Yes! Jim Chambers sent me some images this morning, for the Nordics site. And made an awesome suggestion that there should be some way for he or others to update with the trail conditions, instead of me having to go in and manually change code. Which, of course, is a fantastic idea that hadn't even occured to me. So I'm thinking that instead of having the 'next meeting' blurb up there, I'll put 'current conditions' and make a little Greymatter blog. w00t! And when I do end up updating on conditions, I won't have to go in and manually change code either.
*dance of easiness*

Brighid had a really interesting post last night, on the nature of Grace and humanity. How Grace is not gifted to us by a higher being, but instead is ours to embrace. Lemme find it...
Grace

Amongst the many:
-A disposition to be generous or helpful; goodwill.
-Mercy; clemency.
-A favor rendered by one who need not do so; indulgence.
-A temporary immunity or exemption; a reprieve.
-Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people.
-The state of being protected or sanctified by the favor of God.
-An excellence or power granted by God [...]

I think it's a choice. Grace is a concious choice we make with each morning we get out of bed or take a breath or a step or choose to do the right thing or the good thing or a kind thing or a selfless thing or just a ... humane or decent thing. [...]

And I resist the idea that grace is something we've a right to, that we can earn and keep and hold it, like candies hoarded in the back of drawer. It's a gift we give ourselves and others through the choices we make. It's the choice to *be*, to really *be*, despite the shit and the despair and the greed and the anger. It's the choice to be aware, and to see the darkness and still love the light, even if it's just the memory of it, like the warm spot on the windowsill after sunset.

Grace is not something God or the Universe or Dandelion gives to us on random whim. They(It, She, He, what*ever*) simply give us a world in which we can choose grace. To show it to ourselves, and to others.

I think she's got a really good point there. Grace isn't necessarily granted to us to keep secret and safe - Grace is a state of being that we have to actively choose and live in. Grace is our responsibility, not something that we can pass off to a higher power and forget about, then claim that we live in a state of Grace.

It's something to ponder, at any rate.