Thoughts in response to Harvey and Irma. Creation, Devastation, Restoration By Kris Baker Loving God, In the beginning, You created the heavens and the earth, light to separate the darkness, sky to divide the waters above and below, and dry land to set apart the lower waters. On the dry land You created flowers and trees with seeds to bear life and fruit. In the sky You placed lights to illumine the darkness and to nourish the seeds of the…
Today was a good day! It began with playing for two church services this morning, brunch with our closest friends, yarn shopping for my next Welcome Blanket, and then a little more shopping. The photos of the devastation in the Houston area continue to blanket the news. Many of those who have been displaced have now made their way to one of several shelters here in the Dallas area. And the cars, buses and planes continue to arrive. Those seeking…
Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! – Emma Lazarus, “The New Colossus” (1883), written onThe Statue of Liberty After I wrote earlier about the things I did and didn’t do during my summer freedom, my dear friend Joni reminded me that I did knit a lot over the summer. She…
At the beginning of each new school year, I feel like I need to justify my existence to my students, or perhaps it’s their existence in my classes. I teach the final three semesters of a four semester music theory and ear training sequence. Most musicians, unless you are super nerdy like me, probably would not take music theory if it weren’t required to get any kind of degree in music. I explain to my Theory II class that…
Last Monday marked my fifty-first first day of school. Some of those years were as a student, some have been as a professor, and the years in graduate school were both as a student and a teaching fellow. That is a lot of years of school! Most days I still love it.But, having not taught summer school for the first time in many years and thus having a peek at what retirement might look and feel like, I have to…
Yesterday, July 10, Weber and I celebrated our seventh anniversary. Sometimes it feels like we were just married yesterday and then there are times that I can’t remember my life without him.. The geek in me particularly loved this anniversary because it’s date is a palindrome,, 7-10-17. This is a once in a lifetime occurrence…unless we live to be 155 and 160. So how did we celebrate? A few weeks ago Weber and I started asking each other what…
Here is what my June looked like in a picture a day… June is a few hours from being over. We are now halfway through 2017. And we are also closer to Christmas 2017 than Christmas 2016. You have 177 shopping days. The word that comes to mind when I look back at my daily photos from the month and I think about all the experiences that June brought with it is growth. The biggest event during this month is…
I was standing in the closet looking for a t-shirt to match my workout capris. We all know that time on the treadmill feels much better when your clothes match. Since tomorrow is laundry day and I’ve done my time on the treadmill 7 out of the last eight days, my clothing choices were limited…as in I had one pair of clean capris. And as it turned out, my choice of a matching t-shirt was equally limited. I pulled out my Human…
No fifty-something year old woman with no children or grandchildren around and who is fairly competent in the kitchen should be making a special trip to the grocery store to buy cream cheese, pretzels, Cool Whip, and Jello, all to be used in the same recipe…and be excited about it. But, this is exactly where I find myself today. I partially blame my Sifted Together blog buddy, Tracey, for this predicament in which I find myself. She gave me a…
It’s been a whirlwind of celebration and good times around our house for the last five days or so. I know how blessed I am to be able to say that as there are so many people in the world who have nothing to celebrate and not much to call good in their lives. My hope is that I’ll never take any of the gifts of this life for granted. A good friend flew in last Thursday to spend a…