girls like you in white dresses
with blue satin sashes. Reynolds and other
portrait painters of his time also portrayed
blue eyed, dark-haired girls, and golden-haired
ones too, plus the occasional red-head. The
following painters would have painted you; Sir
Joshua Reynolds and Sir Thomas Lawrence.

‘Pretty As A Picture’ – Which Artist Would Paint You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I must say, I’m thrilled with the answer, as I LOVE one particular Sir Thomas Lawrence portrait what I knew as Pink Lady, but is really called Pinkie.

My maternal grandparents had a grocery store bought production of that, and my grandpa made a frame for it, and they also had what I knew as Blue Boy by Thomas Gainsborough and paired them in matching frames in their living room. That had big impact on me as a young child, and I’ve carried a love of both those portraits every since.

Here’s link to Joshua Reynolds portraits on Allposters.

I most honestly don’t know what the picture attached to the quiz is of. It’s a Reynolds, apparently, but Allposters, as far as I’ve researched thus far, has nothing like that. [edit] I also found just now a few other sites and here’s one with many of Reynold’s works, but still nothing of the above featured there. www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=406&page=1

[UPDATE: 12:54pm Dec 20, 2004]I find, upon further reading, that Sir Thomas Lawrence was a student of Reynolds. Here’s a link at artrenewal about him, and his portraits are there too.

www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=866

Here’s the page with Thomas Gainsborough’s portraits on that site too: www.artrenewal.org/asp/database/art.asp?aid=189

[End UPDATE]

This is Pinkie: by Sir Thomas Lawrence

It’s really nice, IMO. And very much me, in a way I was young once. Also, England is ONE of the places my ancestors come from. I feel akin to my English roots