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The story below relates what happened to the Beasleys (Baltimore, Maryland) and illustrates just one aspect of how shari'ah-compliant finance can directly affect us here in the United States.
From this source:
Read the entire article HERE.A Baltimore couple has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Islamic investment bank that owns the Church's Chicken fast-food chain, alleging their franchise failed because the bank's strict adherence to the religious code of Shari'ah prohibited the couple from selling pork.
Here I am in front of one of my three entries. This one is called "An Imperfect Christmas," because the diagonal stitching in the stars simply refused to stay straight. Since this was my own quilt, I decided not to fight it, and added a little extra waver in all the stars.
I'm going to be leaving in a little while to spend the day helping out at the show (selling raffle tickets, monitoring the quilts, receiving admittance fees, yadda), so I won't be blogging until later. I'm currently uploading the last of the pics from yesterday to my Flickr site - I'm showing about 45 left to upload as I type this - and I've put them all into the White Oak Mountain Quilt Guild set.
I also want to add the photos of my other quilts, but I'm going to have to post this (via Flickr), and then go in to Typepad and add the others...
OK, then, well... I'll start with the three quilts in the show that were pieced by others, but quilted by me... First off is the Lone Star quilt that my sister-in-law, Kathi (yes, it does get confusing, 'cause the family calls me "Kathy" vs "Kat") pieced for a class she did at the local library:
It's beautiful, isn't it? She did a wonderful job... Me, I'm not as happy with it as I'd like - I need more practice in the traditional quilting pattern in the Lone Star since my points didn't meet up the way I wanted. Ah, well, I'm also probably my own worst critic...
This next quilt is pieced by Mary. Mary also does machine quilting for hire, but she specializes more in the all over designs, and wanted me to do this for her. She told me she's not really fond of this quilt - too much purple maybe? LOL - which baffles me. She did a great job on piecing, and it lays very flat which is a big help to a quilter. I also love the Mariner's Stars she has in the second border - BEAUTIFUL!
The last of the quilts I quilted is by Norma. I love the autumn colors, and again, Norma is another lady who practices perfect piecing! I had a lot of fun quilting the feathers in the light sections in the center of the quilt.
Now for the two other quilts in the show that I both pieced AND quilted:
Just little wall hangings (OMG, where am I going to hang them? Wall space is at a premium!) I did from kits this past Fall
OK, that's all for now - I've got to get ready and then dash out to the show! ... Oh, and I wouldn't mind any prayers you might wing my way: yesterday I was having a terrible time with allergies, and I'd prefer not to repeat that ordeal, LOL
My beloved Husband has been prowling the property today, and found two snakes. The first is in the Darling Munchkin's terrarium for a visit, but the Hubby posed the second for me to photograph:
Isn't he beautiful?!
We're pretty sure he's a black snake of some type - perhaps more specifically and eastern ratsnake, which is the largest species of snake common to Virginia. They eat rats (d'uh!), mice, frogs, birds and eggs.
They're also pretty docile, and - like king snakes - can make wonderful pets.
If you click to embiggen, I think you'll be able to see some scars where this guy got attacked sometime in the past. Fortunately, he seems to have healed up pretty well, since he's obviously healthy.
Here's a close up of that cute (!!), snakey face... Notice that the eyes are clouded. At first we thought he might be shedding, but then the Beloved Hubby speculated that perhaps it was because snakey-poo hadn't warmed up yet. He may be right; they guy who is "visiting" (the first snake he caught) had the same cloudiness, and it seems to be clearing up at he gets all cozy-warm in the terrarium.
I'm wondering how much like me you are. I'm just a simple wife and mother, no one very complicated. I'm not particularly brilliant, not particularly stupid. I'm not ugly, but then again, I'm also no great beauty. I don't know everything and it's hard for me to grasp many concepts (numbers... I HATE numbers!), but I'm not uneducated, either. I have my good days and my bad and sometimes I do it right - but frequently I mess up.
I have a wonderful, loving family. We are healthy and active, and we enjoy each others' company. We love to do things together, whether it's traveling to Hawaii for vacation, or sitting at home reading and watching TV. We speak to each other with respect, and we listen with courtesy, and we have time - LOTS of time! - to hug and snuggle and tickle and tease and laugh together.
We have good friends, honorable and helpful, kind and compassionate. These friends challenge and support us, they point out new things, they give us a different perspective. We eat together, laugh together, explore together, and help each other out in times of need. They are good friends, and I am truly blessed by them.
We live in a good, solid house - not too big and not too small; not the lap of luxury, but not a ramshackle hovel, either. We have enough money to put food on the table and pay the bills, plus a little left over, but we still grumble about high prices and having to pay so much in taxes.
My life is good, and I am happy and content... Mostly.
So, what's the problem?
I'm the man with all I've ever wanted
All the toys and playing games
I am the one who pours your coffee, corner booth each Saturday
I am your daughter's favorite teacher
I am the leader of the band
I sit behind you in the bleachers
I am every man
I am. I'm just one small cog in the wheel. I'm the average person on the average street in the average town. There are millions - billions! - like me all over the world. Average people living their lives, doing the best that they can at home and at work. We live our lives and never make the headlines.
We are EveryMan.
I'm the coach of every winning team and still a loser in my mind
I am the soldier in the airport facing giants one more time
I am the woman shamed and haunted by the cry of unborn life
I'm every broken man, nervous child, lonely wife
And EveryMan faces giants every day. A sick child, a downsized job, our own mortality - trials which loom too large and too terrible for us to face. Yet, we face them anyway.
We struggle with our anonymity. Our heart aches with loneliness. We grieve over mistakes that can never be unmade. We fear that we can't be good enough, we try and fail, we get back up and try again. Sometimes we feel like Sisyphus, forever rolling that boulder up the hill, only to lose our grip at the crest and watch it go tumbling back down to the bottom.
We trudge back down, wedge our shoulder against the rock, and begin again.
Is there hope for every man
A solid place where we can stand
In this dry and weary land
Is there hope for every man
Is there love that never dies
Is there peace in troubled times
Someone help me understand
Is there hope for every man
Is there any hope? Can our little lives have meaning? We wander in a desert, we're mired in quicksand, forever looking and longing for some firm foundation, some powerful, undying love. We yearn for something to raise us up, to lift us out of the mud of our day-to-day dreariness, something to give us new hope and new strength.
Is there hope for EveryMan?
Seems there's just so many roads to travel, it's hard to tell where they will lead
My life is scarred and my dreams unraveled
Now I'm scared to take the leap
If I could find someone to follow who knows my pain and feels the weight
The uncertainty of my tomorrow, the guilt and pain of yesterday
We can see so many possibilities, so many "paths up the mountain," and they each clamor for our attention. We don't know the future, but we long for security and assurance that it will all turn out right. We look on our lives and see some beauty among the wreckage, and then we lift our eyes and look at the world in all its terrible beauty and indifference.
We see wars and poverty, terror and brutality, oppression and callousness. We see parents beating children, we see children sold into war and brothels. We see governments so corrupt that they will not permit others to give succor to the suffering. We see vile rhetoric spewed out like vomit in the public arena - and we see it praised, while the voices of reason and caution and kindness are drowned out and scorned.
We are only EveryMan, what can we do? How can our average lives mean anything? How can we stand against the pain and guilt and fear and rage all around us? How can we find a Rock, some unyielding support, which will give us the strength and love to reach out and live in joy and peace amid all the turmoil?
Where can we find the Word of Truth, the Source of Infinite Love, the Righteous Judge, the Father who is always there to teach, nurture and protect?
Who will give hope to EveryMan?
There is hope for every man
A solid place where we can stand
In this dry and weary land
There is hope for every man
There is Love that never dies
There is peace in troubled times
Will we help them understand?
Jesus is hope for every man
I will lift up my eyes to the hills—
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD is your keeper;
The LORD is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in
From this time forth, and even forevermore.
There is Hope for EveryMan.
He stands at the door - the door to your soul - and knocks, and whoever will invite Him in, will have the assurance of His love, the power of His strength, the joy of His presence, and the peace of His salvation - forever.
My help comes from the Lord. He is my Hope, my Treasure, my Purpose and my Freedom.
Jesus Christ is Hope for EveryMan.
(Song is "Every Man" by Casting Crowns)
The Beloved Husband was home for about three weeks - a pause between travels - and has been brewing up a storm! We have a mead percolating quietly away down in the basement (won't be ready for several months), and three beers now in the keg. Two have been pressurized and tapped and are truly DELICIOUS!
The one on the left is my preferred brew - it beats Guiness Draft over the head with a baseball bat! It's a Honey Brown Ale, and I like the darker, richer beers. The one on the left is an American Amber, to which we added raspberry. It's a bit lighter and less "chewy" but still delicious!
Lots of pictures, so I'm going to put the rest under the fold...
Continue reading "It is Sunday, therefore we must brew..." »
Another one of the honorable and larger-than-life Old Guard has passed on to glory:
"Charlton Heston was seen by the world as larger than life. He was known for his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders and resonating voice, and, of course, for the roles he played," Heston's family said in a statement. "No one could ask for a fuller life than his. No man could have given more to his family, to his profession, and to his country."
Moses, Ben Hur, John the Baptist, Marc Antony... He liked to act in roles that were bigger than life and played out on a grand scale - just like his own life.
Rest in peace, sir. You'll be missed.
Update: Some video of the man at his best...
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The Pixel-purr takes her turn at snuggle testing PaPa's birthday quilt. The Darling Munchkin has already had her go (and left a couple food stains, which came OUT, thank God - and Shaklee), so now it's final testing will need to be done by Smudgie...Hillary's ad:
Jay Tea says:
I would have come back with her ad, but after she answered the phone, I would have had the voice on the other end saying "Madame President, we found the First Husband. He was at a sorority party, and the Girls Gone Wild film crew was here. I think we managed to confiscate all the video again."
McCain's response:
I think I like it partly because it's saying the same thing I've been saying: if the economy's in trouble, the very LAST thing we should do is take even more money from people and dump it into the least efficient, most wasteful, and downright dumbest portion -- the federal government.
'Nuff said! (Well, except for - I LOVE Jay Tea!)
My bestest friend here where I live is a dear lady who breeds Arabian horses. Yesterday, her pregnant mare looked like she was ready to deliver an April Fool's Day baby - but the April Fool was on us, and the little one didn't arrive until about 3:30 this morning.
Look at this adorable little guy!
His momma, Chi, is a very good mom and a wonderful brood mare, so this little guy will grow up healthy and sweet natured - although my friend tells me he already has his own attitude going! I'm going to see him sometime tomorrow and take some pictures of my own.
Chi was originally scheduled to deliver on April 15th (and, yeah, all SORTS of tax names were considered, LOL), and this little man just missed April Fool's... I'm sure my friend (who is very creative) will come up with something to reflect that as well as his breeding ;-)
I have no idea what's gotten in to me... ;-) The Beloved Husband and I were talking about it about two weeks ago, and he said he'd prep a portion of our (huge) yard for me. We discussed where it would be most convenient, and my darling tilled up the ground and added all this incredible aged manure we got from the stable I ride at....
Of course, it's quite a bit BIGGER than I originally thought - but, then again, I don't actually have to USE it all, right? [rolls eyes]
Anyway, that manure did an incredible job making our red clay soil resemble the finest farming loam you could wish for, and Sunday I started arranging/digging the raised beds (besides all the outdoor spring-cleaning we were doing)
Here you see the first two (well, three, actually) prepped beds. The ground underneath the tilled level is still, of course, a really sticky red clay, so I'm adding straw in the pathways to cut down on it clumping up on my shoes.
At the far right/off-camera, I'm hoping to plant some corn. We've never had any luck with it before, but I figure we may as well try again. I think we'll plant four crops in two week increments so that we don't get inundated with a huge crop all at once.
But then again, fresh corn is really REALLY good....
The larger square on the right still needs the path through the middle dug out in this photo, but I got that done about 3 hours ago:
I know, the light's really pretty terrible to show things properly, but...
Anyway, the Darling Munchkin and I planted some seedlings there: parsley, oregano, two types of basil, and some pepper plants. *sigh* I probably put the pepper plants out too soon, but we'll see how it goes.
Tomorrow, I want to plant some lettuce/salad seeds while the weather is still cool. I'll get a good crop until things really start heating up, and then I'll see if the lettuce likes a container placed in the shade.
If you look at the background on the left of the picture, you'll see a shaded area. It was full of not-much-of-anything and we cleared it out and brought in an old concrete table and benches my mom-in-law said we could have.
There, you see?
On the right side of the picture, you're getting a glimpse at the garden, and in the center-right, by the astroturf, is where I think I'm going to try doing a little shade/container gardening. I believe that this area remains in shade pretty much all day, and I'm wondering if a summer lettuce crop would like it there.
Behind the camera frame and a bit to the right is the pool (IOW, it's about 20 feet in back of me from this picture), and I'll be able to sit at the table - or drag a lounge chair into the shade - and play on the computer while the Munchkin and her buddies play in the pool. Mmmmm, shade on a hot summer day - just right for this cool-weather Kat!
You can see our RV in the background, and perhaps the sections of the two radio towers my hubby has yet to put up. We're going to move them, and maybe I'll clear that area next year and add, oh, a real herb garden, or an asparagus patch or maybe even ARTICHOKES!!! (looooove artichokes!)
... and again, I'm wondering who slipped me the really good drugs, 'cause I have YET to have a garden last beyond a month...!
But then, two or three fruit trees would be nice, perhaps some blueberry bushes, and the Munchkin wants a strawberry patch and then it might be interesting to try...
