Three Beautiful Things 06/30/13: Fertilizer and Gratitude, Paul Tillich and Mining Coal, Kajagoogoo to Martin Luther

1.  I'm following Marty's suggestions and today was fertilizer day in the back yard.  As I broadcast the little pellets with one of those little broadcasting cart things, I suddenly remembered that I didn't note, as a beautiful thing, the other day that I ran into Marty at the nursery and she didn't remember me (I figured she wouldn't), but I took less than ten seconds to tell her that she had come to my house, given me advice, and that it was working out well.

2.  Maybe now that I'm retired, I'll do some of the reading independently that I've always wanted to do in a good teacher's classroom:  read 20th century theology.  I started Tillich's The Courage to Be and was struck by how much I enjoy theology over theory and how much, already, Tillich is helping me learn more about Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Stoicism, and other philosophical thought.  In my teaching, it was always the philosophical I most wanted to focus on, with the exception of giving courses, when I could, that included the study of work/working and exploring coal mining -- and, when I could, exploring the silver mining, too, but there's so much more that's been written about big coal.

3.  As the evening continued not to cool off, I relaxed with some music videos:  Duran Duran, "Hungry Like a Wolf"; Gary Numan, "Cars";  Flock of Seagulls, "I Ran"; Midnight Oil, "Beds are Burning"; somehow, I made a move from Midnight Oil to Kajagoogoo, "Too Shy" and then to its foil, Roxy Music, "Love is the Drug".   I liked the love thread, so I went to my fav, Robert Palmer and watched "Simply Irresistible", "Addicted to Love", and "Bad Case of Loving You (Doctor, Doctor)".  Well, I thought, if I'm going to listent to "Addicted to Love", I can't pass up Tina Turner's version and if I'm going to listen to Tina Turner, I'd best go back to the Midnight Special and listen to Ike and Tina Turner sing "Proud Mary".  I ended my evening of things not cooling off listening to half of Brian Lamb's interview of Martin Marty as he discussed his biography of Martin Luther.