Editorial Blog

I may be a little slow, but I'll get there.

This newfangled stuff we are doing has stretched my capacities, that's for sure. I'm learning how to post to Facebook, take video and post it on our website and now blog.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

So what if I've been trying to figure this out since last September and I am finally getting it - maybe! As I said before, I may be a little (?) slow, but I'll get there!

Yep, it looks like March is going to come in like a lion here in the Lake Region. Maybe not a very big lion, but a lion, nonetheless. That's okay for us because we have had such a nice winter that a little snow and cold now can't get us down. I think you can count on one hand the number of times it has been below zero this year. That's my kind of winter!

Lent started last week with Ash Wednesday and liturgically it is one of my favorite times of year. I enjoy the quiet and reflection of Lent. At St. Olaf we are doing a soup supper Wednesday night followed by a book study where we are talking about the meaning and importance of the cross. When I was a Catholic, I enjoyed the discipline of giving something up for Lent because each time I reached for that can of pop or piece of meat, I was reminded of Christ's sacrifice and had to stop and think twice.

This year, however, I am not really giving something up but merely making a change. After the soup supper, book study and Lenten prayer service Wednesday evenings I head home and instead of turning on the TV - as I normally do when I hit the living room - I pick up my long-neglected guitar and try to remember the chords I used to know so well. There I sit on my couch with the Ovation trying to get the fingers of my left hand to move like they used to. I haven't picked up the guitar for nine years, since I moved back here to Devils Lake in 2003. I guess you'd say I'm a little rusty.

It's not only my fingers that are rusty. I can't hit the notes singing like I used to, either. That makes me sad.

I think of Whitney Houston in her final days. It was obvious that she was having difficulty with her voice. My heart went out to her. Now, I was never the singer she was, but I was able to belt out a tune and did quite a bit of singing, myself, and I admit, I miss it. I can imagine the pain she was feeling at the end of her life as she struggled with her voice. Kevin Costner said during her funeral that she had bouts of insecurity, fearing she wasn't good enough.  Imagine being so well-known for that fantastic voice and losing it. That must have been tough.

I'm going to try to do more singing this Lent in my "Foghorn Louie" voice because no matter what, it's good for me. Maybe the only ones who ever hear me will be my cats, Buddy and BOO but that's okay. They're sure enjoying exploring the guitar case that's been locked in the closet all these years. That's a start.

In this increasing electronic age some of us are being brought kicking and screaming into a world we know little about. Others are fascinated with the changing technology and race to keep ahead of everything that develops.

I find myself somewhere between the two. If I'm honest, perhaps I do a little more kicking and screaming than racing. Actually it's more like whining and complaining than kicking and screaming.

Nevertheless I am taking my first baby steps into blogging, now. Here I go!

We are learning how to add this element to our website so our readers can join in the conversation and have another platform to participate in our community's dialogue. Bear with us as we go forward and be thinking of how you can participate. Yesterday I talked with a reader who is battling cancer and asked if she might be interested in   blogging about her experience, once we get this set up. I'd read that, wouldn't you?

Maybe you are into sports and would like to blog about your favorite teams and how they are doing.

Maybe you are like me and enjoy reading in your spare time. You could join in the conversation on a Book Club Blog and talk about the book you're reading.

There are many ways our readers can participate in blogging - health and fitness, recipe swapping, faith and belief - the possibilities are nearly endless.

As soon as we are up and running adding reader blogs, I'll let you know!
-Louise