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Couldn’t believe it–at the Farmer’s Market this morning, what did I see?
A Pedicab.
I should have taken a picture to prove it to you, but I didn’t have my digital camera on hand. I haven’t ever seen one in person; and then, the day after I write a rather involved post about them that included links, I could have taken a ride in one.
I didn’t, but I could’ve.
After all, I’d brought my own bike. Rode home with a backpack stuffed with corn-on-the-cob, a cantalope, two dozen eggs, a bag of Gala apples (from another orchard whose crops survived the frost), a yellow pepper, and a red pepper.
And not a drop of rain.
But I still can’t get over seeing that Pedicab live and in-person.
My daughter came up with an alternative fuel concept:
Pedal-Powered cars.
Design a different kind of hybrid car that uses pedal power to augment the other fuel or battery supplement.
Install pedals for each passenger, as well, so that every person can contribute, thus promoting carpooling. Plus, it would offer health benefits to our society that is dealing with increased obesity.
I love the idea, but I suppose it does have its glitches to work out.
Then again, I discovered that the basic idea already exists–not quite like my daughter envisioned it, but creative alternatives are out there.
There’s the Velomobile, the Twike, the more bike-like versions like the Rhoades Car and Quadracycles, and then there’s this video of the HumanCar, apparently powered more like a rowing machine (I suspect they’ll kindly correct me if I’m wrong).
Before investing in any of these options, however, I need to log more miles on a normal, two-wheeled, non-modified bicycle. It’s simple, and I already have one in my garage, ready to go.
Speaking of riding bikes, have you heard of “No Impact Man”? He’s showing up on morning television shows and has a highly trafficked blog. He and his family (wife, 2.5yo daughter, and a dog):
…while living in the middle of New York City, are attempting to live without making any net impact on the environment. In other words, no trash, no carbon emissions, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no toilets…
Yes, I know. It’s hard not to stop in one’s visual tracks on the “no toilets” thing, isn’t it? It’s like “Frontier House” in the city.
Anyway, if you watch the Good Morning America link I provided above, you’ll see that he’s biking all around Manhatten. His wife claims that she can get places faster than any car or cab by riding a bike. They created a little rickshaw-type seat so that he can pull his family behind him. Very nice. He had his made from recycled materials as if it were his nifty invention (his first was a gift from a fashion designer riding one around New York City–he stopped her on the streets to ask about it, and she loaned it to him; his second was the specially made recycled version), but in spite of only just now hearing about the Velomobile and the Twike, I had heard of rickshaw-type bikes before. No Impact Man isn’t the first or the only one riding a specially designed bike around town–for example, I’d heard of this Pedicab company several years ago.
A post at Hedges Happenings about biking was also inspiring, as she lives out in the country. Her challenges differ from New York City traffic–she has gravel roads to contend with. She explains:
We had ridden a bit (by a bit, I mean 2 miles at a time) last summer and some this spring. We determined, however, to build up to a ride to town. The nearest town is 5 miles (each way) and has a quick-stop, library, hardware store, lumber yard, bank, pizza shop, and post office.
So we have been pedaling and pedaling and finding the pedaling to be addictive. I can’t wait each morning for our ride.
Like No Impact Man, Kim’s family is reducing their consumption of fossil fuels, starting the 90% Reduction Challenge. She’s keeping track of her numbers–very impressive Low-Impact Family, Rural Edition.
We ate dinner by candlelight last night, not so much to save electricity, but because it’s so pleasant. One of the kids suggested we switch over to candles to save electricity each evening.
Hey, it’s a start. Now that I’m trying to hang the laundry out to dry more often, I guess I’m taking a few tangible steps to reduce consumption of fossil fuels (and save money).
I’m not quite ready to Compact or commit to 90% reduction or bike to church…not yet, at least. And I’m definitely not ready to go without toilet paper.
But I must admit that overall, I’m intrigued and inspired by No Impact and Low Impact commitments.
And I love the idea of increasing use of the bicycle. It’s healthy. It’s free.
But I can be a little bit of a wimp.
I wonder if there’s rain in tomorrow’s forecast?
Inspired by this photo from Owlhaven, our family packed up some bags and took off for the local orchard, tastebuds anticipating mounds of juicy apples. As I drove, I pondered which laundry basket to dedicate to our own haul when we returned home…hm…maybe the big green one would hold them all. I knew from past trips that the four kids and I could pick a lot of apples in a short amount of time. Mmmm….we love apples. It’s the flavor of fall.
We arrived at the orchard, headed out into the orchard as usual, but could see no signs indicating which rows were ripe. Normally they stick a wooden sign at the end of the rows with the name of the apple. Then you head down the row and pluck apples by the dozens.
Because there were no signs, I sent one of the kids back in to find out where we should begin. She came back and announced, “There are none.”
“None?”
“None. There are no apples this year.”
Now, this is a big orchard. I found it hard to believe that there were no apples to pick.
“I can’t believe there’s not one apple in this entire orchard,” I said. “Come on, let’s find out if there will be some later in October or something.”
So I went back in and noticed a sign explaining that a late frost last spring had killed the blossoms; therefore, this year there is no apple crop. They set up wooden crates holding apples that were trucked in from other states.
We all almost cried. I guess I didn’t realize how much we loved apples–and how much we looked forward to picking them ourselves.
So we took a deep breath, pulled out some bags and slowly selected some apples from the bins of “imported” apples. One of the kids looked up and said, “It’s not the same as picking them yourself.”
But I do thank the good apple growers of Michigan or Kentucky or wherever those bin-apples came from. Thanks for sharing.
Many years ago I read that Billy Graham read through both the book of Psalms and the book of Proverbs each month.
He read one chapter in Proverbs per day–Proverbs 1 on the 1st day of the month and so on through the 31st. I guess he’d read several on the 28th of February to make it to the end (certainly wouldn’t want to neglect the Proverbs 31 woman).
Then he read five psalms daily to be able to finish the entire book and cycle around to begin again with Psalm 1 the next month.
He said that the book of Psalms taught him how to get along with God, and the book of Proverbs taught him how to get along with his “fellow man.”
This made a great impression on me.
So I tried it. A Proverb a day worked pretty well, but I got a little overwhelmed by Psalms. Take, for example, a long psalm like 119. Reading all of that and four other psalms in one day felt like too much compared to Day 1, when on Billy’s plan, I would read Psalms 1-5. They’re shorter. I guess for devotional reading, I needed a more predictable length.
Then I started using the psalter in a copy of The Book of Common Prayer that I picked up at a bookstore. In the back, the entire book of Psalms was divided up into more or less equal portions–one portion for the morning, and another for the evening….this made it so much more manageable and predictable in length. Plus, by having a morning and evening reading, I could bracket my day with psalms.
I used that psalter for the first year or so (I wasn’t entirely consistent, but I followed the plan pretty well–I’d catch up after missing a day or two). The translation used in the Book of Common Prayer offered a slightly different emphasis at times, as the wording was slightly different from the translation I use more often (NIV).
Eventually, however, I found that I wanted to go through it using the NIV.
One afternoon when I had some time on my hands, I opened up my NIV study Bible and right on the pages, I marked up the book of Psalms in pencil to follow the same pattern of morning and evening readings. Now I had my own psalter to follow, right there in my own Bible. Handy.
I haven’t always used it, but when I hit a point in my spiritual life when I crave that consistent routine, I start up in the Psalms, on whatever day it happens to be, and begin the cycle.
Today is the 26th.
This morning’s reading began with Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.”
I looked up from my Bible and asked one of my daughters, who was finishing up her cereal, if she recognized it. She shook her head. “But it’s famous! Amy Grant sang it using the King James version.” I proceeded to sing, “Thy word…”
“Oh! Yes, I remember it now.”
And the same morning reading today included a passage that I love:
“The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple.
I open my mouth and pant,
longing for your commands.
Turn to me and have mercy on me,
as you always do to those who love your name.
Direct my footsteps according to your word;
let no sin rule over me.”
Psalm 119:130-133
This link takes you to an online psalter from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. If you’re on the computer a lot, you could log on and start your day with something meaningful on the screen–and in your heart–before launching your work, blog, or play.
Please visit Rocks in My Dryer for more great ideas!
My previous Works-For-Me-Wednesday Ideas:
Creative Methods for Capturing Family Stories
Hold Your Life Together (creative clothespin uses)
Thick and Chewy, Fast and Easy Pizza Dough
Works for My Daughter (tent for a little solitude)
Works-for-my-Friend Wednesday (Storage for Hospital Stays)
When Life Is Crazy-Busy, Do the Next Thing
Projects Contained and Portable
Castile Soap for a Simpler Life (and blemish-free face)
Post-It Annotation for Library Books
Everyday Mom-Mobile Essentials & Travel Notebooks
Make the Most of Internet Lag Time
Storing Dishes: How Low Can You Go?
Let It Snow, Let Us Slow (Crockpot Steel-Cut Oatmeal)
My dad accuses me of talking too fast–way too fast–and you know what? He’s right. I do. I try to slow down, but next thing you know, I’m racing along again at a tongue-twisting clip.
So I was greatly inspired to see the following two videos.
The first “MomSense” one is sung to the tune of the William Tell Overture. I found it at the bottom of this post by Scribbit, who viewed it first at Lauri’s.
Then there’s this mouthful of lyrics set to Pachelbel’s Canon in D hitting the highs and lows of parenthood–it’s honest about the warm, wonderful moments of parenting as well as the aggravating, emotional, difficult ones. I found it first at another blog, but now I can’t remember whose it was. Many thanks to the person who posted it.
(Please note that there is reference to bedwetting and spanking.)
So here I am busy trying to figure out how to slow down my schedule, my life, and even my everyday speech patterns…perhaps before I achieve the slow, steady, refined speed of speaking, I should have one last hurrah? I’m thinking of something sung to the tune of the Flight of the Bumblebee that captures the fast pace of a suburban mom?
In honor of my talented brother, I’ll provide you with an amazing rendition of that song as performed on an accordion (just to be clear, the man in this video is not my brother):
“I won’t ever forget you,” The Boy said the other night, as he lay in bed, staring up at me with cartoon-hearts streaming out of his great big eyes.
“Oh, baby, I won’t ever forget you, either.”
“I mean, when I’m grown up, I won’t forget you.”
“Same here,” I said. ”I won’t forget you when you’re in college or when you’re off living somewhere else in the world.”
He grabbed my neck, pulled me down to his lips and kissed me. “When you’re up in heaven, I won’t forget you then, either. I’ll always, always, always remember you.”
Every once in a while I hear a story of simple obedience and faithfulness that astounds me. This time the story came from my friend Ruth Vaughn-Kaul.
Not long ago, Ruth (whom I introduced you to in a previous post) told me the story of how John E. Bishop entered her life. The story revolves around a book that Ruth co-wrote with Anita Higman, entitled: Who Will I Be for the Rest of My Life?
Anita and Ruth have been friends since Anita was an 18-year-old college student and Ruth was her professor. They’ve stayed close and written letters to each other all these years.
Who Will I Be For the Rest of my Life? contains the actual snail mail letters from Anita that she wrote to Ruth Vaughn during the confusing, fearful season of life when Anita was approaching 40 years of age. Ruth answered each of her notes, and the correspondence became the format for the book.
In the letters–and consequently in the book–the two openly discussed hot topics, so to speak, including sex and hormones, as well as fear, aging, and beauty. The book was received well, but like so many books that don’t prove to be million-dollar blockbusters, eventually dropped into out-of-print status.
Then along came John Bishop. Just after he was converted, he felt led by the Lord to read books to learn more of his faith and the challenges of stewardship; as he did that, he felt it was his ministry to distribute books helpful to others free of charge.
Did you hear that? Free of charge!
So as he was doing his reading, he somehow came up with Ruth and Anita’s book–a book for women–and when he read it, he felt there was so much wisdom in the answers to the younger woman’s articulate queries that when he found it out of print, he contacted them and asked if they would release the copyright of the book to him (they had retained the rights). He would reprint it at his own expense to distribute without charge, as God led. Amazed, the two authors gladly and joyfully agreed.
As she explained this extraordinary situation, Ruth wrote:
He has told me that he is like “Johnny Appleseed” keeping boxes of the book in his car…and he had told me of women taking it and then making weekly groups to study the questions and answers of this book in detail in their own lives…he wrote yesterday of meeting in the hall Senator Bayh, whom he knows. They chatted; the senator told him his wife was interested in developing ladies’ groups; John asked if she would be interested in doing one in the White House…the senator was sure she would; so John brought the book to [Bayh's] wife who is going to use it in the White House…he had told me earlier there were two ladies’ groups already using the book in the White House…so now there are three.
One woman found Who Will I Be for the Rest of My Life? in a local library, checked it out, and then emailed Ruth or Anita that it was the time in her life when the book was pivotal–she identified fully with Anita and learned from Ruth…and John sent her a free copy.
Ruth also told of a 75-year-old woman who found the book, took it to her room to read as she went to sleep, her customary ritual…but she was so riveted that she read the book from front cover to last, all night long…weeping copiously. She called Ruth the next day to tell her it had changed her life. “I never asked the questions because, from my background, I assumed there were no answers…you gave me answers that satisfy…thank you.”
Anyone who wants the book–even if they want it for an entire book study group for women–John Bishop will send the number required free, as his ministry to others.
If you would like a copy of the book (the Amazon link provided above offers an overview and one review), please contact John.
His e-mail is (please note that I am going to spell out the @ sign to minimize spam, so you will have to convert it to e-mail format):
US65NA at aol.com
Who Will I Be for the Rest of My Life? If you find yourself asking that question, approaching a sobering decade, troubled by a future of wrinkles and hot flashes, perhaps you’d like to secure a copy for yourself. Or a friend.
Thanks to John Bishop’s simple obedience and faithfulness, you can secure that copy for free.
** Edited to add the following note from John **
Ruth’s writings bear the mark of the furnace-giving the kind of wisdom that can only come from right choices, right responses to genuine suffering. For me, at least, her writing touches the soul because of the trials and tribulations her own soul has experienced.
Before dinner, The Boy volunteers to pray. It’s been pretty much the same for months:
“Thank You for this day and all we got to do. Thank You for this food. Please help Ben’s cancer go away, and help [special person] believe in You. Amen.”
The past few nights, The Boy has added a few extra touches:
“Thank You for this day and all we got to do. Thank You for this food. I love You and thank You for all that stuff about You. Please help Ben’s cancer go away, and help [same special person] believe in You. Amen.”
“Thanks for all that stuff about You, Lord.”
While it’s a little casual in tone, it is a fairly decent attempt at recognizing God’s greatness, thanking Him for the hard-to-understand stuff, the amazing stuff, the “Your-thoughts-are-higher-than-our-thoughts” stuff about Him.
For all that You have revealed through Jesus and captured in Your written Word–for all that I can know and understand, thank You. And for all that I’ll never fully comprehend about You while on this earth–for all that stuff about You, Lord, thank You.
Amen.
Today’s Works For Me Wednesday is a little silly, I suppose. But a lot of people have commented on it when visiting, so I’m going to pass it along to you.
When my friend A. was helping me with some decorating ideas (I’m hopeless on my own), she recommended that I group the books on my family room shelves somehow.
“Group them? Like, with the Dewey Decimal System?” I asked. I wasn’t opposed. As a matter of fact, it would have made locating books much easier.
“No, not like that. I’m thinking like a decorator here. You could do it any number of ways.”
“You’re going to have to give me some ideas here.”
“Well, you could go by size, or by the type of book–in fact, you could slip all your paperbacks into baskets–or you could group them by color–”
“Stop!” I exclaimed. “Color! I like that idea.”
She was surprised. She was sure I was going to download the Dewey Decimal system and stick numbers on the spines.
But sure enough, I did it. I grouped them by color.
First I took the dust covers off the hardback books (I saved the dust covers in a plastic storage bin in the basement, because I just couldn’t throw them away. I guess some people just toss them. Horrors!), and discovered that the hard covers could be loosely grouped into a few main color categories. I shelved them in those general categories and really liked the calming visual effect.
The only disconcerting thing is to have all of the C.S. Lewis books scattered here and there instead of grouped in one place. Or to have some totally secular novel right next to R.C. Sproul or J.I. Packer. I hope they don’t mind. Perhaps there is a sanctifying effect by osmosis?
And title-browsing can be rather disconcerting, as there’s nothing tying the books together thematically, nor are they collected by author or alphabetical order. The primary thing they share in common is the color of their spines. This is not the natural choice of a book lover, I’ll admit. But I’m happy with the way my family room feels. They are only grouped by color in the family room, by the way. I grouped them a little more by my own logic in the front room (poetry on one shelf, fiction books by contemporary authors on another, classic paperbacks in one place and classic hardbound on another shelf nearby, etc.).
People notice first that I have an alarming number of books (you may recall that my living room also has a large quantity of books on display).
And then they stare at those family room shelves for a moment. Slowly it dawns on them. “You’ve got your books grouped by color, don’t you?”
“Yes,” I answer. “I know it’s weird, but it works for me.”
Obviously, there are exceptions slipping in, but the top left shelf is mainly green, next down are the whites and off-whites, and under that are the blacks (with an odd white stuck in there, as you can see).
Top right shelf is mainly blue. Under that: red. And under the red are some greyish spines followed by a few more whites.
Please visit Rocks in My Dryer for more great ideas!
My previous Works-For-Me-Wednesday Ideas:
Creative Methods for Capturing Family Stories
Hold Your Life Together (creative clothespin uses)
Thick and Chewy, Fast and Easy Pizza Dough
Works for My Daughter (tent for a little solitude)
Works-for-my-Friend Wednesday (Storage for Hospital Stays)
When Life Is Crazy-Busy, Do the Next Thing
Projects Contained and Portable
Castile Soap for a Simpler Life (and blemish-free face)
Post-It Annotation for Library Books
Everyday Mom-Mobile Essentials & Travel Notebooks
Make the Most of Internet Lag Time
Storing Dishes: How Low Can You Go?
Let It Snow, Let Us Slow (Crockpot Steel-Cut Oatmeal)
I just read a story about a man who died from a three-day gaming binge.
Internet gaming for three days straight. That alone is shocking, but then…he died!
Shouldn’t that shake us up a little bit?
Should we evaluate our habits? Ask our spouses or family members for their opinions?
Computers and Internet are part of our world–schools, home and work all depend on them. But the games and the surfing and the blogs…how much is too much? Even Blackberries are frequently nicknamed “Crackberries” due to users’ nonstop access to them. Is it possible to become a Google- or blog-aholic?
The story offered related links, so I clicked over to one about computer addiction. It said that people wonder when or if they’ve crossed over the line to addiction, but the doctor said there’s no way to answer that question. “[S]ome people may be able to spend eight hours a day online or playing games, succeed at their job and have a satisfying relationship with their family.”
But….
The article ends thusly:
Red flags should start flying, however, if time spent vanquishing electronic enemies or keeping up on e-mail results in reprimands from your employer and arguments with loved ones, he says…”If someone spending eight hours a day online can reduce it to two hours, that’s a lot of the day freed up for other things like work or family,” he says.
How, I wonder, can people keep up reading and writing blogs without crossing that line? Do you have “a lot of the day freed up for other things like work or family?”
Do you find the Internet tempting? Could you discern if you’ve crossed that ambiguous line into addiction?
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