Of This and That

Goodwill – My husband’s had an interesting career at Goodwill of Southwestern Pennsylvania. When he started there seven years ago he was a teacher of deaf adults, helping them acquire basic educational skills in pursuit of gainful employment. After the Commonwealth cut the funds for the educational program Bill took a position of employment specialist, actively working with Pittsburgh companies and deaf adults to find good job opportunities. Although the vast majority of his deaf clients have other physical and/or mental health issues, sometimes the only disability is the inability to hear, or in a couple of cases, neither to hear nor see.

One of his most successful placements was for a deaf and blind man in his fifties from England; the man’s wife was deaf also but they had a hearing son. Bill was able to find him a job in a machine factory assembling anti-static components that fit inside engines. Charles became the machinists’ union’s first deaf/blind member in the Pittsburgh area.

Part of Bill’s job is to work with the deaf clients at their new jobs until he’s helped them and their managers establish come type of communication process. Most of time he also learns their jobs in order to teach them how to do it. He’s been a dishwasher in a corporate cafeteria, a grocery stock clerk quite a few times, a janitor in the county courthouse, a busboy at a mall food court, a food preparer at the local community coller, a waiter at one casino and a cleaner at another, a data entry clerk at several corporations downtown and a truck driver! It will be interesting to see what his resume will look like when he starts to look for employment in Jacksonville.

Weather – Today is a beautiful fall day in Pittsburgh and there are quite a few boats out on the river. For whatever reason, no one seems to be in a hurry and are placidly cruising by. The dragon boats were out practicing this morning and a kayaker just paddled by. But it’s been a rather wet summer and I never use to think much about the inconvenience of rain until most mornings when I trudge to my car through a shower. Integral garages are on my list of things I miss! We’ve also been watching the Jacksonville weather and it seems to not get the wind and rain of the hurricanes very often. I hope that when we begin our two-day drive south at the end of October we won’t run into bad weather; Bill will be towing a small U-Haul behind his Focus.

Wine – I’ve never been a fan of hard liquor or beer, but I do appreciate a good wine. Until we started boating six years ago, though, I drank maybe one glass a week. For some reason, though it’s said that boating and drinking don’t mix…they really do! At least when we’re sitting out on the dock enjoying a nice evening. Bill made a very nice wooden wine rack that sits neatly under the entertainment center in the salon, and it holds five bottles. Currently it holds several from a local winery called Winfield Winery, not too far from Concordia Lutheran Ministries, where Bill is on the board of directors. I think it’s time for a glass!

On Feet and Grace

You see a lot of feet during the summer time. Very few are model-quality flawless and most reflect either a tortured life of being stuffed into shoes that are not “foot-shaped” or of exposure to hot sand, hard pavement and everything inbetween.

Recently I was accosted in the dairy aisle of our local grocery store by a man who admired my toenail polish. First we did the cart dance, trying to maneuver past each other and then he said: That’s a beautiful color on your toes. What is it? Me: (Duh.) Red. Him: Oh, no, I think it has some orange in it. Me: (Let me outta here!) Um, no, just red.

I thought that was the last of it but as I was unloading my bagged groceries he came by with his cartful and paused: Have you ever considered wearing a toe ring? Me: (This guy really has a foot fetish.) Um, no. Him: Well, you should. You have beautiful feet. In fact, you’re a very beautiful woman. Me: (Oh, puh-leeze.) Um, thank you. Have a nice day.

As you can see, my feet are rather average, nothing to write about (except that I am!), however that whole exchange started me thinking about feet. Body massages are nice, but give me a foot massage any day! There’s just something about having my feet pummeled, rubbed and yes, tickled, that feels oh so good.

[Short digression: Head massages come in a close second. Last week I impulsively splurged on a good haircut and color at a local Philip Pelusi salon – a shout out to Galena at the Waterworks salon – and when the color was rinsed, the stylist gave me a wonderful head massage. I hoped it would never end!]

Back to feet…Bill and I have been trying to walk more this summer and when we do, I make sure to wear my orthotics (shoe inserts that even up my hips). But having worn sandals most of the summer (i.e., no orthotics), a recent walk was extremely painful as the pressure points on my feet had changed because my hips were out of alignment. Now a new pair of shoes is cruelly and painfully pinching at my toes; I actually padded barefoot around the office one afternoon!

All this to explain why I’m falling short of the servant request to “take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.”¹ No speed, no beauty here! I am thankful that I have two functioning feet when so many of our U.S. troops have returned home without one or both, when so many people in Third World countries have lost their feet to parasites or land mines, when those whose jobs require them to be on their feet for long hours can barely walk at the end of their shift.

Jesus showed us how to serve each other and how to lead with humbleness when he washed the feet of his disciples. Peter – always Peter! – protested when it was his turn (Lord, are you going to wash my feet?) but soon asked to be cleansed all over. Jesus’ example and words tell us to do as He has done for us and in doing so receive the blessing of pure grace.²

¹ From an 1874 hymn, “Take My Life and Let It Be”, written by Frances Havergal.

² John 13:1-17

Rainy (Labor) Day Musings

I’ve been taking a lot of nature photos lately. Mostly sunrises and sunsets and storms. I wonder what it is that draws the soul to water, wind and sky? Following are three sunrises, three sunsets and three storms taken throughout the course of the summer. Sometimes it's just being in the right place at the right time for one lucky shot; sometimes it's taking shot after shot after shot!

When Bill and I told friends and family over 30 years ago that we were moving to Pittsburgh (from St. Louis) we heard a lot of negative comments. Pittsburgh still had its smoky, smoggy reputation from the first half of the century but it was totally unjustified. When we moved here in late 1981 there were no steel mills operating within the city limits and many of the mills were being torn down for shopping malls and amusement complexes. In fact, during the 1980s Pittsburgh went through its Second Renaissance and even now is in what many are saying is its Third Renaissance. Look how the North Shore has changed in just the past decade: new stadiums for the Steelers and the Pirates; new headquarters for Del Monte Foods and Alcoa; and the park at the Point is undergoing a major renovation!

Pittsburgh has been named Most Livable City in the U.S. several times. Its housing values remained fairly steady and reasonable and unemployment is a few percentage points lower than the national average. Pittsburgh was successful in transforming itself from a manufacturing-based city to one of technology, health care and education services. I did just hear on Good Morning, America that Pittsburgh is the third worst city when it comes to fashion, but really, who cares? The majority of its residents have jobs and affordable housing!

So now that we’re moving south we hear concerns about heat, humidity and hurricanes. All valid, but I guess it’s what you get used to. There really isn’t a spot in the country where you don’t encounter some type of weather or weather-related problem. From earthquakes, tornados and floods in the Midwest, hurricanes in the South, blizzards in both the Northeast and the Midwest, constant rain in the upper Northwest, to drought and fires in the West and Southwest…where but in the Garden of Eden would you not encounter nature’s reminders that we are not the masters of the universe?

“He [God]draws up the drops of water,
   which distill as rain to the streams;
the clouds pour down their moisture
   and abundant showers fall on mankind.
Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
   how he thunders from his pavilion?
See how he scatters his lightning about him,
   bathing the depths of the sea.
This is the way he governs the nations
   and provides food in abundance.
He fills his hands with lightning
   and commands it to strike its mark.
His thunder announces the coming storm;
   even the cattle make known its approach."