Saturday Snippets

--Yesterday afternoon, I got out of my car and opened the trunk.  I was about to walk up the path to the house, when a gust of wind made me look up.  I saw the palm frond sway out and come crashing down--right where I was just about to walk.

--I say palm frond and you probably think of something light, something you'd use to fan yourself or distract the cat.  But the ones that come falling down out of the trees are long and heavy. You wouldn't want them falling on your head.

--It's the second time I've been at my car, heard a crack, and watched a palm frond come smashing down to where I'd have been if I'd been walking two minutes faster.  I'm hoping that whatever awareness it is that senses the danger of falling foliage keeps working.

--Yesterday's post on the positive elements of Facebook got some attention amongst my Facebook friends and their friends.  I know that some people are giving up Facebook for Lent; I know others who go on Facebook fasts.  I love this blog post that explains why we shouldn't give up Facebook for Lent.

--I love this quote, which originally comes from Meredith Gould's Social Media Gospel:

Christ has no online presence but yours, No blog, no Facebook page but yours, Yours are the tweets through which love touches this world, Yours are the posts through which the Gospel is shared, Yours are the updates through which hope is revealed. Christ has no online presence but yours, No blog, no Facebook page but yours.

--I am loving this book, A God in the House:  Poets Talk about Faith.  I suppose I am the perfect reader for the book.  But it's really well done, with poets talking honestly, near as I can tell, about the ways that their faith has both sustained and disappointed them, as well as talking about how it has changed through the years.

--It's one of those books that I ordered and promptly forgot about as I devoured the other books that came with the order--and then the Christmas season was fully upon us.  The other night, I needed something to soothe me into sleep, and I remembered it, and I could remember where I'd put it.  It was so good that I wanted to stay up reading, yet it did the trick of quieting my anxious mind.

--Happily, this week-end won't be a time for anxiety.  One of my grad school friends is staying with us for the week-end.  We've already walked to the beach to enjoy beer at the organic brewery and the pizza that's half price Monday-Friday.  What other treats are in store?