Dreamflower's Mathom-house

I'm a halfway decent driver most of the time; I obey the speed limit, try to avoid tailgating, and stay in my own lane. But I sometimes think of the occasions when I wasn't a good driver, when due to tiredness or brief inattentiveness, I do something stupid and disaster is narrowly averted. I've been known to nod off at the wheel (at least once swerving across the opposite lane and almost into a ditch); at least twice, I have forgotten to turn my lights on at night until someone blinked their lights at me; I have a tendency to rush yellow lights, and sometimes I only come to a rolling stop at stop signs. And I'm sure there are other times I've made dangerous mistakes. Yet when someone else makes a narrowly averted dangerous mistake, such as pulling out in front of me, I tend to get angry.

Tonight, I came across the following anonymous poem as I was trying to find something for my Lent post. It kind of put things in perspective.

Prayers for Strangers

Yesterday I didn’t drive well;
I made a bad mistake.
Thank you God for the stranger
Whose foot slammed on his brake.
All day today I prayed for him,
As I prayed for many more
Who were quick-thinking at the wheel
And saved my life before.

There’s no other gift to give
To a stranger you don’t meet
Than to offer prayers for him
And lay them at God’s feet.

So every time I think about
Some driver who was skilled
And managed to undo a threat
That could have been fulfilled,
I say another prayer
For those strangers I don’t know
Who were wide awake and ready
When I was dim and slow.


Read more: http://www.inspirationalarchive.com/4058/prayers-for-strangers/#ixzz41QF7ipZW

This is from one of my very favorite illuminated manuscripts, dating from the eighth century. It is what is called a "carpet page", from the Lindisfarne Gospels. It contains intricate knots, mazes, spirals and zoomorphic images. One of these days I hope to perhaps make a copy of this page.



It's only one page out of all the pages: the Gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke and John, all written in a meticulous Celtic uncial script and beautifully illuminated with the same sorts of intricate designs seen on this carpet page.

Historians generally believe it was all the work of one monk, Eadfrith, who took two years to do it all. Imagine the dedication and love of the work it took to do this day after day, and the creativity and devotion that led to such beautiful designs, all of it dedicated to the Creator of All.

Here is a link to a larger and clearer image.

Well, a lot of people on my flist have been doing this, so of course, I have to do it, too!
baranduin added a question, so I will too!

1. Do you live a house, a condo, or some kind of apartment?
House

2. Do you rent or own?
Own

3. What’s one thing that you would change about it if you could?
Add a little more square footage to each room, a second bathroom, and remodel the kitchen. Only the last one may happen one day, unless we either win Publisher's Clearing House or the lottery.

4. Would you like to move?
NO! Moving is a lot of hard work, stressful and painful and things get broken or lost. Besides we are finally getting to get the garden the way we want it, and you can't move gardens.

5. Do you read the answers of others before answering yourself?
Yes, most of the time.

This question was added by baranduin
6. How do you eat Oreos?
Fill a glass with ice cold milk. Crush 2 or 3 Double Stuffed Oreos into it. When they have mostly sunk to the bottom, fish them out with an ice tea spoon and enjoy! (Regular Oreos work too, but I like the double stuffed best.)

And here is MY question:
7: What household chore do you actually enjoy doing?
Folding laundry. There is something soothing in reducing a pile of assorted items into orderly squares and rectangles and rolls that will fit nicely into drawers and cupboards. I am very particular about the way certain things are folded; it's the one chore my DH doesn't do (except in an emergency) because he knows I will re-do it. Since I've been sick, he's caught up all the dirty laundry, but now I have a pile of clean I haven't been able to finish yet. Maybe tomorrow. I love folding napkins...and rolling up washcloths...and using that new method of folding T-shirts so they will stand up in the drawer...

For those of you concerned about the Spamdex theft of FFN, I got permission from dawn_felagund to crosspost her post (on a Yahoo! email group) on the progress being made on getting the last of the mirror sites taken down:

Hi, everyone,

I have just heard back from Cloudflare with an abuse contact for the host of Talkfictions.com:

abuse AT quasinetworks DOT com

Replace the ats and dots ... you know the drill. :)

When contacting these folks, make sure that you identify that you are reporting copyright infringement of your content on a site that they are hosting, Talkfictions.com. I would suggest including a link to your profile on Talkfictions (copy it from Google if you are not comfortable visiting the site; please remember that multiple users have reported malware and viruses on this site) and a link to your profile on FanFiction.net and/or FictionPress.com.

I have just sent my email. If I hear anything back that is of interest to the group, I will of course report it right away.

Thank you, everyone, who is taking the time and effort to chip away at this site. We WILL get them gone! :)

​Dawn and others have been working hard on this, and it looks like they are succeeding. If you wish to register a complaint, this is a safe way to do so. Apparently everyone's reports have managed to get all of the other sites down, so we just need to keep it up until this one goes too.

She would like to spread the word, so feel free to make your own crossposts with this information.

I haven't been feeling up to snuff for a few days now, actually I'm on antibiotics for a nasty bug, and have a doc's note putting me off work this weekend. So coming across this while looking for today's Lenten post made me feel a little better, and a whole lot grateful:

My Lenten wish for all of you today:

There's a collaboration post up at b2mem for anyone who'd like to work with others on a project to find people to sign up with them.

My comment is here: http://b2mem.livejournal.com/338683.html?thread=5446907#t5446907

ceshaunessy and I have found someone to help out with the music, but we'd really like to also find an artist--it could be traditional or digital or whatever!

Also, lotr_community is having a rec challenge for February. You can find it here--http://lotr-community.livejournal.com/366089.html

The challenge is to make three recs: a self-rec, a fic rec and an art rec!

I think the following verses are very relevant to us today, especially the last four:

12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

13 To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD'S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

15 Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.