Aftermath Poem

Aftermath

When the summer fields are mown,
When the birds are fledged and flown,
And the dry leaves strew the path;
With the falling of the snow,
With the cawing of the crow,
Once again the fields we mow
And gather in the aftermath.
Not the sweet, new grass with flowers
Is this harvesting of ours;
Not the upland clover bloom;
But the rowen mixed with weeds,
Tangled tufts from marsh and meads,
Where the poppy drops its seeds
In the silence and the gloom.

Happy Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Birthday!!

even after another helping of snow i have no regrets posting this poem ...

Weekly News From SCUU 02/27/2014

Happy Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Birthday!! Happy John Steinbeck Birthday!! & Thanks Julie for publishing the eflyer...

WOW!! the new edition of the Weekly News from SCUU digest that you will receive as an eflyer email. Tis a beautiful thing.

Link to Weekly News from SCUU 02/27/2014. 

If you don't want to use the link, here is a preview in a scrollable frame too..  In a browser it's scrollable and on a tablet from the WOW blog the whole freakin complete weekly digest eflyer just automagically appears...

Many Thanks to Julie and the eTaskForce!!!

Please Subscribe to the Weekly SCUU Newsletter on MailChimp via this Link

Sugarloaf Road Conditions 2/23/14 -- Dry-ish and Birds are Singing

The puddles are gone.  The birds are singing.

42 degrees.

Respect for the Interdependent Web of All Existence of Which We Are a Part.

Sugarloaf Road Conditions 2/21/14 -- Of Puddles & Potholes All Clear

Small puddles and small potholes.

Amazing how fast it goes.

Olaf: [singing] Winter's a good time to sit close and cuddle /
   But put me in summer and I'll be a...

[pauses in front of a puddle]

Olaf: ... happy snowman!

Weekly News From SCUU 02/20/2014

Happy Ansel Adams Birthday Day!! Happy Metropolitan Museum of Art Birthday!! & Thanks Julie for publishing the eflyer...

WOW!! the new edition of the Weekly News from SCUU digest that you will receive as an eflyer email. Tis a beautiful thing.

Link to Weekly News from SCUU 02/20/2014. 

If you don't want to use the link, here is a preview in a scrollable frame too..  In a browser it's scrollable and on a tablet the whole freakin complete weekly digest eflyer just automagically appears...

Many Thanks to Julie and the eTaskForce!!!

Please Subscribe to the Weekly SCUU Newsletter on MailChimp via this Link

Sugarloaf Road Conditions 2/20/14 -- The Road is Visible Passable and Muddy Ok for Cars

The temperature is to remain above freezing tonight.  There will be heavy rain in the afternoon tomorrow.  Friday and Saturday will be in the 60s and Sunday in the 50s.

Drive it slow, stay on the visible portion of the road and all will be well.

One issue might be parking on the lower level.  Advice -- when parking unless you have an SUV stick to the high ground.  Park on incline above road rather than the field or park in the upper parking lot.

Let the free and responsible search for truth and meaning resume.

Everyone continue to think warm thoughts.

Meditation Focal Point Google Sugarloaf Street View

View Larger Map Please Note We have a New Sign

Think warm thoughts ...

The other title for this post could be "Where in the heck is Sugarloaf UU!!!???"  You can use street view to peruse the roads and streets and turns leading up to the entrance to Sugarloaf -- SCUU from which ever direction you will make your approach ...

Sugarloaf Road Conditions 2/19/14 -- SUV and Advanced Be Prepared to Push

The road is visible in the previous tracks.  And the entrance looks almost clear.  But looks are deceiving the dry snow is now a firm Slurpee consistency and slick wherever there is an incline.   For anyone following the Winter Olympics picture Sochi snow.  On the straightaway had to switch to 4 wheel drive and definitely on the ascent to the upper parking lot.  Not suitable for sedans and should not be attempted in the dark or without 4 wheel drive or without a second or third person who can push.

Given the current daily temperature and the rate of melting it might be OK tomorrow.

It looks like a magic trick ...

Sugarloaf Road Conditions 2/16/14 -- Off Road Double Black Diamond

I think Chris went through with a large truck in 4 wheel drive.  The wall of snow has been knocked down and out of the way.  Allows entry onto a road less traveled with a lot of snow.  There are deep tracks in the snow.

In two wheel drive i slid about as i came down the road and made the left turn in the tracks previously made by Chris yesterday.  Slid in an off road fishtail hope i don't go off the road what road kind of way.  The snow scraped the bottom of the small SUV.  Had to switch to 4 wheel drive to get to the upper parking lot.  In the picture above you can't see the road.  I was the first to make the ascent.  It's very still and quiet.  Rabbit and deer tracks everywhere with hawks flying overhead.

The ruts in the road are deeper than they appear.  The snow has a medium crust and you walk around like you wish you had snow shoes punching down through the snow as you go.

The wall is down at the entrance but the "merge" lane to the right is completely covered in a wall of snow.

The car whined at me after i turned on the main road because i had not switched back to 2 wheel drive.

Hard to believe all this will be gone by the end of the week.  The daily high average temperature from Tuesday to Sunday is 49 degrees ...  Peaks at 55 degrees on Friday.

Thank you Chris.

Everybody stay safe please.

Due To Road Conditions All Sugarloaf Activities Canceled This Weekend

It is fun to have fun
 but you have to know how

and it is not fun to get stuck
on a road that is not plowed

Let nature melt it away
there is no service Sunday

Said the Board of Trustees

Sugarloaf Road Conditions 2/14/14

A wall of snow blocks the entrance to Sugarloaf Road left by the snow plowing of Route 118.  Will need either a team of shovelers or a snow plow.  On the way to Sugarloaf drove past many jeeps, small trucks, and large trucks with snow plows.  It appears that once the mound of snow blocking the entrance is clear there's packed powder conditions that in the past have been driveable with a front wheel drive car.  Rear wheel drive trucks should not attempt the final ascent to the upper parking lot.

The tricky part is that there's no place to park or turn around due to the wall of snow blocking the entrance.  Had to take the picture while stopped in the road which added a bit of a journalistic thrill.

All the main roads and most side roads are clear.

Got Snow Plow?

UUA New Logo Announcement

WOW it is a brand new day ...

Link to UUA New Logo Announcement

 If you don't want to use the link, here is a preview in a scrollable frame too..  In a browser it's scrollable and on a tablet when viewing the blog in tablet mode the announcement just automagically appears...

You know you're UU when you say logo interchangeably with religious symbol...

Please note that Sugarloaf Congregation of Unitarian Universalist has had their own spiffy updated logo for a while. They're all manifestations of the same chalice to me.

Weekly News From SCUU 02/13/2014

Happy Valentines Day!! & Thanks Julie for publishing the eflyer...

WOW!! the new edition of the Weekly News from SCUU digest that you will receive as an eflyer email. Tis a beautiful thing.

Link to Weekly News from SCUU 02/13/2014. 

If you don't want to use the link, here is a preview in a scrollable frame too..  In a browser it's scrollable and on a tablet the whole freakin complete weekly digest eflyer just automagically appears...

Many Thanks to Julie and the eTaskForce!!!

Please Subscribe to the Weekly SCUU Newsletter on MailChimp via this Link

Sugarloaf Pledge Drive Announcement 2014 Updates

Pledge Drive! 90K in pledges to keep the place running, about $1500 family, or about $30/wk.

This year the budget will include a 3% raise for Megan, $10,000 for house repairs (roof, bay window, etc...whatever we can afford to get done with it), OWL training, and ~50% fair share contributions to UUA and JPD.

The proposed budget has been posted in the Yurt.  Please take some time to review the budget.  Kerri will hold a budget discussion soon.

We get pledges ranging from a few dollars to over $100 per week, and it’s all needed and appreciated.

 Low key system this year but not low key in enthusiasm or results.

The pledge drive kick off Pot-o-Gold-luck dinner on Saturday, Feb. 8th was good fun – you can now pledge online using our new system that Adam has developed -- tis on the Sugarloaf Web Site. The direct web link is here:

The Official Sugarloaf Online Pledge Form Link.

You can now pledge by smartphones, tablets, laptops, and all kinds of web browsers -- anywhere and anytime.

Stewardship Sunday officially kicked off the pledge drive – please pledge via cards or online

If we hear from everyone, then we’ll be able to joyfully wrap up
If we don’t hear from everyone, we’ll need to follow up with emails and calls until we do

Remember: You don’t need to financially support the church in order to be a member here, but if you don’t financially support us, the church won’t be around for you to be a member of, at least the way we're used to running it.  We can make different decisions about how we want to run this church, but for now we're saying we like being on this property and we like professional ministry, and so we need to pay for it.

Please give as generously as possible so we can continue to be an inspiration to you and to others who need us.

See the announcement in the digest and on the website for updates.

This will be cool.  Thanks to Everyone for your Support!!

Three out of 5 philosophers are atheist or is it if there are an uneven number of stars you're agnostic?

Is Atheism Irrational? article  an excerpt ...

"In the British newspaper The Independent, the scientist Richard Dawkins was recently asked the following question: “If you died and arrived at the gates of heaven, what would you say to God to justify your lifelong atheism?” His response: “I’d quote Bertrand Russell: ‘Not enough evidence, God! Not enough evidence!’” But lack of evidence, if indeed evidence is lacking, is no grounds for atheism. No one thinks there is good evidence for the proposition that there are an even number of stars; but also, no one thinks the right conclusion to draw is that there are an uneven number of stars. The right conclusion would instead be agnosticism."

 I raise my hand -- I think I'd quote Bertrand Russell too ...

Or to paraphrase Shakespeare -- an atheist by any other name would smell like an agnostic ...

Or does anti-theist rhyme with antithesis?

"GG: So your claim is that if materialism is true, evolution doesn’t lead to most of our beliefs being true.

AP: Right. In fact, given materialism and evolution, it follows that our belief-producing faculties are not reliable.

Here’s why. If a belief is as likely to be false as to be true, we’d have to say the probability that any particular belief is true is about 50 percent. Now suppose we had a total of 100 independent beliefs (of course, we have many more). Remember that the probability that all of a group of beliefs are true is the multiplication of all their individual probabilities. Even if we set a fairly low bar for reliability — say, that at least two-thirds (67 percent) of our beliefs are true — our overall reliability, given materialism and evolution, is exceedingly low: something like .0004. So if you accept both materialism and evolution, you have good reason to believe that your belief-producing faculties are not reliable."

I believe that the above logic is very flawed.  Or if not flawed that the same can be said of theism.  By this logic of probabilities we are all agnostics with varying degrees of faith in something.

interesting.

Weekly News From SCUU 02/06/2014

Happy Bob Marley's Birthday!! Happy François Truffaut's Birthday!! Happy British Women Gain Right to Vote Day!! & Thanks Julie for publishing the eflyer...

WOW!! the new edition of the Weekly News from SCUU digest that you will receive as an eflyer email. Tis a beautiful thing.

Link to Weekly News from SCUU 02/06/2014. 

If you don't want to use the link, here is a preview in a scrollable frame too..  In a browser it's scrollable and on a tablet the whole freakin complete weekly digest eflyer just automagically appears...

Many Thanks to Julie and the eTaskForce!!!

Please Subscribe to the Weekly SCUU Newsletter on MailChimp via this Link

Sugarloaf Pledge Drive Announcement 2014

Pledge Drive! 90K in pledges to keep the place running, about $1500 family, or about $30/wk.

This year the budget will include a 3% raise for Megan, $10,000 for house repairs (roof, bay window, etc...whatever we can afford to get done with it), OWL training, and ~50% fair share contributions to UUA and JPD.

We get pledges ranging from a few dollars to over $100 per week, and it’s all needed and appreciated.

 Low key system this year but not low key in enthusiasm or results.

Pledge drive kick off Pot-o-Gold-luck dinner Saturday, Feb. 8th – you can pledge online there using our new system that Adam has developed -- tis on the Sugarloaf Web Site. The direct web link is here:

The Official Sugarloaf Online Pledge Form Link.

You can now pledge by smartphones, tablets, laptops, and all kinds of web browsers -- anywhere and anytime.

Next Day is Stewardship Sunday – pledge there with cards or online

If we hear from everyone that weekend, then we’ll be able to joyfully wrap up If we don’t hear from everyone, we’ll need to follow up with emails and calls until we do

Remember: You don’t need to financially support the church in order to be a member here, but if you don’t financially support us, the church won’t be around for you to be a member of, at least the way we're used to running it. We can make different decisions about how we want to run this church, but for now we're saying we like being on this property and we like professional ministry, and so we need to pay for it.

Please give as generously as possible so we can continue to be an inspiration to you and to others who need us.

Hope to see you all for the potluck on February 8th! See the announcement in the digest and on the website to tell what sort of food to bring.

This will be cool.