3-day weekend

Looking forward to a mini-vacation.  Wonderful to have a paid holiday—- so won’t be blogging anything for the next few days.

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!!

We won!

ESPN (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Cardinal’s game was great.  Had the stadium hot dog and beer (seems like everything tastes better at a sporting event…why is that?) Though the prices of the food and drink WERE pricey it was still a nice event to go to.  Loved watching the kid’s reactions to the crowd and the game itself. 

Had great company and conversation. 

When you walk out to the field it’s like a movie reel in slow motion…watching the expanse of the green display itself before you in all its glory. The seating, the neon signs.

Traffic wasn’t too bad…people were honking their horns like it was some kind of Latino wedding.

It’s all good.

And that’s what counts…

Everytime Pujols came out to the field you could hear the roar of the crowd.  I love that sound!  Colby Rasmus had the winning home run…it was knocked out of the park.  Fireworks went off, crowd on its feet. Can’t beat a breezy Midwestern summer evening.

We went into the 10th inning winning 2-1.

Good times, good company and simply having a wonderful relaxing evening.

A little piece of Americana

Most of us may remember reading Little Golden Books as children. I throughly enjoyed them as a child and wish I had kept mine:

 

	The Poky Little Puppy Janette Sebring Lowery; Illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren Juvenile Fiction | Golden Books Hardcover | April 2001 $ 2.99 | 978-0-307-02134-2 (0-307-02134-3) Buy this book online. My favorite was Pokey Little Puppy and used to read it to my kid and also my sister. Loved the artwork, the simplicity…and the morals they told.    About this book One of the original 12 Little Golden Books, The Poky Little Puppy has sold nearly 15 million copies since 1942, making it one of the most popular children’s books of all time. Now this curious little puppy is ready to win the hearts and minds of a new generation of kids.         Other Links Order your own personalized version of Poky Little Puppy.	Free Printables! Interactive games! Sign up for the Read and Play Newsletter! Are We There Yet? Little Golden Books are the perfect accompaniment for family summer traveling!
Visit other Random House sites: Kids@Random • Teens@Random • Teachers • Random House

Cardinal’s Game 2nite

Checking out the Cards this evening. Suppose to be a beautiful game. (At least weather wise). HOPE we win this one.

Check out their official site here

Immortal Beloved

In college I did a speech on Beethoven’s infamous love letter to his mystery lover while playing the Moonlight Sonota in the background….the man was simply a genius:

The Third Letter

Good morning, on July 7
Though still in bed, my thoughts go out to you, my Immortal Beloved, now and then joyfully, then sadly, waiting to learn whether or not fate will hear us – I can live only wholly with you or not at all – Yes, I am resolved to wander so long away from you until I can fly to your arms and say that I am really at home with you, and can send my soul enwrapped in you into the land of spirits – Yes, unhappily it must be so – You will be the more contained since you know my fidelity to you. No one else can ever possess my heart – never – never – Oh God, why must one be parted from one whom one so loves. And yet my life in V is now a wretched life – Your love makes me at once the happiest and the unhappiest of men – At my age I need a steady, quiet life – can that be so in our connection? My angel, I have just been told that the mailcoach goes every day – therefore I must close at once so that you may receive the letter at once – Be calm, only by a calm consideration of our existence can we achieve our purpose to live together – Be calm – love me – today – yesterday – what tearful longings for you – you – you – my life – my all – farewell. Oh continue to love me – never misjudge the most faithful heart of your beloved.
ever thine
ever mine
ever ours

Read the rest of his passion here

The Passion of a Man

Decided to start up a new topic on English Sabla:

I sometimes feel bad for guys getting the short end of the stick per se when it comes to matters of the heart. I truly believe there are romantic men out there….I have seen it in classic poetry (and it seems Arabs can wrap their hearts around words)……..

Matters of the heart can become so complicated…..mixed with games (which I detest) and untruths.

What do you guys feel about the dating game (those who can date and those who wish they could and those who detest it)….is love basically a mating game?

For love IS (suppose to be) the unconditional acceptance of all things as they are. To alter or expand them by contributing to them in a loving way creates blessings. To alter, judge or limit them by force or fear creates burdens which you must carry, experience or learn from. Lust – is wanting something that you can’t have, taking something that isn’t yours, (through acquisition, force, coercion or manipulation), and believing in something that isn’t loving, (like domination, control)

But how many people truly see love like this or do they simply think of love as one big game and anyone is up for grabs?

………Men CAN feel so very deeply…and it saddens me to think there are women out there who are in disbelief over this. Men have cried over the beauty of a woman, practically fallen into madness….men have fought wars over women and written some of the most breathtaking poetry/music ever to grace our humanity.

Daughter playing “Ode to Joy”

My daughter is very precious to me and just as creative.

She is currently practicing on her violin. We visited a local music store today to fix one of her strings and now she is playing one of my most beloved Beethoven pieces:

My Country…

Part of me wants to disappear and drive to the Rockies…fell instantaneously in love with the topography of Colorado when I was driving to Vegas and became simply gobsmacked at the sheer heights and ethereal beauty of our country.

Whenever I travel cross country (which seems quite often these days) I am astounded by the vastness of our great nation….of our highway systems, people traveling….the variety of beauty contained within our nation: when it comes to our citizens, myraid of customs, down to simply watching the miles of roads passing me by. 

Reminds me of the song America the Beautiful (used to belt this one out as a kid whenever I had a chance).  :^)

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned – stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife.
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America ! America !
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man’s avail
Men lavished precious life !
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!

 O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

 

 

By Katherine Lee Bates

 

 

 

 Click here for more inspirational songs 

 

 

Sarkozy’s latest controversy

Mr. Tickle brought up the latest issue regarding veiling and Islam on the English sabla:

Sarkozy: burqa is ‘not welcome’ in France

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President Nicolas Sarkozy has used a major policy speech to declare the burqa was “not welcome” in France and should be banned.

In comments which will reignite the debate about religious clothing in the country, he said the full-body garment was “not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience”.

Mr Sarkozy used the first presidential address to a joint session of France’s two houses of parliament in 136 years to declare his support for a ban, even before hearing from a parliamentary commission set up to study the issue.

“We cannot accept to have in our country women who are prisoners behind netting, cut off from all social life, deprived of identity,” Mr Sarkozy told the special session in Versailles.

“That is not the idea that the French republic has of women’s dignity.

“The burqa is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience. It will not be welcome on the territory of the French republic,” the French president said.

A group of 58 MPs from the Left and Right has called on Parliament to take action against women adopting what they called oppressive head-to-toe Islamic dress that “breaches individual freedoms”.

André Gerin, a Communist MP, led the motion for the latest inquiry, calling the burqa and niqab “a moving prison” for women.

Women’s rights campaigners, including some Islamic groups, have backed the calls for measures to curb the small but growing trend of wearing burqas among France’s five million Muslims.

Fadela Amara, a rights campaigner of Algerian background, who is the Housing Minister, said that was alarmed by the number of women “who are being put in this kind of tomb”.

She added: “We must do everything to stop burqas from spreading.”

Dalil Boubakeur, the rector of the Paris Mosque, supported an inquiry, saying that face covering for women was a fundamentalist practice originating in Afghanistan that was not prescribed by Islam.

But the national Muslim Council, which is less tied to the Establishment, accused politicians of wasting time on a fringe phenomenon.

“To raise the subject like this is a way of stigmatising Islam,” said Mohammed Moussaoui, the head of the council.

It is estimated that some 100,000 women, mainly born in France, have taken to full outfits with face covering. In 2004, France banned religious headcoverings in state schools.

President Barack Obama attacked European laws on religious clothing in a speech in Cairo last week in which he said that the United States prized freedom of religion and would not “tell people what to wear”.

Mr Sarkozy responded by telling Mr Obama in Normandy earlier this month that French principles of equality meant that people should not display religious affiliation in state institutions.

He added: “It is not a problem that young girls may choose to wear a veil or a headscarf as long as they have actually chosen to do so, as opposed to this being imposed upon them, be it by their families or by their environment.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl…in-France.html

To those of you not brought-up in burkha households, what do you remember your Parents telling you when you first asked – “why is that person wearing that?”

It is a current hot topic on the forum, some responses are quite informative others childish…but interesting to read what the members had to say.

My response:

If a woman wants to wear a burqa that’s fine but if it interferes with work or security then it simply has to come off and the ladies should know this.

When you live in a predominantly homogenous society (which most countries in Asia are) it might seem difficult to understand Mini’s or Thalia’s point of view. I live in a multi-cultural society and am glad that I do. I just want people to obey the law of the land which includes how you dress at work and when you have to show your face i.e. getting on a bus (remember the thread) or coming into a bank…trust me we have enough bank robberies here in the USA we don’t need to add to the agitation with someone coming in all covered up like that. Sorry but that’s how it is.

For myself, if a woman choses burqa fine ….but if she chooses to wear hijab instead that should be her choice NOT her husband’s.

Anyway, I don’t have a problem with it as long as I am not forced to change my ways to accomodate someone who completely covers. For example, I have read on here about women who quit a job because their covering created an OBVIOUS health hazard and THEN they won untold amounts of money in damages, same as the hair dresser thread awhile back.

Such damages are then passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices. I always have a problem with people who sue knowing full well what they are getting into.

Doesn’t make sense to me.

If women want to wear such a thing in a Western nation they need to comply with the laws we have here in regards to such garmets etc. and etc……now if a nation wants to completely forbid such an attire well, that’s up to the govt of that nation. I don’t live in France. Thankfully I live here. All I ask is that irregardless of your background you comply by the laws of the nation you live in. I would do the same if I lived in Oman, Saudia, UAE, France any other nation.

——————————————————————————————-

I completely understand the right to free speech which to me also includes dress…I personally do not like a woman to be so covered up that she is a shapeless shroud.  I did not think (and from what I gathered from discussing this topic with Muslimas) the Quran does not state women HAVE to cover up their entire face.  Veiling seems to mean many things with different Muslimas…from visable signs (such as the hijab) to simply veiling one’s heart against sin. Muslim women tend to be the visable symbol of Islam in Western nations.

All in all I do learn quite a bit from Omanis (where the forum originates) and from fellow Westerners when it comes to such a sensitive topic.

Office A/C

I don’t know if other people suffer from frostbite like I do.  Our A/C pumps out an ungodly amount of freon. I have to dress for the “weather” at the Center and not what’s outside (includes the winter time when I have my fan on high to keep me cool)…am hoping once we move to Dunn Road the internal temp controls are much better than what we have in this ancient building.

Ready for some hot choclate!