Hey, I've moved!

I've been posting over at Typepad for a long time, now, but I see that this old version still comes up in some Google lists.
If you're still interested, you can find me over there.
http://omnicrone1.typepad.com/katethoughts/
See ya.

Well...The 'House' Move's not happening...

But the Blog move is.

I'm experimenting (and so far happy with) Typepad. For a few days, I'll be moving these posts over there.

The new one is still KateThoughts but at this address.

I'll play with both while I'm working this out. I hope you'll subscribe to both for awhile. :)
I'll let you know when/if I take this one down.

ttfn

Yum-O!!!

Chocolate Cake!

equal parts Frangelico and vodka in a shooter
followed immediately by a sugared lemon wedge!!!

Can't explain the chemistry of that combination, but your mouth will think it's chocolate cake.
I s#%* thee not!

Personal Responsibility - Where Has It Gone?

In the news recently...

This was about ringing cell phones in a courtroom gallery and no one (all adults) willing to say, "It was me, Judge, I apologize".

Wonder if they've learned anything. Wonder if they have kids.

The Funniest Thing I've Read in Ages

Why Females Should Avoid a 'Girls Night Out' After They are Married!

The other night I was invited out for a night with "the girls".
I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, "I promise"!

Well, the hours passed and the margaritas went down way too easy.
Around 3 am, a bit loaded, I headed for home.

Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hall started up and cuckooed 3 times.

Quickly, realizing my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times.

I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution in order to escape a possible conflict with him. Even when totally smashed...
3 cuckoos + 9 cuckoos totals 12 cuckoos...MIDNIGHT!

The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, and I told him, "midnight".

He didn't seem mad at all.
Whew! Got away with that one!

Then he said, "We need a new cuckoo clock".

When I asked him why, he said, "Well, last night our clock cuckooed three times,
then said, "oh, shit",
cuckooed 4 more times,
cleared its throat,
cuckooed another 3 times,
giggled,
cuckooed twice more,
and then tripped over the coffee table and farted".

I'm laughing out loud really! I got this in an email from a friend...a married girlfriend.
I tried to find the source for you, and to give credit where it's due; but, when I 'googled' it, I found it everywhere with no one taking or giving credit. So here it is. Enjoy! :>))

Feast or Famine - Literally

Remember the post about the closing of the forest? Well, it's open now. We've had rain.
I mean RAIN!

The data I've found so far shows that all of this year's rainfall (every day) is setting records. If I'm reading it correctly, one map on Wunderground proves that. Last year's rainfall doesn't even show for most days because there wasn't any.

This year the state is experiencing flooding in places that haven't seen water in years. People are being driven from homes in low-lying areas, entire villages were temporarily cut off from the rest of the world because their roads were washed out or covered in rocks/boulders washed down from above. Thankfully, crews get on that sort of thing quickly here.
Ruidoso has been fairly lucky unless you live in a couple of trailer parks near the river (which is actually a river now, and not just a tiny creek). And when we consider tsunamis and hurricanes and broken levees, then Ruidoso is not unlike living in heaven.

I said all of that, to say this...
When we step WAY back and get a little perspective, is there not some global balance in all of this? Is that too long a view? Can I be compassionate about the individuals who suffer from weather catastrophies and famine and wars and still remain spiritually in balance and aware of a 'bigger' balance? Does the bigger balance really exist?

I think so.
Those of you who garden might understand this analogy.
Things die in your garden: bugs or disease attack the roses, the neighbor's dog digs up the petunias, your gutter overflowed last summer and drowned the whatever...

Do you still have a nice garden? Don't you still enjoy it? Isn't it still the place you go for solace, for something to nurture, for some quiet time and a sense of 'getting back to the earth'?
Have you ever experienced these events or conditions and thought, 'wow, god is out to get me', or 'I guess I'm not supposed to have a garden', or 'what am I doing wrong'?

I think of things like this. And I wonder if I have any compassion at all, sometimes.
I read the stories of real famine in SO many parts of the world, places that have no soil, no rain, no systems of irrigation, where generations have survived on the edge of starvation. I think of the thousands of truckloads of food and supplies that have been sent, with no real change whatsoever in the number of people still starving. In fact, the numbers seem to be actually growing. I've just spent about an hour 'googling' world hunger, starving populations, statistics on death by malnutrition, etc. The numbers are stagering. One article says 852 million people across the world are hungry, up from 842 million a year ago: a 10,000,000 (that's ten MILLION) increase in 1 year. I think of hungry little girls hanging on to mom, who have grown up to be hungry mothers holding on to their sweet little hungry children. And I think of the cantalope that I forgot, and let spoil, and threw out yesterday....
There are literally hundreds of organizations whose purpose is to feed hungry people. Why are the numbers growing?

I'm just asking...

Read Ishmael by Daniel Quinn. Is it the answer? I don't know; certainly, maybe ONE of the answers. It makes sense to me.

Can I find my compassion? What do I do with it?
I give things to my local food bank. I don't give anything to organizations trying to address hunger in areas that cannot support food production where the people are. I'll donate to buy a goat or dig a well...
Sometimes I think I'm really cold-cold-cold.
Sometimes I think like Daniel: when the food supply diminishes the population of the animals/humans who eat that food diminishes - as it should. As it does in all other animal species.

I'm just asking...

A Beautiful Quote

This, posted by sister-blogger, Kristie, really touched me today.

"You are a treasure and recognized as such. You are completely unique in all the universe. Your gifts are unique, your presence, all that you are is unique and is calibrated to be the exact note that is required to make the chord complete. You are what completes this moment, just as you are. So sing out and let us hear you. Shine out and let us see you. The universe awaits the beauty of your song, embraces the beauty of your song, even if it is at time sung haltingly, even if there are periods of long silence. No matter what, you are deeply loved and deeply treasured."
Author - Carrie Hart

Thanks, Kristie.


It's not surprising that a music metaphor would be especially touching to me. This one is great because of its reference to harmony.
That's a big key for me: musical harmony; spiritual harmony; planetary harmony; and the harmony of relationships.

Ever Onward

Enough, already! All computers - all software has glitches. Click on things, search, and MOST OF ALL do not be afraid to punch buttons. Enough said about that.

**********************************************************************************

I'm just going to ramble awhile about what's going on with me in a spiritual sense...

One thing I discovered about my angst over the identity of god came to light the other night when we were watching a broadcast of the Gaither Gospel Hour. (yes, I know...hehehe, don't tell)
The Gaither Vocal Band was singing a song I just could not get my mind around, so I started wandering off and watching faces.

• 1st, the music - the harmonies are just spectacular. It can transport you, and clearly does transport many.

• 2nd, there is a comfort and a passion in turning oneself over so completely to the music, and to the object of the music.

• 3rd, you become a member of a special community when the music is pounding and your brothers & sisters are all carried along with you.

• 4th, ALL of these things (are probably others, as well), especially 'congregation' are exactly what I miss about traditional Christian religion.

Wisely, those Christian music ministers are adding tons of new music, too. There are now love songs, rock songs, even Rap songs and more in the Christian genre.
(So far, I haven't found a foot-tapping Buddhist chant in 4-part harmony. got a link?)
And they're putting the music out there without the preaching (on TV & in CDs and such) so that one just gets caught up and swept away...mindlessly swept away, in my opinion, so that messages stick without the process of thought ever being attached to it. Granted, most listeners (I suppose) are already convinced.

What I'm actually saying here is this: The 'trappings' of my past religious experience, and the 'naming' that happens in virtually all religions I've studied or looked at, are what I was missing so terribly that I felt a HUGE need to fill that void. And I called the void God/Goddess/god/Nature/Cosmic Mind/Whatever....

In spite of the fact that Christianity (especially the fundamental variety) does not and cannot work for me any longer, I was still trying to shove my new spiritual experiences into the same mold. When those experiences left gaps or hung over the edges of the mold, I assumed that it was the fault of the experiences AND NOT THE FAULT OF AN OUTDATED MOLD.

In actual fact there is No Fault at all...just a poor fit. for me. I'm only talking about ME.

I condemn no particular religion. I talk the most about the Christian religion because that is where my experience lies. But my spiritual experience rests completely in love and compassion. I'm reading mostly these days about Buddhist (& Taoist & Zen) practices and practitioners. They resonate more completely with me than anything at which I've looked so far.

If I were to contemplate doing battle over this subject (and I don't), it would be a contest between religion & spirituality.
I believe that spiritual matters take on a different personality when they become religions. And I believe they become religions when they need to rent a hall, or pay a light bill, etc. and almost never before that moment.
Jesus taught love, compassion, giving, gratitude, inclusion, and 'all that I am, you are'. The book of rules came much later.

What religions seem to be teaching now (among other things) is division, judgment, exclusion, and 'we are not worthy'. Well, IF there is a god, and IF s/he made us, I very certain that we are not junk, not broken, not worthless sinners.

What's cool for me in this discussion now, is that I don't have to know the answer anymore.
I don't have to know the name of god, or even if there is one. (name or god, take your pick)
I don't have to convince anyone - no proselytizing required.
I don't have to form opinions about your lifestyle (or your clothes, your color, or your religion).

The only things that my spiritual yearnings require of me are these:

• that I hold myself to very high standards of personal integrity,
• that I practice love & compassion - first with myself and then to all others, and
• that I take small steps & do as little harm as possible while I strive for perfection.

I breathe much easier these days, and interestingly, I even choose to get on the treadmill more often. :)

Peace to you.

New Browser

Virtually all of my (current) Blogger problems were fixed instantly when I installed the Firefox Browser (now linked in sidebar). Seems that Blogger and Google and Foxfire/Mozilla all share common owners, etc. They are made to work well together.

I'm not totally sure that I'm happy about that...feels a little incestuous.

Through most of the reading I did I found that multiple browsers are often recommended. It makes some sense. If something doesn't work well in one, it will be fine in another. For example, this blog still has a dropped sidebar in IE (Internet Explorer). And, yes, that still bothers me.
(It's NOT that I have OCD issues, it's just that I expect perfection EVERYWHERE!)
Ah, well...
further spiritual development will certainly take care of THAT issue!

Also, if you keep multiple email addresses as many do, you can have a different browser open for each and not have to be continually logging in & out.

There are 3 things that I just LOVE about the new Foxfire browser:

1. TABBED BROWSING: That means I can have multiple web pages open at the same time without opening multiple browsers; I can 'tab' between open pages and not loose my place. Right now, I have Refdesk, this blogger post editor, and Weather all open at once.
   
2. FIREFOX SEARCH BAR: That's a neat little feature that lets me hold multiple (many) search engines at the ready up in my toolbar area. I can click on a drop-down menu, choose the one I want (like FoodTV Recipes), then type the search criteria (like 'paella') and BOOM here it comes. TOO too easy!
3. SPELL-CHECKER: There is a great one in the toolbar that works just about everywhere you might be typing! Obviously, my experience with it is still limited, but I love it so far.
   

I'm still learning, but I think this was a good choice. And it may eliminate the need to pay Typepad for a better blog space. We'll see. Meanwhile, you lose nothing by trying it out.

TTFN

An Answer

OK.
As you can see my posts are back. (all but one)
I spent a ton of time reading Blogger Help, searching forums, etc. I found a blogger here who has answered my question in a number of ways.

Not only can I now upload pictures, but I can do 5-6 at a time. I can't reposition them quite as easily, but I'll practice loading them first (before the text) in the future (per Laura's suggestion).

I do have one remaining error in one post: I get an HTML font error message when I try to republish Li'l Bit's Lament. I'm heading back to my friendly blogger for help on that.

*Fixed this in an amazingly easy way. Per a fellow blogger on Blogger Help, I just clicked on the box that says, "don't show me any more HTML errors for this page" and BOOM, it's all ok and published just fine, with NO errors. :)