Happy Thanksgiving!

This is my first Thanksgiving spent in the office at work and among people who have no idea that this day is typically one set apart from other days--but fear not, I baked me a sweet potato and composed a list of things I thank God for. :) Indeed, this has been quite a year, filled with blessings beyond what I could have imagined. Thanksgiving is a wonderful day set aside to cause us to pause and be thankful for all we have!

(Note: there is not really an equivalent public holiday in Ireland, although the Church of Ireland celebrates a "Harvest Sunday" in October, in which baskets of fruits are set out and folks express thanks for the bountiful harvest of the year and such.)

Colourful Autumn Leaves

The Autumn (as they say here, rather than Fall) has been absolutely lovely! Very little rain, much sun with cool air but not too chilly (about 55 degrees). Folks are saying this Autumn is so much more pleasant than the summer was. (Evidently it rained tremendously before I arrived.)

The leaves on the trees are changing colours--reds, oranges, yellows--offering beautiful panoramic scenes all about. Leaves are starting to fall on the sidewalks where I walk, allowing me to skip through the colours merrily. There is even a certain glorious aroma in the air.

Ahh, this is life, walking to work each morning in the visual and sensational beauty of the changing seasons...

More Imperial vs. Metric vs. ... Geological?

I was in the health clinic this afternoon and the doctor asked me to step on the scales. She read off "58" and returned to her desk to write it down. Obviously that's in kilograms, not pounds, so I asked if she could convert that measurement for me (I haven't weighed myself in at least 6 months, so I was curious what Ireland has done to me).

Her reply: "Oh of course. That's between 9 and 9 1/2 stones."

I chuckled. "Um, and a stone is...?"

She then laughed and said, "Oh dear, you want me to really convert it, like, into pounds, mathematically??"

So she got out her pen and paper and announced that I weighed 155 pounds.
Whoa, I was certain that was NOT correct. She had no concept of what an average girl of my size would weigh in pounds, hence did not realize that was out of the ballpark for me. I questioned her about this calculation, and her reply was:

"Are you disputing my mathematics??"

I innocently smiled. She recalculated and found that in fact, I weigh 128 pounds. Much more reasonable.

She then asked me what my height is. I replied with 5'8''.
She then stared and said, "Oh dear, you're going to make me do another conversion??"
I then realized that of course, they don't speak of height in terms of feet and inches either, but rather centimeters.

She needed to get my BMI, which turned out to be 20. (Good, acceptable range is somewhere between 19-25.)

She took my blood pressure and then looked at me: "Are you a runner?" Yes. "Your pulse is 51, so I knew you must be fit." Little did she know that I also just briskly walked at least mile in the chilling winter cold and wind...

I got my prescription, took it to the local chemist (pharmacy), and literally within 20 seconds (I timed it), I was out the door with my meds. Gotta love this local community style!

"Gorgeous"

I repeatedly hear the word "gorgeous" used not to describe the attractive *appearance* of something, but rather, the appealing *taste* of something.

"Oh my, this coffee is gorgeous!"

"Aren't those scones just gorgeous?"

"I love lollipops, they're gorgeous."

The first time I heard such a combination of object and adjective, I was startled and thought the person just choose her words poorly, but in fact, this is a standard choice, I know notice it all the time.

So I looked it up on Dictionary.com, and here's what I found:

1.	splendid or sumptuous in appearance, coloring, etc.; magnificent

2.	Informal. extremely good, enjoyable, or pleasant.

Okay, though it is *informal*, I'll grant them legitimate usage.

Halloween remnants

During my morning run (about 7:30am) through the nearby park (in the middle of a residential area), I saw the bonfire from last night still flaming! Not merely smoking, but flames. Not a person around, just a huge black circle with a fire in the center. I had this strange feeling of being taken back to the primitive days of Ireland.

As I continued the run, I passed a couple other piles of bonfire remnants, but with only smoldering coals. Meanwhile, the fireworks last night lasted from 5pm to about 9pm. Tonight I am still hearing them...it's been about 2 hours now...

The "Problem of Pain"

The "problem of pain" is one that has plagued philosophers, theologians, and well, mankind, since...the beginning...
That is, the question of how can a loving God allow such terrible pain and suffering in the world?
It's definitely something I have wrestled with over the years. Well, I'm a part of a reading group, and the book is "Where is God When it Hurts?" by Philip Yancey. So far, I'm finding it an excellent read. He starts from a scientific look at pain, from a biological standpoint. Then he progresses to nonphysical pain, and eventually proposes a distinction between "pain" and "suffering." For example, people with leprosy actually feel no pain, yet suffer terribly. On the other hand, some pain is for useful purposes and does not necessarily create real suffering.

He confronts (insufficient) answers that are often given as a blanket response to suffering, such as "God is trying to tell you something" or "you're lacking faith and have stepped outside of God's will" or "you need to learn to embrace the suffering, it's what's best for you."

I'm only a third of the way through the book, but I'm eager to continue reading and pondering. This has caused me to look forward to my bus rides!

If you're interested in discussing this topic or in finding out the author's conjecture, feel free to email me...