And again, how cold is it?

Come on! Where do we live? Minnesota? The Yukon? It's cold here. Zero degrees this morning and not yet to our hoped-for high of 19.

I grumbled to someone who said it's warm in Alaska. My granddaughter in Great Falls, Montana, said it's in the 40s there and no snow on the ground. Someone else said it's supposed to get up to 28 next Thursday. Formerly, I wouldn't have thought 28 was a good thing. But now, I can't wait.

What's the deal? I'm tired of this, and I'm not the only one.

So, she's still a good person

My friend who says coherse likes to talk. That's fine with me. I'm a good listener.

The other day she was telling me about something she bought at one of those little places in the mall. "You know," she said, "those little stands in the center. Can't think of the word."

"Kiosk?" I asked.

"Yes, kioss," she said. "This kioss is down by the Apple store." And so on.

I said nothing. Well, I may have said kiosk one more time, but what does that matter?

How cold is it? you ask.

It's cold today, has been cold for several days. No melting of snow. It's just sitting out there in piles, all white and icy.

How cold is it? Well, my mother might say it's "colder than Billy Heck." I heard her say it many times.

Just today I wondered where that came from, so I did a small bit of research. On the internet, of course. You can find anything on the internet, you know.

Turns out there have been and probably still are people named Billy Heck or Billie Heck, but there is no such saying as the one my mother used. The actual saying is colder than Billy hell. I don't know why the Billy was stuck in front of hell. And it seems to me that we know how cold hell is. It isn't. It's hot.

Anyway, I also know why my mother said Billy Heck instead of Billy hell. She didn't swear. To use the word hell in that way would be swearing. So she changed it.

At least, that's what I figure.

Random

A friend of mine said today that she had to "coherse" her daughter into doing something. The third time she used the word that way, I used it correctly. She didn't notice. You know. That's the way of it. She was still cohersing a while later, so I finally said, "There's no h in that word. It's coerce." She asked how to spell it; I spelled it; she didn't believe me. I told her to look it up. She said it's a regional thing. I said, yeah.

*     *     *

Speaking of spelling: Sign on a business downtown this week.
Looks like we're in for a bad spell of wether.
I like it.

*     *     *

Paula Deen said of her brownies. "They're so good they'll knock the socks off your feet and into the washer." 

For today

I want world peace. No joke. I don't know if I'll get it, but I want more of it than we have lately had.
Sometimes I think I need to stop reading the news.

I want peace here at home in my country. America. I love this country, and I pray for this country. Sorry to say I haven't a lot of respect for our government leaders. Too much politics. But I'll say no more about that.

I pray for peace in the homes of my children, for joy and for health and for love. I pray that my children will love their families and love one another. Always a mother's hope.

I am one thankful woman, by the way. Words fail me here, but my life is full and good.

Of course, yes, of course, there's more, but I'll keep it to myself for now.

An Idea

Driving home just now I saw this verse of scripture on a car bumper. Actually, an SUV, but I don't suppose that matters. 2 Chronicles 7:14. So I came home and looked it up.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Here's what I wonder. If you put that scripture on your bumper, do you forget it's there? I'm afraid that's likely. Or is it already part of your thinking so that you do those four things, or try to, every day? 

1. humble yourself (myself)
2. pray
3. seek your (my) Father's face
4. turn from your (my) wicked ways

I believe we are called by God's name. Or by the name of his son. We have taken his name and call ourselves Christians. And, goodness knows, we need forgiveness. And we need healing.

It's not on my bumper sticker, but it's in my head now and worth trying, I say. I wonder how long I'll remember.

Hastings. It's a huge store.

I'm not judging. Well, I'm trying not to.

I mean, I know little about what passes for music these days, so I guess it should not surprise me that people who work in a store that sells music and CDs with music on them know nothing about certain other music, like Handel's Messiah.

"I'm looking for the Messiah." That's me speaking to the manager of the store.
"Is that music?"
"Yes." That's me.
"Is it Christmas music?" That's him.
"Moan." I didn't say the word. I moaned.  Then I said, "Yes," like the polite old lady I am.

He asked Amber to direct me to the Christmas music section. I looked it over and said, "I'm looking for the Messiah. Have you heard of it?"

Pause. Then I showed her the CD cover I carried in with me. It said Handel's Messiah.

"Oh. Hondel's Messiah. Yes."
"Good. Do you have it here?"
"Hmmm. Not sure."

We looked. All this stuff was used, by the way.

"Let's go over to the classical section," she said, which was even smaller than the Christmas music section.

"Here," she said. Then, "Oh no. That's not Hondel. That's Hayden." The Hay part as in what you feed your horses.

Believe me. I don't usually do what I did then. But I did it today. I said, "That's Haydn. You'll want to know how to say it correctly." Note. I didn't correct her pronunciation of Handel. It is German, after all.

To her credit, she thanked me and said, "I guess I haven't ever heard anything by him."

This is no big deal. I'm aware of that. It just seems kind of big to me.

I said to her as I turned to go, "This is a very small classical music section."
"Yes, I know," she said.
"When people like me are gone," I said, "there won't be one at all."