variations on a theme

read this morning:

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.  Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.  I say to myself, 'The Lord is my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him!"

The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.  So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord."

--Lamentations 3: 22-26

email doppelgangers

i get emails for other "bstaffords" on my gmail account on a fairly regular basis.  there's a bev out there, i think.  and a brian.  i get a lot of emails for brian. he gets invited to a lot of great parties in san francisco.  if i lived there, i would totally show up to some of them.  

and today, i "met" him. this morning, he sent his itinerary for a flight from london to dublin to "his own" address.  i emailed him back and let him know that, as much as i'd love a trip to ireland, i doubted i could pass for him.  he wrote back to say thanks and to say he was glad to know who was first in with the bstafford gmail address.

it's funny to finally have contact with this person i get mistaken email for all the time. i don't know him at all--but i kind of know a fair bit about his life.  and, i'm kinda proud to have been first in line for that gmail address.  hehe.

do you have an email doppelganger?  have you met him/her?

calibraskan

"calibraskan."  that's what i've decided i am.  and i think the events of the past week prove it.

saturday, october 3, i was in san francisco with my brother and sister-in-law at the hardly strictly bluegrass festival in golden gate park.  it felt like home.  which, technically, it kind of was for a lot of my life.  growing up an hour south of san francisco, we went into the city a fair bit.  when i stepped off the plane and looked at the hills, the traffic, the trees...i knew that this place will always be a pretty big part of me.  here are some highlights:

you can spot gillian welch (with david rawlings) being her amazing self, the golden gate bridge, ralph stanley charming the crowd, and old crow medicine show as viewed from our spot in the woods.  aaaaaaah.  sigh of satisfaction and joy.

fast forward one week to saturday, october 10.  omaha, nebraska.  outside, it looks like this:

yep.  snow.  4-5 inches of it.  and my calibraskan self actually enjoyed it.  and went to the last farmer's market of the season in it.  without gloves.  without proper shoes.  and had a great time.

needless to say, it's been a good week.  plus, all kinds of fun things happened in the middle of the week.  i'm exhausted, but i'd do a week like that again any old time.

read this morning before the dawn's early light

an oldie but a goodie:

The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of all the earth.
He never grows tired or weary.
No one can measure the depths
of his understanding.
He gives power to the weak
and strength to the powerless.
Even youths will become weak and tired,
and young men will fall in exhaustion.
But those who trust in the Lord will
find new strength.
They will soar high on wings
like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
                                       --Isaiah 40:28-31

Sometimes verses like this, that are so familiar that they can (for me) lose their power, just strike home in a new way.  These did that for me this morning.  The day was still long and I feel tired now that I've reached its end.  But the promise of renewed strength is a good promise.

hard times, hard times. come again no more.

so the end of last week was not the best time ever.  but the weekend was filled with good friends and good food.  and what a difference that makes! 

and now, i'm sitting here with my computer, my coffee, and one cat.  it's early on monday morning, a cool breeze is causing the curtains in the living room to billow in just the way i like, and the sun is beginning to rise.  birds and crickets are chirping and the neighborhood is starting to wake up. it's a new beginning.

thank God that we get these new starts in all kinds of doses--new days, new weeks, new months.  who needs to wait for a new year?!

this monday morning feels hopeful.  and for that i am glad.

a funny thing i heard in sunday school this morning.

from the mouth of the pastor's 5 year old daughter:  "i've got a Bible of Satan."

that. made. me. laugh.

we understood what she really meant.  but still.

isn't it strange...

how the spelling of a name makes it seem totally different from another name that sounds just like it?  i'm reading a book in which a character is named janis.  i don't even associate that with "janice" but it sounds just the same.  it's funny to me how much i associate the mental image of the name spelled out with the person.  does everyone do this?

so then i started thinking about how many folks i know have names like that and how i can't imagine if their names were spelled otherwise.  anne is not an ann.  marc is not a mark.  cheryl isn't a sheryl.  ali is not an allie.  christy is not a kristi. and caron is not a karen.  and vice versa.  you get the picture.  anyway.  random thoughts.  they abound.