Fire(places) and Brimstone

This weekend started with a drive to organize the house a bit. With the change in the seasons, there was a need to swap out some clothes for the kids and so in the transition period, we had become overrun. A little cleaning, then we spent the afternoon running a couple of errands.
Highest on the list was looking for a wood stove to fit into our fireplace. Essentially what this will give us is an efficient fireplace to actually use rather than our current setup which would suck so much air out of our house that it would not really achieve much in the warmth department. We decided on a model and so now just have to wait the two weeks for supplies to be ordered, permits to be obtained etc. I think this will be a huge improvment in both form and function when compared to what we have now.

After this, we busied ourselves in cleaning again for just long enough for Mindy's dust allergy to flare up. She took an antihistamine and we settled to watch some TV. The drug hit her hard as she was pretty much in a coma about 30 minutes later. I guess the warnings about drowsiness etc are there for a reason!

On Sunday we watched the movie “Jesus Camp”, a documentary about some Evangelical Christian familes, focussing on a camp the kids attend, designed to build their faith. It was a very interesting movie and is highly recommended for viewing. Overall, the parents shown were abusive and controlling in subtle ways. Watching these kids get whipped into frenzies and reaching such a confused emotional state as to break down in tears was nothing more than psycholigical abuse in my view. Kids being taught that Satan is looking to get them (manifested through sin) and extreme nonsense like Harry Potter being evil (he is a warlock after all) is very distasteful and offensive. One funny thing (at least we thought it was funny)…the lady who runs the camp was quite overweight. At one point, she actually criticised Christians for not practising self-denial and fasting as many other religions do. Seemed a little like noticing the speck in someone else’s eye while not noticing the log in your own. It was quite clear that self-denial and fasting were about the only two things NOT on her menu! A larger theme was the fact that Evangelicals are now about 25% of America’s population, which is a large enough voting block to control the outcome of elections. As this group mobilizes and becomes more extreme and vocal, there is a real risk that the tenant of “separation of Church and State” will become eroded. Another point made was the disregard and denial of science and the scientific method. Again, I felt quite sad for these children growing up with such a narrow view of life. Certainly well worth a look.

I then watched the Red Sox clinch the World Series. I was happy with the result but, aside from Game 2, the games were all quite one-sided. With the ineptitude of the Orioles looking like continuing for a while, I guess I enjoy seeing the Red Sox do well. I like many of their players and them winning gets under the skin of Yankee fans, which is another bonus. Upcoming sport on the agenda is the NFL, although it looks like being another long season for the Redskins…and the cricket where I plan to spend many nights watching us spank the Sri Lankans and Indians over the coming months.