For a dear kindred spirit

Thank you, Natalie!

Another beautiful day in Alpharetta

Do You Hear What I Hear

Largest full moon of 2008

Annual Christmas Tree lighting in Alpharetta

Stealing the birds' food

Sonnet (1928) by Elizabeth Bishop

I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling finger-tips,
Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,
With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.
Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,
Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,
A song to fall like water on my head,
And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!

There is a magic made by melody:
A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool
Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep
To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,
And floats forever in a moon-green pool,
Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep.

Harmony Grove by Greg Maroney

Delighting in God

"God is glorified in the way we experience him, not merely by the way we think about him. Indeed the devil thinks more true thoughts about God in one day than a saint does in his lifetime, and God is not honored by it. The problem with the devil is not his theology, but his desires. Our chief end is to glorify God, the great Object. We do so must fully when we treasure him, desire him, delight in him so supremely that we let goods and kindred go and display his love to the poor and the lost."

--John Piper, When I Don't Desire God, pg. 30-31.

US maternal mortality rate info

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1339620220071013

U.S. has 2nd worst newborn death rate in modern world

http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/05/08/mothers.index/

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by Wordsworth

I WANDERED lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Splendour in the Grass by Wordsworth

What though the radiance
which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass,
of glory in the flower,
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.

Me and Goober

Enjoying my fireplace

Rick Steves' view of Americans' and Europeans' views of the body

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/getaways/11/13/baden.baden/

Fertility treatment may cause birth defects

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/11/18/MNHD146A9T.DTL

2 books down, 30 more to go

Concerto for Oboe & Strings in C-major, BWV 1055 First Movement by Bach

Well said

"The will of God will never take you where the grace of God will not protect you."



--source unknown

Dessert time

I made a few chocolate cake rolls this morning for a bake sale for charity. Mmm ...

What lack of sleep can do to us

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE4A97CD20081110

A White Sport Coat by Marty Robbins

The Goobster