Samantha Pierce

Today I am thankful for/that: Music. The fruits of my labour. Most of dinner tonight came out of the garden. Good health despite the growing list of aches and pains. Human language. The means by which we convey information and emotion via the spoken and written word with such a dizzying array of words is utterly fascinating. Friends. The calm center of the storm. Progress. What are you thankful for?

Today I am thankful for/that: A sunny rain free afternoon at the beach. Jewel enjoyed eating the required amount of sand. I had to explain to Sophia how she got tan lines and why they weren't permanent. Summer flowers. My zinnias are just getting their bloom on. Enough. Ripe red raspberries. Watching the kids diligently search the raspberry brambles for ripe berries. A good night's sleep. It will happen again some day. What are you thankful for?

I wasn't going to comment on Henry Louis Gates Jr. getting himself arrested after breaking into his own home and then mouthing off to the police officer who had been sent to the home to investigate a potential break in at the house by a neighbor's call to police. Yelling at a cop is almost always a dumb idea unless you are yelling, "Help me officer!" or "Have a good day officer!" The police report was pretty clear about the incident. Even if you are inclined to believe that police officers as lying abusers of power there appear to have been plenty of witnesses present to speak about what they saw occur. Having read the police report I was puzzled when the President of the United States chose to answer a question about the incident at the end of his press conference on health care reform last night. I would have thought that a savvy politician would refrain from getting into the middle of such a squabble before all involved had had a chance to speak their pi...

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11 (English Standard Version) 1The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. 2Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. 3What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? 4A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. 5The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. 6The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. 7All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. 8All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. 9What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. 10Is there a thing of which it is said, "See, this is new"? It has been already in the a...

Today I am thankful for/that: An opportunity not to worry about my problems. The helpful hands of others. Summer time sunshine. Evening birdsong. Summer flowers. Effective insect repellent. Real hope. Friends. What are you thankful for?

I remember some years ago the "Behold the power of cheese" ad campaign. One of the commercias said something to the effect that mankind went to the moon, discovered it was made of cheese after all and never went back. I always found that commercial to be amusing. That fateful flight took place forty years ago today .

Back from my vacation and ready to comment on the craziness in the world. So... North Korea has been shooting off missiles left and right and kidnapping American journalists ( remember them? ) as a cover for the fact that the dear leader is dieing of pancreatic cancer. They put me so much in mind of a small terrified child that doesn't want to take its medicine. Like a friend said, this is how you make new racists. Idiots. The follow up story doesn't make anything clearer or sound better. The comments on that second story are a hoot as well. I wonder how much of that bluster those people have in real life? I found this story about Iraqis being disgruntled that they are still seeing US service men and women on their streets amusing in light of the stories ( here's just one ) about the bombs that keep going off in their streets.

I've been saying for weeks that the last time it rained this much the Irish starved, a reference to the potato famine of the 1800s that lead to the migration of a large segment of the Irish of the time to American shores. So I felt pretty vindicated when I heard this story on the radio, Growers Worry Blight Could Wipe Out Tomato Crops . Potatoes and tomatoes are in the same family and vulnerable to some of the same diseases in this case potato or late blight . We aren't likely to have a famine though thanks to the wide availability of fungicides and the lack of a meddling government making matters worse. Your produce may cost you a bit more though. Although with food prices they way they have been you might not notice the blight driven price increase among the other reasons the cost of your food is going up.

Today I am thankful for/that: Vacation. Nothing like a little time away to make you appreciate sleeping in your own bed. Perhaps my favourite summer time sound of all, the cicada. Summer flowers. Baby girl, aka Jewel, in all her snaggle toothed, stair climbing, toy tossing, paper eating glory. She seems to learn a new trick every day. The mouth of CNY, aka Sophia, who said today, "Mommy the bug dope says OFF on it!" Ethan the match maker who found someone else for Sophia to pretend to marry so he wouldn't have to marry her as she demanded. Isaiah's you-didn't-do-it-right face when I sing his favourite songs out of sequence or fudge one of his familiar routines. Many helpful hands to lighten the load. My church family. Feels like I haven't seen them in forever (it's only been two Sudays which kind of is forever for me). What are you thankful for?