July 28, 05 by ed
I have had a few posts over the past couple of days that I began and could not finish. We have so many things to do at our home and now we’re gearing up to leave in a few minutes for a 10-day road trip that will take us from Vermont to Illinois, to NJ, to Philly, and then back home. I have kept myself busy with a multitude of wanna-be handyman projects and could write a few posts about those experiences. The plan was to write it all up while on the road and post it at some point. But alas our lap top screen died on us. So as long as we have a monitor, we’re cool. But my portability is now limited. In the midst of the busyness, God has been up to some great stuff and I hope to write about it all next week.
July 24, 05 by ed
Jules and I have just returned from a weekend trip to Providence, R.I., visiting her best friend (since pre-school!). We had some interesting adventures while there, learned a bit about this strange little town, and listened to Bernard Lewis’ book on CD The Crisis of Islam. So I can’t quite get to a full post on all of these things tonight (I have kitchen cabinets to paint), but want to toss this out there:
Why is there such hostility toward America from Muslim extremists?
Read the rest of this entry »
July 21, 05 by ed
As I have been stewing over the details of One Palestine Complete, I have really been struck at the connection between the history of Israel and that of the US. The one big difference is the UN.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 20, 05 by ed
<%image(20050720-one palestine.jpg|82|126|one palestine)%> In the event of sweltering heat and humidity we retreated to the cooler region of Lake George for the past two days. We had perfectly sunny days for swimming, reading, and sleeping. Since we’ve been working for a good chunk of our weekends, it felt good to have some time away from the home work zone. I was sucked into Tom Segev’s book, One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate. Before sharing my thoughts, I should mention off the top that its more of a book about Jews and their interaction with Arabs. Though “fair and balanced” in its presentation, the interests of the author clearly lie with the Jewish characters who helped form the Jewish state while under the rule of the British.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 17, 05 by ed
<%image(20050717-trinity.jpg|79|100|episcopal)%> When you live in a small town you have limited options. 2 gas stations (one being a Stewart’s, the closest thing to a Wawa in these parts), one hardware store, one dairy barn, 2 convenience stores (one with liqour), and there you about have it. Being that it was Sunday, we have been praying about what to do for church and our options were: Catholic, Methodist, or Episcopal. Being that the area has been known as Tory hollow during the revolution (with Tory lane down the road from us), we decided to give the Episcopals a go. I hope none of you question our patriotism. After a Sunday with the Episcopal congregation in town, Julie and I had a few thoughts.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 16, 05 by ed
After a 1-2 hour inquisition over the phone, another long period of haggling, and resigning ourselves to our fate, we finally settled our battle with U—– yesterday. They are now regarded as “those of whom we do not speak” (reference to movie, “The Village”). Those of whom we do not speak reimbursed us for some of our expenses, but not all of them, and they didn’t give us monetary compensation for all of the trouble they caused us. Their line was, “You completed your move, we called towing companies (so it doesn’t matter if no one showed up), you didn’t call us when the antifreeze spilled during the day following your tire problem, you have always spoken to a human being whenever you called us (regardless of how we were treated), and so you should be satisfied and expect nothing from us.” GRRRR. But we are at the place where we want to be done with it. They made their offer (they actually tried to give us VIP dollars to use on our “next” rental from their fiendish company!), we haggled, they give a little bit of ground (but not much!), the final offer was given, we protested, and then we accepted. The nightmare is over and I feel like I’ve learned a few things.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 14, 05 by ed
<%image(20050714-Julie Sail Long smaller.jpg|288|103|Julie sailing)%> Though our much-anticipated pictures of the UHaul Niagara Falls of coolant are still on their way from Wal-Mart (thanks for not putting any one hour envelopes out!), I wanted to post a neat little picture of Julie on the family sunfish. I think she is tacking into a north wind on Lake George, NY.
July 14, 05 by ed
<%image(20050714-beaver.jpg|109|108|buddy)%> My in-laws send me the best links. The Great Beaver Rescue Effort (NOTE: the picture here and the story of the rescue effort are not related in any way. I found Buddy and thought it would be a good juxtaposition for rescue story)
July 13, 05 by Josh
Dear inamirrordimly,
I’ve been a Christian for many years now, and I still haven’t got a clue! Saved at an early age, I grew up reading the Bible and learning about God, Jesus and what I was supposed to live like. In my teens, life got complicated. People and social forces entered into the picture. I got shook and my picture of God went from someone I prayed to and read about, to someone I needed to help me unravel life. In my late teens I went on several missions trips, and saw that this God I serve can use an unworthy vessel.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 12, 05 by ed
While clicking away at my keyboard at Lake George, pondering the deep things of life, checking out Roger’s Rock, where the battle on showshoes happened, I had a thought about beliefs. We generally think of our beliefs as a one dimensional continuum. There is a center, left, and right. Everyone picks a point along the continuum and then advocates why that point is the closest to the truth. Depending on where the truth is, you defend your position. To be on the left or right of the “truth” means that you are wrong. But what if we use a two-dimensional map as our model for thinking of the truth?
Read the rest of this entry »
July 12, 05 by ed
Part Two of the UHAUL Disastathon
Our arrival in Vermont and return of the UHaul truck was not the end of our moving tragedy. The plot certainly does thicken a great deal.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 10, 05 by ed
<%image(20050710-arlington.jpg|107|113|arlingtonvt)%> We’re back from vacation and have re-entered the box-strewn confines of our little home in Arlington, VT. After being rained in for the past few days up at Lake George I decided to start my day with a run around the 1 mile track at our little rec park. Crossing our driveway into park I traveled down the trail along the Battenkill River, surging and rushing down stream with the notorious Brown Trout in its current. As I pressed forward I realized that God has given me so much of what I have longed for. One of the items at the top of my list was to be near water. Now I can run next to a nice river, swim in the swimming hole fed by the river, and tube on the river should I purchase one of the trademark black tubes.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 09, 05 by ed
Home is where the heart is, but it’s not exactly where the DSL is. Fortunately my benevolent, portable, and immensely helpful brother-in-law will be walking me through it tommorrow. So far the stupid set up program will not let me use my wireless card. Boo-hoo. Tommorrow the DSL will arrive in Arlington, Vermont.
Though it rained quite a bit, we had a great time at Lake George this past weekend. Lots of time to think, write, read, and so forth. I hope to start posting on Sunday provided that all goes well.
July 04, 05 by ed
Just for the record, we’re vacationing at Lake George this week, so we’ll be offline for a while. Our DSL service is up and running in our Vermont home, and you can bet that hooking up the DSL is going to be tops on our list when we get back next weekend. Until then we’ll be enjoying the cool lake waters, Settlers of Catan, and lots of junk food.
July 01, 05 by ed
Just a quick note from the Northshire Bookstore in the nice little town of Manchester, Vermont. This place has everything that you could want from a Borders, but it has used books upstairs, an organic cafe with low prices and great selection, and a huge seating area with wifi. There are two complimentary computers that you can use for internet as well, and that’s what I’m on. This place rocks. It was a great find and we plan to spend a lot of time here in the near future.
