Books

"Reading is an engagement of the imagination with life experience. Humans are hard-wired for story. . .we possess the power to be moved." Timothy Eagan writes a blog, "Book Lust", and I quote from his entry 2/28/08 in the New York Times.
According to the Associated Press 27% in a sample interviewed had not read a book lately. However, three out of four people do read for pleasure.
Another 27% read more than 15 books a year. Do not despair! We continue to be a literate society.

Summer Images

A coiled hose. . .

Nothing signifies order in my outdoor environment more than a coiled hose by the outside spigot. Perhaps it is because of the almost complete lack of order we experience in living on the edge of an untamed woodland. The prairie flora (also known as "weeds") creep up to meet the thicket. My garden circle in the drive has an English country look. My husband mows sparingly. We are content with this unsubdued, overgrown style of living.

But a coiled hose gives the appearance and feel of planning and control!

The definition of love. . .

Matt Arni, a lay minister and a friend from church, has worked out the following definitions of love in a spiritual sense. . . Love, the noun: everything that lives and breathes is to be valued, according to Scripture. Love, the verb: every action that we take to value people.

Matt is the guiding force at the mid-week service, using the theme,

"The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a

sincere faith." 1 Timothy, Chapter 1, Verse 5.

Independence Day

The manager of a local gift and antique store in the center of our town posted pictures of the founding fathers along with quotations in her window display for July 4th. I found this quote from Ben Franklin thought provoking:

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."

I have to think about that all the way around. . .to me, "well-armed" means protection with laws to protect helpless victims. Sometimes I think today's farmers fall into this category. But then again, I look at it from the point of view one might have if you have the misfortune to have a pre-existing health condition which completely prevents you from getting medical insurance.

Democracy is messy. The wolves are powerful. The lambs are many. Fortunately good things happen, at least a part of the time.

Rural Missouri

"The world is so full of a number of things. . .

I'm sure we all should be happy as kings!" Robert Louis Stevenson

June - When Missouri Pretends to be Perfect

June—When Missouri Pretends to be Perfect

Ah, June, when Missouri pretends to be perfect!
Regal in a gold-green, leafy cloak,
A garland of Queen Anne’s Lace round her shoulders
With Brown-eyed Susan’s bouncing at her feet,
She flings translucent blue chicory on roadbanks
And dances to the wild music of birdsong.

Missouri, in June, denies dusty drives and swampy feedlots.
Laughs at chigger bites, sweat bands, and sunburn.
Accused of petulant weather behavior, she sighs,
“O-oh No-o” on the deceptive voice of the wind,
“I am the irrepressible dew-covered joy of the morning. . .
I am the reverent hush of a prairie sunset!”

So you forgive her for high humidity, heat strokes and poison ivy.
For snakes, crawly things and wildlife in the garage.
Forgive her capricious rainstorms, sometimes endless,
Loosing her rivers into fields and crop.
Rivers with unquenchable appetite for space and soil.

Missouri calls seductively in June:
“Soak up my radiant sunshine, feel the soft, cool breeze.
Inhale fragrant clover blossoms and new mown hay.
Forget your ordered existence; linger in the porch swing.
Float upon my lakes, and fish in my languid streams.

Meanwhile, crabgrass flourishes; cocklebur germinates
Innocent corn sends down deep roots for thirsty days ahead
Let go your memories of July’s sweltering mid-day sun!
Give over heart and soul, and sink deep into the Present.
It’s June, when Missouri pretends to be perfect.
Carol M. Raynor (copyright 2005)