Sabbath Thought

"Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Mary Crockett Bowen Bricker

Mrs. Bricker was known to her contemporaries and family as Mary Crock or, more simply, Crock. To her grandchildren and great grandchildren she was known as Brick Brick, her son and daughter called her Mother and she was my mother in law.

In her day, she did a bit of crocheting but was better known for her ability to teach hard science and math at the high school, college and university levels. During the war years, Mrs. B., along with her sister in law and her daughter's future mother in law comprised the entire math department at Beaver High School in Bluefield, WV.

She earned her undergraduate degre at Queens College, Charlotte, NC in 1934 and in 2004, Dave and I took her and a classmate to their 70th Queens College, now University, reunion! She earned her Masters at West Virginia University and was all but a dissertation away from her PhD when her parents became ill and needed her care.

She won several fellowships including a General Electric science fellowship and taught at Bluefield College, Bluefield State College, West Virginia University, University of Illinois, Emory University in Atlanta, GA and VA Tech.

She was extremely proud to have been chosen one of the very first cheerleaders at Tazewell High School, Tazewell, VA and would tell tales of those early days to all who would listen.

Mrs. B. supported the efforts of Fiber Femmes and, in past years, paid postage to have fifty or sixty boxes of yarn sent to The Children's Home in Siberia, Russia.

She was the last of her immediate family and on 19 November 2008 joined her parents, brothers and sister in death. In June 2008 we celebrated her 95th birthday and all but seven of the fifty or so guests were family members including children, grand and great grands, niece, nephew, cousins and me.
It was one of those rare, beautiful days...absolutely perfect weather and enough of the "old guard" in attendance to warrant a magical knowledge this was the passing of the torch. We all knew we'd never have this opportunity again and took full advantage of the day to build love and memories. We who were there have that day to hold against the dark nights and frosty world that push against love.

Blessings ~ a life well lived ~ birthdays ~ teachers ~ family ~ friends ~ memories ~

The Five Stages of Collapse

Dmitry Orlov has written a fascinating article entitled, "The Five Stages of Collapse" and has intimate knowledge of his subject as he was born and raised in the Soviet Union. Now, he's an engineer and specializes in "thinking about and, unfortunately, predicting collapse". He watched the Soviet Union collapse and draws comparisons between that country and the USA. As an engineer, he looks for physical explanations rather than cultural, political or economic reasons.

It's a thought provoking article and requires a bit of a time commitment, and not a few brain cells, to read; however, it's time well spent if it prepares one for the future.

There are three Chinese curses:

1. May you live in interesting times.
2. May you come to the attention of those in authority.
3. May you find what you are looking for.

Each generation believes they are living in "interesting times" and, as times, go, these are Quite Interesting.

Please, let me know your thoughts.

Two Contests

I ran across a contest for women entrepreneurs you might find interesting and profitable. Information taken directly from their webpages; please visit for more details.

Digital Growth Contest

"Attention, women entrepreneurs...

Enter our Digital Growth Contest and you could win a free year of high-speed Internet and other prizes from a cable company, and a free one-year membership with Ladies Who Launch.

All you need to do is tell us an inspiring story about your business — and you could be a Digital Growth Contest winner!

It's easy to enter. We invite you, a spouse, friend or colleague to write an essay in 250 words or less, telling us the story of your business — emphasizing the opportunity, the challenges and the rewards of entrepreneurship. Each essay must also include an anecdote that illustrates how your business could benefit from a communications technology upgrade.

The deadline is Thursday, November 13, 2008, 11:59 ET, so don’t procrastinate!"

The Knitting Scholar site has a contest to share some largesse; check it out then, go and do likewise.