2020 Project 365 – Week Twenty-seven

Blogger has updated its interface and I am NOT AMUSED. The spacing is weird, I have to add pictures one at a dang time (I used to upload them all, and then just insert them where I wanted), and I can’t just type in the labels anymore – I have to scroll through the whole list to find the ones I want. I have a jillion labels. Labels might be a thing of the past (I mostly use the search feature when I’m trying to find a post anyway). Okay, rant over. For now.

Sunday, June 28^th                                                             

Dr. M spent some time with his dad & the hydrangeas that are from his mother’s funeral. 

I spent some time with my dad and Sue, and picked some blueberries. When I commented that the thing on the right was NOT a blueberry, my dad yanked it up & sent it home with me (garlic – yum!).

Monday, June 29^th                            

The moon! 

Tuesday, June 30^th                                                                 

Another day, another mask situation. 

Our neighbor’s daylilies are lovely! 

Wednesday, July 1^st                                                         

I posted this about being glad my new curling iron came with that warning, and then things took a bawdy turn – especially after I read the instructions. And all I can say about that is OUCH.

 

Thursday, July 2^nd       

One of my coworkers’ husbands brought us patriotic donuts. Yum! 

That evening we had a visitation from the blissed out Roy. 

Friday, July 3^rd                                                                     

I had the day off from work – woo hoo! I finished up this project – another non-sock item made from sock yarn that I’d had for about 5 years. I actually mostly finished it a couple of weeks ago, but I was POSITIVE I had another skein of the yarn in the house somewhere. I did another pretty exhaustive search on this day & had no luck. It’s fine – this is supposed to be a scarf, not a shawl anyway. Photo shoot to come after it dries. 

Saturday, July 4^th                

We spent part of the day with Dr. M’s dad. We had bbq & baked beans with fried okra (I don’t know why the only picture I took of that was the okra). And then we had cupcakes, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Dr. M spent some time talking with his dad & I spent some time picking blueberries. I think it’s fitting that I began and ended the week with blueberries! 

I often have a lot of conflicting feelings about this day, but this year it was more troubling than usual. I’ll let Frederick Douglass explain (and my goodness, I read an alternate opinion of him this week & now I’m giving him side eye!). 

I’ve had a lovely long weekend, but I don’t mind going back to work (at least I won’t mind once I’m up and out of the shower – pre-shower I will be a little salty about it). When I’m out of my routine I can spiral down into complete lethargy with a touch of depression. I did get some housework done, so I feel good about that, and I finished a couple of books and started on THREE more. But I’ll bet my screen time was through the roof! What did you do with your down time? (If you had some – and I don’t want to hear it from my retired people – I’m looking at you Daddy.)

 

Pie in the Sky Thoughts...

Lately I’ve had an imaginary conversation with someone who asks why I’m a liberal snowflake (or some such). I’m not sure when I think this conversation would take place because I tend to avoid confrontation whenever possible. But I’ve been thinking about my response:

Because I believe that God wants everyone to have a place at the table, 

and I believe that our task on earth is to make sure 

that all of those welcome people can find the dwelling, 

that they can open the door, 

that they’re able to step over the threshold, 

that they can find a seat, 

that they have the proper utensils, 

that the food is sustenance, 

and that the fellowship is beautiful.

All of the things that we do that make the table unavailable for all of God’s people? 

I’m against those things.

Riches Such as These

Last night Dr. M posted pictures from our back yard. As I was scrolling through them (go here to see for yourself) I kept thinking about how very fortunate we are to have this little house in our small town directly in the middle of our two jobs (40 miles south for me, 35 miles north for Dr. M). Yes, we spend too much on gas (maybe someone could give me a Prius for Christmas?), and our car insurance rate is higher because of the number of miles we put on the car, but being able to do work we enjoy and still be able to pay our bills makes it worth it.

I’ve been reading The Great Emergence (how Christianity is changing and why), by Phyllis Tickle. I’m only about 33% done (according to my Kindle), but I’m fascinated by all the things (& people!) in history that have been (literally) world changing: the printing press, Galileo, the automobile, Freud, Einstein, Marx – just to name a few. Each of those people rocked the core of what people believed about themselves, God, and society. It’s really interesting to me to consider that impact, sitting in my 2013 back yard hundreds of miles from where I grew up. It makes the idea of returning to some mythical golden days seem nonsensical to me. Would those be the days just before or just after Luther nailed his theses to the door?

Yesterday was the first day that I seriously thought about trying to figure out how to get my bike to the bike path for a ride. A couple of things are stopping me – we haven’t put the bike rack on the car yet, and I’m averaging less than 2 miles a day so far. Not really worth the bother to drive over there when riding in the neighborhood is fine for now. And also, there’s the delay factor: what seems like an excellent idea at 3:00 dims considerably after two more hours of work and an hour drive home. Ha!

I’m rambling around because I wanted to write a poem today. I’m letting my mind drift in the hope that it will get snagged on a creative branch & stick long enough to put some non-prosical words here (ooh – maybe it’s working – I just made up a word!). Hmmm…

Bees flowers birds
Tomatoes on the vine
A bicycle in blue
Your hand in mine

Who needs the seven seas
With riches such as these?

Heart Tales

1st Grade Bug

Heart Tales

It’s been years in the making.
The small child said,
“I don’t do pain.”
And so she coated
each slight until
the pain was gone.

Both wild and cultured,
the pearl of my heart is
iridescent and lovely.
Your tender sleeve
is no match for this
glorious fortress.

Yet your heartbeat
drowns mine out
every time.

If You Tarry...

I really really need to get some new clothes for fall. My sweaters are pilled and everything looks like it’s been washed a thousand times. There are two reasons I haven’t wanted to mess with it. The first reason is that I hate loathe despise dislike shopping. But the second reason might be even more of a factor. I don’t want to buy new things until my body is in better shape. Why waste money on clothes that I might only wear for a little while?

There are a couple of problems with that logic. First of all, on my body it takes about 20 pounds before I go down a size. Do we realistically think I’ll lose 20 pounds this fall? My magic eightball says: Very Doubtful.

The second problem is illustrated in this way. Last night I got up to go to the bathroom as per usual. When I came back to bed I realized that I had a hymn playing in my head. My favorite verse of that hymn is:

Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall – if you tarry till you’re better, you will never come at all.

It’s talking about not waiting to come to Jesus until you’re perfect & have fixed all your problems. But I think it applies to other things as well. Don’t wait to live your life until you’ve lost the weight/got the job/read the manual/washed the car. Go ahead & live it now.

And maybe while you’re at it buy a new blouse for heaven’s sake.

Or not, because that first reason for not buying new clothes (I hate loathe despise dislike shopping) still applies.

A Lamp in the Darkness

First things first – Dr. M (or should I just call him Linthead now?) had a wonderful post yesterday explaining why he shouldn’t have a blog. It’s a really good way to get to know him better, and to give you insight into why I say I’m the fluff to his depth. He’s a really cool person, if I do say so myself (having had very little influence into how he turned out, I take full credit). So go read it. Now. And then come back to read my not quite as fluffy as usual post.

Our diocese has a monthly publication with stories about the goings on in southern Ohio. This past month one of the members of my former church (hey Nancy!) had an article about an immigration reform rally that she attended. I know that immigration is a hot button for a lot of people, but this story*, told at the rally, sums up my feelings on the subject pretty well:

A rabbi put this question to his students: "How can we determine the hour of dawn. When the night ends and the day begins?”

"When from a distance you can distinguish between a dog and a sheep," suggested one. "When you can distinguish between a fig tree and a grapevine,” offered another.

"No," the rabbi said, "When you look into the face of a human being and have enough light to recognize that person as your brother or sister. Up until then it is night, and darkness is still with us."

If we aren’t able to recognize the person in front of us as a brother or sister, then we dwell in darkness. And I’m not just talking about the way we look at immigrants either. It feels like everyone around me is in an armed camp – me & mine versus you and yours. It’s ours, people. Really – we’re all on this earth together. Sitting in the dark, or holding out a lamp to the incoming stranger.

*Not having the Interchange with me when I wrote this post I looked the story up online. There are a lot of different versions, so I just picked one to use. However, I have since found the Interchange online. You can read the artcle on page 17 here.

Where I Thought I Would be in 2010

Lee Ryan from Occasional Notes had a post the other day about where he thought he would be in 2010 a year ago up through 35 years ago. I was entertained by it & decided to steal it for my blog. Although, frankly, my imaginings aren't nearly as interesting as his. But they're written & ready to post & that's the important thing. Really.

One year ago: I thought I’d still be living near Cincinnati because it looked like Dr. M wouldn’t be able to get a new job (the job market SUCKED last year).

10 years ago (2000): I thought I’d be living in a small college town walking to work while Dr. M was teaching. It could still happen – if I get a job near his new school. If the economy ever gets better in that area.

15 years ago (1995): I thought I’d be living in western NC somewhere while Dr. M taught high school.

20 years ago (1990): I was terribly afraid that I would be a pastor’s wife.

25 years ago (1985): I was a junior in college & figured I’d be a high-powered CPA in 2010 (although frankly I couldn’t even IMAGINE being this old!).

30 years ago (1980): I was going to be a librarian! Never mind that I could not figure out the Dewey Decimal System to save me…

35 years ago (1975): I was almost 11 & really couldn’t think beyond my next book. But I’m pretty sure that when I imagined a future career it was in a library.

I’m noticing that all of my dreams after I met Dr. M revolve around his career. Hmmm. I’ve always had trouble figuring out what I want to do with my life (ever since I nixed the CPA thing – whew!). Perhaps now, at 45, it’s time to clean the rust off that area of my brain…

P.S. When  I scanned in the 4th grade picture I realized that there is a blob of ink on my nose. I can't tell if this ink was put on the picture after the fact or if I actually had ink on my nose when the picture was taken. Guess I'll have to see if there are other copies at Daddy's house. Heh. I tried to fix it but all my efforts made me look like I had three nostrils. I decided to leave it, because I was the kid who might have absent-mindedly put an open pen in my nose. Just sayin.

My First Post!

I've been following a lot of blogs lately & that has inspired me to join the fray. Not sure what I'm going to do with this space - but I'll try to visit pretty often. We'll see.

I'm in the midst of Lent right now. As a Southern Baptist, I was not really familiar with the concept. But now I'm an Episcopalian and it’s a fascinating part of the church calendar. I love how the sanctuary (nave?) and service are down to bare essentials. And every year my goal is to also be down to bare essentials (not Bare Escentuals – although I love their makeup!). And every year I don’t really succeed. Last night at Bible study I realized – perhaps – why that’s the case. I’m just not really into suffering all that much. Even the “suffering” involved in not eating chocolate, or getting up an hour early to do the Daily Office, much less the suffering of actually being present with people in pain or trying to do something constructive to ease the pain. What would it look like if I were to approach Lent as a way to be more Christ-like – in his suffering as well as in his ministry of love to other people? Giving up chocolate doesn’t really seem to fit the bill, does it?