The other day I posted about Spring of Light burning. As I write, a fire restoration group is in the building trying to preserve the books and any equipment possible. So, we will have a better idea what the total damage by the end of the week. In the meantime, if you are inclined to help, I have a few possibilities:

Buy a replacement book from Doug’s Wish list.

Send a contribution via paypal:

Because if I could, I would gladly like to give it to my brother. If it isn’t one thing, then it’s another. This week Doug’s church, Spring of Light Ministries, suffered a devastating loss when the place of worship was destroyed by fire.

My whole life, Doug has sought out obscure bookstores in the most unlikely of places to build his masterful library. The church walls were lined with thousands of Doug’s books and one of his close friends who also stored his books at the church. All told there were 10-15,000 books in the church. The electronics melted, the pews couches burned, and when the fire melted the overhead water pipe the space flooded.

[see all pictures here]

The books are not a total loss, but they are Doug’s passion. It is very sad to know that both the object of his passion and vision of his church went up in flames this week. Of course, Doug is resilient and disconcertingly thankful.

I came across this excerpt from a post that Doug made when discussing his kidney issues:

Instead of continually wondering why our lives are not better, we might cultivate a mindset that wonders why our lives have been so good, so blessed, and so overwhelmingly wonderful. In so doing, we might begin to acknowledge the treasures that surround. Instead of complaining for slow service at restaurant, we might thank the server for their time and effort in meeting our need. We might thank the clerk in the store, we might thank the boss who employs us, we might thank the officer who protects us, we might thank the teachers who instruct us, we might look around with fresh eyes at the innumerable blessings surrounding us each moment.

And most of all, we might thank God who owes us nothing and yet blesses us continually whether we are good and evil.

I am confident that Doug will take this in stride. He won’t make a big deal out of it. I have to. Drop him a note. Send him a book. Pause. Take a moment out of your day to think about all of the good in your life.

Since 2001, I have made the trek down Alcoa Highway 2-4 times per day.  At the peak of rush hour, I seem to always cross paths with an elderly man pumping up the hill heading south on 129 guarded by a white full rimmed hard hat.  He usually is weighed down with a full day pack, but rain or shine he makes the commute daily.

Once I saw the man driving down into Sequoya Hills, but I didn’t have the time to follow him.  The wife and I have discussed lone biker sightings, but she shocked me yesterday to tell me that she actually talked to him.  At Food City on 129, she breezed through the aisles but was stopped in her tracks at the sighting of the white full rimmed hard hat safely settled in the lone biker’s grocery cart.

“Excuse me” she said “do you ride your bike on Alcoa Highway every day?”

“Yes” the aged, hairless man answered.

“If you don’t mind me asking, do you ride for your health, or is there some reason that you ride your bike everyday?” she queried.

Then the man launched into his explanation about global warming and global terrorism and that this was his way to make a point. Respectable, even if his license were suspended for DUI and the bike were his only means of transportation.

Then they parted ways: he to load his modest bounty onto his back and peddle through the dense fumes of the overtraveled Alcoa highway and her to ease into the carriage of the toyota where the peddling is much lighter.  His name still unkown remains the same Hard-Hat Harry or perhaps Al.

Heard about this today, and while it is 4 months old, it is still fresh to me: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6805063692754011230

Our dear friend and constant commenter, Rita, will be going under the knife for implants tomorrow.  While I will not be able to liveblog this medical event, I will be glad to check out the implants when she recovers.  If we are all lucky, she may even let me post some pics.

We may have another Glenn Reynolds in the making over at Floydville’s new bastard child, but more than likely this is just the typical Grogger protocal. He set it up today and has been posting in 15 minute intervals. You might still take a stroll over to floydville², or is it just floydville–he’s going to have to do something about that.

On the way home tonight we hit a pedestrian, and it got me to thinking—we have constructed the most pedestrian unfriendly cities. We design cities without one thought of pedestrian traffic. In the most distant places, hours away from civilization, we construct subdivisions, so that we can walk 12 feet from front door to automobile and then 12 feet from automobile to the office.

I have never known how to be a pedestrian. The world that I have always known includes hours of commuting on roads where pedestrians are aliens. I am lost in a sea of automobiles. If I were forced to travel my normal routes without the assistance of my vehicle, I would be forced to travel on routes where I am not welcome (i.e. the federal highway system). The nearest public transportation could be in another state for all that I know.

What would our world look like without all these roads?