Please Pray!

My friend Elizabeth, wife and mother of three, goes into surgery at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow (Thursday) to remove a carcinoid (cancer) tumor for her lung. The doctor's were originally hoping to delay the surgery because she's six months pregnant with her fourth and her baby's lungs aren't quite developed. But after testing, they've determined the tumor needs to come out as soon as possible (spots on her liver have been discovered). She's on steroids to help the baby's lungs develop in case she goes into labor during the surgery. Please pray for safety for both Elizabeth and her baby Megan. I was able to visit her briefly in ICU a couple of days ago and she was in good spirits but this is probably very scary for her family.

Thank you my friends!

canoe

Since Texas doesn't have much topography, but we have a lot of lakes (all man made, admittedly) canoeing is our substitute for hiking. ;} The view from where I sit:

I have good friends.

Mulligatawny what?

Soup, to be precise. I arrived home Friday, after a very long day at work, and enjoyed a simple, tasty, nutritious meal. Mulligatawny soup was brought back by the English from India in the 18th century. It boasts of curry, lentils, cloves, chicken, raisins, and rutabaga. From scratch it is, in a word, fabulous!

random update

Super busy times at work recently. Lots of dissertations from graduating students to ferry around – from students living in New Zealand to readers at Duke in North Carolina, there is much to keep up with! My lower back has been bothering me for three days now. I’m ready for some relief but I have not the faintest clue what’s causing the pain.

As I type, e-mail, file, call, sign, and print, a steady stream of these people keep me company. Happy Thursday! Graduation is just around the corner…

reading

The train is where I write most of my posts: in my head while the scenery whizzes. Recently I haven’t been thinking or looking out the window and consequently no new posts have been constructed. I have been reading. Leaving the current world behind, I enter one far away in time, space, and essence.

Long ago, in response to a catalyst I can’t remember, I bought and read East of New York, West of Kabul which remains one of the best books I’ve ever known. A seed was planted, one of interest and wonder about the subject. I’m watering the seed now with borrowed books from the library (I love the library!) I finished Kabul Beauty School and am currently midway through An Unexpected Light. I’m pretty sure they’re both overdue :] The first takes place in 2003 after the Taliban were dethroned and the thick verbose Unexpected Light takes place before the Taliban but after the Russians withdrew. The two books present an interesting contrast with snapshots of one country in different times. But they also provide a gender contrast. The book written by a woman gives us the world of women and the book written by a man gives us the world of men. Aside from the family unit, these worlds do not collide. Two different authors, two different decades but the divide remains the same.

As I discover the history of this land rich in beauty, culture, and struggle, I’m fascinated by a legacy that never reached the future. The ethnic and gender divide was not so sharp as it is now. [though there is always struggle in every land between tradition and non-tradition] In the 1960’s, before the Russians ravaged the land girls could wear nail polish, be educated, interact (veiled not burqa’d) with men, etc. People helped each out regardless of ethnicity. There was a unity and progression from the grassroots that existed…until Russian trampled the hell out of it and we left them high and dry. Idealogy was lost when several generations were killed, unable to pass along to their children the legacy of their heritage.

What have you been reading lately?

sewing

I might as well come clean: I have a sewing complex.

I troll the sewing blogs and internet stores for fabric and patterns. A pile slowly grows next to my desk with each new little purchase. I read tips about making a muslin and sewing an invisible zipper. I wonder if I should purchase a serger; I eye my scissors knowing they need sharpening and my machine knowing it needs cleaning. I hand-stitch a stray button here and a ripped hem there. For a Christmas present, I sewed my a table runner that required, oh, four seams.

But I rarely actually sew.

I could argue that my kitchen table is too small and my coffee table too low. But the truth is that I’m paralyzed by the thought of all that effort resulting in a crappy product. Right now, there’s unrealized potential instead of disappointing failure. And it’s so tempting to reside in the potential zone rather than the failure zone.

Yet, when I gaze at a beautiful $78.00 dress online, I know that I could probably attempt at least 12 dresses for that same price and certainly, the twelfth time is bound to be good right?

Oh! fear of failure, will you never leave me?