131 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 4-18-20”

  2. Good morning, Chas and AJ and all.

    Katie, my granddaughter rolled her little car yesterday. She was wearing her seatbelt, so just a small bump on the head. I’m sure she will be super sore today. We are thanking God that she was not hurt worse.

    Liked by 6 people

  4. It matters to me. I was supposed to work the lonely weekend shifts, but had to call in sick, as last night, I had gastric symptoms, as have the rest of the family. Not sure whether it is good poisoning or what. We have a well, and sometimes it seems in spring that it may get contaminated slightly with runoff, because we have noticed a similar trend other years.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Good morning! It’s been raining here. Except for all the spring green tree leaves, we’d be having a dreary day.

    Thankful, Rkessler, she was okay. When you said ‘little car’ along with granddaughter, at first a Little Tikes car came to mind. Then I realized that was not it at all.

    The rain dwindled and now I see sunshine. Delightful! I may have an opportunity to get out and break up some more limbs that were cut down when they did the roof. I am not looking forward to using a hand saw on the larger sections. I did discover one tall section of an azalea is down flat on the ground. The top is alive so I must decide if I want to prop it up and tie it to the other bunch or just take it out. I would have to hand saw it at the base. Once we had a cedar tree that was a nice size but not real big. When we had a blizzard one year it fell over at the base. I cut it out. I thought that was all that could be done. Art got a bit angry at me for getting rid of it. He won’t notice the azalea either way, but it made me remember that other time and makes me think twice.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. What is everyone reading these days? I am trying to get started into that book I mentioned, Unhinging From the Crazy Train. But life is so disjointed and crazy these days that I am having difficulty focusing. Does anyone else feel that way, too?

    Prayers for you and your family, Roscuro. Can you get that water tested?

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Morning! It is a sun shiny morning with rain to move in around noon. That will most likely put a hitch in the Thunderbirds flyover after the Academy graduation but we shall see. They were having their practice flyovers around here and it is always a delight to view it in these Colorado blue skies! VP Mike Pence will be there for the commencement and for that I am thankful….he is a good man…
    Thankful your granddaughter is ok Rk… ❤️
    Janice I just finished The Book of Lost Friends which I enjoyed very much. I have not been very focused since lockdown but that book drew me in. Now I too am looking for the next best read! (I am starting the book of 1Kings in the Bible 😊)

    Liked by 3 people

  10. Janice, I am having difficulty focusing too. I am reading to my mother and to Tiny, and I am on the book of Ezekiel. Other than that, I am reading mostly studies and articles these days.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. roscuro – I know what you mean about “good” poisoning (typos can result in interesting word play). Once after thanksgiving at the house of one of my wife’s aunts, everyone had food poisoning the next day except me and my mother-in-law. We figured all the rest had eaten a chicken dish another aunt supplied. She was known not to be the greatest cook.

    Liked by 2 people

  14. I am catching up on the Anne Tyler books. Before my Dad died about five years ago, whenever a new one came out, I’d buy it, read it, and pass it on to him. Since then, she’s published several and I’d not read any of them. I not only love her style and stories, but they all take place in Baltimore, so it’s fun to relate to the places she mentions.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Mumsee, I read and loved that one. A friend who has the same literary taste as me recommended it, saying that while the subject doesn’t appear to be something that would interest us, the story is fascinating.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. I am reading in Jeremiah right now. Not a pleasant read, since he had a difficult vocation.

    I am also reading, “Beyond Opinion” by Zacharias and I just finished the stupidest Christian novel ever. One where you hope it is going to get better, but it just never does. I will refrain from naming it.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. So I am working on certifications, designations, and continuing education offered by the National Association of Realtors right now either for free or half price. I am experiencing information overload on some zooms, webinars, etc. There is enough that you could spend all day, everyday, doing nothing but that.
    I did jot down the book recommendations. We have been watching World on Fire on PBS. There is a homosexual story line and at first I rolled my eyes. As you all know I am probably more “gay friendly” than the rest of you, but I don’t see why we always have to have certain story lines in every single show. At some point I remembered it wasn’t just Jews that the Nazis killed. The Black French Gay Man has been imprisoned now and the mother of the little girl with epilepsy has poisoned herself and the child rather than let her be taken “for treatment”. Even with this, it has been good to watch. My husband would binge watch the whole series. I like to savor. I have limited him to two episodes per night.
    My friend M called Thursday. She had made The Barefoot Contessa’s (Ina Garten) minestrone and some onion bread for some other people. She had plenty of soup to share and I ended up with the homemade onion bread that was too oniony to send to a nursing mother.

    Liked by 2 people

  18. Boys in the Boat was terrific. When not pouring over the early 20th century Japan books, I’m all in on comfort novels I’ve loved. Currently on book one of the Mary Russell- Sherlock Holmes books, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice.

    I spent the last two insomnia nights reading for a book club: the 1912 classic “Daddy Long Legs,” which is free in the public domain. I got it through the library’s Hoopla. I then read a recent story based on it (the actual book for discussion) called “Dear Mr. Knightley” by Katherine Reay. I read it when it released in 2013 and remembered really liking it, but had forgotten everything. It was another good read,

    Liked by 1 person

  19. I just started reading “Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal” by Conor Grennan, who went there to volunteer in an orphanage as the start of traveling around the world, then when he discovered the children were not true orphans but had been taken from their families by child traffickers, he decided to try to return them to their families.

    I’m also reading “Doing Time” by Jodi Taylor, for when I want something light to read. It’s about time travel, the start of a new series that is a spinoff from her Chronicles of St Mary’s, which I have been really enjoying.

    Usually I’m also in the middle of an audiobook I listen to while driving to and from work, but since there’s very little driving now, the only audiobook I’m in the middle of is one for while I ride the exercise bike. I’ve almost finished G. K. Chesterton’s “The Club of Queer Trades” which is so-so – it’s main appeal to me, besides being by Chesterton, was that it’s public domain so didn’t cost anything to download. I really liked Chesterton’s Father Brown books, but so far I haven’t found his other fiction nearly as interesting.

    I just finished “On the Corner of Love and Hate” by Nina Bocci, which I really didn’t care for much. I generally don’t read romances, but this was for our local library book club. We haven’t been meeting, of course, but I already had the book, and with the library being closed, I’m trying to be less fussy in my selection of books. I have a box of books my sister sent me (I think it might have been intended for my birthday but it spent a while traveling around the midwest before finding me a month later), so mostly I’ve been reading those. After that, it’s digging through the shelves for my own books that I bought but never read (mostly non-fiction), and my husband’s large collection of sci-fi/fantasy.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Pauline, I love Chesterton’s nonfiction, and Father Brown, and I like (don’t love) Man Who Was Thursday, but none of his other fiction has ever really appealed to me. I’ve read several but find them too weird and too forgetable at the same time.

    Like

  21. Pauline, I have read all of G. K. Chesterton’s fiction. He is best at short stories, which he often does as a connected series of stories. Some of the most memorable ones without Father Brown are those with his other two fictional detectives, the civil servant Mr. Pond in the collection ‘The Paradoxes or Mr. Pond’s and the poet Gabriel Gale in ‘The Poet and the Lunatics’. I rather liked ‘The Tales of the Long Bow’ which imagines ways in which improbable sayings such as “I’ll eat my hat” and “when pigs fly” could be brought to reality. ‘Four Faultless Felons’ is one which shows apparent criminals in a different light. Chesterton loved to turn the world on its head, because he believed Christ had done so, and so his fiction tends to be mad, but in a good way. I do not care for his full length novels, not even the much touted ‘The Man who was Thursday’. His upside down stories are really only sustainable in short bursts.

    Like

  22. I read a lot on Kindle Unlimited. In cutting expenses, that $10 per month is well worth it.
    I don’t know if we discussed it in the past, but did any of you read “Where the Crawdads Sing”? I really enjoyed it and it paints a picture of a South that existed but no longer. What I really liked is that I recommended it to one of my agents who is an ageless black woman. I know she has to be close to 80. She really loved it and would come talk to me about it. She experienced a completely different South than I have and that we could both enjoy the book from different experiences and perspectives was nice. (I know I have probably botched what I was trying to say–my husband accuses me of being a closet racist because I still describe people by black, white, whatever–In this case I think it is pertinent to what I am trying to say).

    I can’t really do CE right now because someone watching the 1995 Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Tour.

    Have you noticed that every company and organization have a Covid-19 message? Not sure why Wounded Warrior feels the need to talk about it and who is paying all the money for advertising to tell us to order take out from our favorite restaurants?

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Good morning.

    I have five library books checked out, but have had little time to read them, though I have started all of them. Titles:

    The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism

    Gaslighting: Recognize Manipulative and Emotionally Abusive People — and Break Free

    Hungry Girl Simply 6: All-Natural Recipes with 6 Ingredients or Less

    Beautifully Organized: A Guide to Function and Style in Your Home

    The Kitchen Table Book 2: All New Kitchen Cures and Pantry Potions for Every Health and Household Problem

    For school, the kids and I are reading A Midsummer Night’s Dream and My Side of the Mountain. We’re also studying ancient Egypt and reading Ancient Egypt and Her Neighbors; The Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt; and Letters From Egypt to Plain Folks at Home.

    With family Bible time, we’re about to begin Acts. In my personal study, I’m reading Isaiah.

    Liked by 2 people

  26. Roscuro, I too have enjoyed some of Chesterton’s other short pieces. 6 Arrows, I loved My Side of the Mountain and have reread it periodically. If you’re tempted to get the follow-up title(s), don’t.

    I’m reading a book about why evolution falls short, but not particularly enjoying it. Mostly my reading right now is editing. I’m in the Gospels, too.

    This week I reread Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, first time in many years for both, and found them better than I remembered.

    Liked by 2 people

  27. I did sit down and read a novel through the other week when I had multiple days off. It was one of Rafael Sabatini’s works, best known for two novels that were made into Hollywood blockbusters in the 1930s and 1950s, ‘Captain Blood’ and ‘Scaramouche’. As his name suggests, Sabatini was of Italian heritage, but born and raised in England. He chose to write in English because he said the best stories were written in English. I read one of his historical novels set in Italy’s golden age in the 1400s and 1500s. In many ways it was formulaic, typical of the adventure/romance genre in theVictorian/Edwardian era in which he wrote, but Sabatini was meticulous in his research and had intuition of how it felt to live in the eras he researched, which raises his books to the level of minor classics.

    Like

  28. “Whatever Happened To ‘Honor Thy Mother And Father’?”

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/whatever-happened-to-honor-thy-mother-and-father/

    “The basic issue is this: the commandment to honor your parents and the aged isn’t primarily about doing easy things like buying presents or giving compliments to older people when they’re healthy and eager to show they appreciate what you’re doing for them. Rather, the commandment to honor parents and older people is mostly aimed at getting us to do things that are really hard to do, and that we really don’t want to do. Like taking care of sick, miserable older people who don’t necessarily appreciate what you’re doing for them—and doing it even when you yourself can’t remember why you’re doing it.

    Look at it this way: if it were an easy thing to honor your father and your mother as they get old, it wouldn’t have made it into the Ten Commandments. There were lots of other moral principles jockeying for that slot. But they didn’t make it in because this one is very hard to do.

    It’s at least a question whether our current habit of dumping our aging parents into old-age homes where someone else takes care of them even puts us in the ballpark of honoring our parents and the aged. But even if it does, this doesn’t mean we’re allowed to take the next step and say: “What’s another two or three years of life to him anyway?”

    Or: “What does it really matter if she’s got a ventilator? She’s a goner soon either way.”

    Once you’re thinking this way, you’ve really been reduced to some kind of vicious animal. It’s not just your selfishness that’s the problem—that is, your deciding that you don’t want to sacrifice your time and wealth for someone else.

    It’s a lot worse than that: the problem is that you’ve shown yourself incapable of the simplest responsibilities to those who gave you life, protected you and sacrificed for you, and taught you everything you know. Everything you’ve got is because of them, but you can’t be troubled to protect them in their last days.

    Many “conservative” politicians, academics, and journalists have built careers on the party trick of showing how every problem really reduces to economics: to GNP growth and how the market is doing. But not every problem reduces to economics. Some problems reduce to questions of loyalty, and to what you are willing to give up in order to be loyal—and I mean truly loyal—to people who were loyal to you a long time ago.

    For this reason, we cannot take that final step of letting “Those of us who are 70-plus…take care of ourselves,” as Dan Patrick proposes that we do. That’s just not something our parents and grandparents have a right to ask of us. Because when we agree to let our parents and our aged die like beasts—it is we ourselves who are reduced to the level of animals.

    Being a decent person means that there are lines you don’t cross. And one of those lines is crossed when the current, young, strong generation feels it has been freed from its obligations to the older, weaker, dying generation that brought them into the world.

    That’s exactly what is implied in all these grotesque comments about how the coronavirus is killing people who probably would have died soon anyway. When you say they would have died soon anyway, what you’re really telling us is that we’ve been freed from our obligations to them.

    But you forget that we’re all going to die soon anyway. The only open question is whether we act honorably, or not, while we’re here.”

    Liked by 4 people

  29. I got a very sweet phone call from a ninety year old last night and a 95 year old the other day. Very sweet ladies and it was wonderful to visit with them.

    Liked by 4 people

  30. I’m very aware of Saturdays, and yet they do seem kind of the same as Fridays and Thursdays, etc., these days. I keep telling myself this will end someday (soon?).

    I just wiped up the kitchen floor, which was on the ‘to-do’ list — need to attend to the ceiling fan, watering the plants and backyard, front yard, and making a few phone calls which could be time-consuming, but I can do those tomorrow afternoon also. Just received a text from a source about a large new mixed-use structure set to go in near the waterfront; it’s good to have a “normal” story to work on next week. And good to see development is still moving forward even amid all of this economic mess.

    The Jeep needs an oil change, anyone here ever use Jiffy Lube or one of those one-stop places?

    I received a packet yesterday from the new tax guy which was helpful — no nice, in-English-only letter accompanying it, but enough information to figure it mostly out, though I’ll call him to follow up anyway. His fee is $300. Chris, the former guy of long-standing, was charging $200 but I always suspected I was getting a ‘family/friends’ courtesy discount of some kind, based on our long-standing old neighborhood family connections. So this is still in the ballpark of what I think I’m willing to pay. I have a feeling H&R Block isn’t that much cheaper, maybe Janice knows. And it could vary from location to location, in different parts of the country? I do like having the same “guy” every year.

    He sent me vouchers for the money I owe the feds, so I have the option of paying in one lump sum (which is my plan; goodbye stimulus check, nice meeting you, return-to-sender, safe travels back to the government coffers from which you came), or in a few smaller payments.

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Jiffy Lube was invented by the family that lived next door to my husband’s family growing up. There’s an RPV story for you, DJ. They moved away long ago.

    I finished the last of my mask sewing (broke four sewing machine needles? What’s that all about?), will now be able to vacuum the house and am at my desk to write before heading outside a little later.

    I also read The Secret Garden for the same bookclub. I hadn’t read it since childhood–and so inspiring to get outside and work in the dirt.

    Liked by 1 person

  34. Wonderful day. I did some weed spraying, raked what leaves were left and burned them. I also put some rubber mulch around peonies that I planted. I didn’t get enough though. Story of my life. Time to go get more. I think Mrs L and I will take a hike while we’re out.

    Liked by 2 people

  35. Oh, and some inefficiency in the email. I get updates from Credit Karma. Today I got one saying I might qualify for a stimulus check. “Click here to calculate how much.” No need. It was deposited in our account 3 days ago.

    Liked by 3 people

  36. I heard Mr. Pence also. I didn’t get teary eyed, but it was a good speech.
    I suspect he will replace Trump when the time comes.
    I hope.

    Thanks for the warning Peter. They are out there.

    Liked by 1 person

  38. On Anon’s shared post, I have been discussing that topic with my mother. As you know, I was encouraged to see how entire countries were willing to consider shutting down economies to try to save the weakest. The ongoing outbreaks in long term are exposing just how much the cost cutting measures that the owners of these facilities took have left the most vulnerable in mortal danger. I have often said that I would never want my parents going to long term care based on what I witnessed there. Now, those conditions are being horribly exposed. We here have been horrified by the exposure of one privately owned retirement home in Quebec that charged its residents up to $10,000 dollars a month, but abandoned them to die in this outbreak. When it was discovered, through the efforts of a concerned hospital nurse who tried to follow up with test results for one of the residents, the province took custody of the residence, but not before over 30 residents had died with more infected (there will undoubtedly be a inquiry when all of this is over). The province is now making every effort to ensure no other seniors slip through the cracks, including calling in physician specialists who are not working due to elective procedures being cancelled and requesting the federal government to deploy the military. But if things had carried on as business as usual, that atrocity might never have been exposed until many more had died. Yet, I still see commenters and even the occasional politician, suggest that the lives of seniors are not worth the economy (https://globalnews.ca/news/6813593/marc-dalton-tweet-coronavirus-care-home-economy/) betraying the underlying attitude that to be old or weak renders one a burden on the economy.

    Before all this occured, our Conservative premier was slashing healthcare funding drastically, causing me to observe that in a country that allowed medically assisted dying, a conservative government intent on saving money through defunding medical services was extremely dangerous for the vulnerable. As Quebec’s own College of Physicians warned that province – under a unapologetically, even radically secular, nationalist government in a province that instituted assisted dying before the federal government had even modified criminal law, at the behest of a Supreme Court ruling, to allow for it – people who cannot access palliative care, which has never been fully funded and requires private funds to subsidize it, may chose assisted dying in the absence of being able to afford the alternative. Thankfully, our provincial government has done a complete 360 in the wake of COVID-19, not sparing any expense to help the vulnerable healthcare sectors and try to save lives of the vulnerable. One of the cost cutting measures that nursing homes employed was only hiring care staff part time, to avoid paying benefits. This meant that the staff took more than one position at more than one facility. The province is now making sure that staff only work in one location, and subsidizing their wages if necessary.

    As I have wondered to my mother, perhaps this has been a severe mercy (see II Samuel 24:10-15). Maybe the awful finality of death will again become a horror again to our sheltered and pampered society, who have gotten used to ignoring any injustice if it is not happening to them.

    Liked by 2 people

  39. We got our stimulus amount (the full amount) deposited directly and now await to see if the small business loan application will generate anything. I know much less about that.

    DJ, Art’s pricing starts at about 125.00 and goes up according to how many forms are required to file. I think a lot of clients are charged in the 200.00-250.00 range but some people who have many stock transactions, lots of rental property, schedule C, or other complications are charged a good bit more. Art is very reasonable. He has never charged an e-filing fee like the franchise group where my brother works. They probably charge about twice what Art charges. They also do those quick refund loans which has not worked out so well this past week when people’s stimulus money went to the third party who issued the advance refund checks instead of to the taxpayer’s account. A big boo-boo by the government which has a lot of people fighting mad at some preparers. Thank goodness Art is not tied up in all that mess.

    Liked by 3 people

  40. 6 Arrows, all the books you listed from the library are ones I can see myself checking out. Is it the homeschool mom mentality?

    Wesley gave me a collection of Flannery O’Connor stories. I should pull it out.

    As for the Bible, I am in 1Samuel and Revelation.

    Like

  41. I am thinking of using With the Word: A Devotional Commentary by Warren Wiersbe as I read through Revelation. We are using a study guide book from the series Knowing the Bible. The guide book is by Stephen Witmer with its theological editor being J I Packer. I suppose some of you are familiar with these guys?

    Like

  42. Cheryl, when you are editing, do you ever think of that as being similar to devotional reading? Do you edit devotionals by your authors? I know you are looking at the writing from a different angle, but when I am doing the readings for critique I am able to process both what the writing is getting across and possible corrections to improve the writing. I am curious how it works with a professional editor? I know it is a whole different level. Do you receive spiritual benefit in addition to the financial aspect? I anticipate that you do, and that is a wonderful fringe benefit.

    Like

  43. Roscuro, I have been horrified that I have family members who think that abortion to save the mother’s life is murder and should be illegal (even in cases of tubal pregnancy where the embryo has zero chance of survival), but are fighting mad that the government is endangering the economy in this situation. I don’t like the stereotype that conservatives only care about the lives of the unborn, not the born, but I’m realizing that sometimes the shoe actually fits.

    In fact, one of my brothers compared the number of lives lost to COVID to the number of abortions done, as though there were any relevance at all in the comparison. (He also mentioned “the flu, including COVID,” which shows me he isn’t quite as smart as he thinks he is.)

    Some of my siblings are praising their children for “thinking on their own” in this situation. That’s an American “virtue,” but hardly a Christian one. What does it even mean to “think on one’s own” for a private citizen with zero medical training and zero academic training in any field? It seems to me the only possible thing is to rely on other people’s expertise and research, and knowing whom to trust is far more relevant than “thinking on my own.” The conservative fringe of the homeschool movement is hardly showing itself to be remarkable “thinkers” in all of this.

    Liked by 1 person

  45. Janice, I’ve edited a few devotionals, but not any good ones that I can recall. (Usually books people want to self-publish. Publishers have mostly moved past the devotional fad.) Indeed sometimes I do receive spiritual nourishment from what I read. More often, though, I see the same “threads” in multiple books and begin to become aware of spiritual weaknesses in modern thinking. For example, the “God told me” thinking. A lot of what I edit doesn’t actually try to be spiritually nourishing, but a how-to book or a fiction title, but some try to be spiritually uplifting and misuse Scripture horrifically.

    I am starting to edit what looks like a very good book, though. (I don’t give subject matter of my jobs on here.)

    Liked by 3 people

  47. Janice, 4:31, I have often gotten titles of that nature since starting homeschooling. 🙂 Lots of non-fiction, especially about domestic-related things containing tips on home decorating, books of recipes, thoughts on various relationships or personality patterns of people inside or outside the home and family, etc.

    I’ve always said to myself I should take some time to read some Flannery O’Connor, but I’ve yet to do so. Someday…

    Speaking of Flannery, one of my professors when I was taking graduate level courses had a daughter named Flannery. 🙂 Such a lovely name.

    Like

  48. Thank you, Cheryl. I had never thought of devotionals as fads. That is an interesting concept. Usually if something is a fad there is something that takes its place. Is there something that you see as having taken that fad spot from devotionals? Can you recommend something from older traditional writers, before our time, that you think is good for its depth? That is, outside the realm of devotional writing?

    Like

  49. I just returned from a 5 mile alone walk! I needed “ alone “ time and I did think perhaps I could catch the Thunderbirds flyover when I got to the next two roads over which have a lovely front range view as they are not in the trees. Nope..it was socked in with clouds and they decided to fly further to the east and I missed it! But I did get rained on then snowed on and my brain is free of the clutter that was in there before I embarked upon my walk! I feel better! 😊 🌧 ❄️

    Liked by 5 people

  50. Jumping in to say. . .

    KIM! – Stop telling us what is going on with World on Fire!

    I am behind on watching it. I’ve seen the first episode, and will probably watch the second tomorrow, and then the third will be recorded tomorrow night.

    Liked by 1 person

  51. Chas- that email from Credit Karma was not SPAM or phishing, I get them regularly telling me about my credit scores, etc. Credit Karma is a legit business.

    Liked by 1 person

  53. I went out and broke down a few more limbs but mostly pulled up English ivy vines and a few honeysuckle vines. The weather is still quite cool, but I still worked up a sweat in the shade. There are many more vines to pull. I could tell it was an abs workout. Again, I wished the weather could stay like this without high humidity and mosquitoes.

    Liked by 1 person

  54. We have a lot of walkers in this group. Sometimes I feel like I need the other kind of walker! Maybe tomorrow after that workout today I will need a cane or Walker. The cool weather has made my knee have more stiffness lately.

    Like

  59. I am watching Casablanca. What is World on Fire about?

    Busy day, neighbor, an electrician at the hospital but an older man who doesn’t do side jobs, was kind enough to come over to preliminarily check out the ceiling light/fan fixture and declare that, yes, it was dead, probably some wiring issue.

    So that’ll be where that stands for a while until I can figure out how to fix it.

    I took the Jeep to Jiffy Lube and was amazed that an oil change took 10 minutes — also filled my tires which were low and washed my windows. Under $100, not bad. And it feels good to have it done.

    I returned an amazon item I wouldn’t need after all, stopped at another Smart & Final (they had no toilet paper either), and took a leisurely drive through town and along the cliffs, very refreshing but somewhat melancholy. I can’t help thinking of all the stories I’ve covered when I pass different places, business, homes, parks, schools, the ballet school. I was one of the first to interview Misty Copeland when she was a 13-year-old girl in overalls at a local junior high. Now the ballet school where she trained has a nice mural in tribute to her.

    The thought occurred to me that our paper might actually close down someday, it would be the 2nd paper I’d worked for that, after more than 100 years of being rooted in the community, would be no more. Sad.

    Liked by 2 people

  60. Dj we have a “community” paper for the TriLakes area. Monument, Palmer Lake and Black Forest. It comes in the mail once a month and the other day I sat on the sofa and enjoyed myself immensely reading the news of the area. Feeling the paper, turning the pages, and the scent of ink on paper…it made me miss the days of a morning and afternoon paper being delivered to our house when we were children. The Journal News, which was our local paper, has now shifted to Dayton and there is little news of my hometown in it any longer. 😢 (and it is only the morning paper which is payed for online or mail….no more paperboys collecting!)

    Liked by 1 person

  61. And from a reporter’s perspective, you end up falling in love with a community — watching it grow, struggle, change — getting to know the people who have made it what it is. One of the things I’m struck by (today was no exception) is how many of the obituary stories I’ve done on the people I met when I first arrived in town, people who molded the community, made it what it is and left such a lasting legacy.

    I think most folks don’t understand the kind of journalism that has existed in documenting communities through the years. Today, it’s all morphed into the national/political version of (faux) “journalism” (not all of it is bad, there is still good journalism being done, but much of it falls short of the ideal, to be sure).

    Liked by 2 people

  62. Ah remember the days of the Bridal/Engagement/Anniversaries page complete with photos of the engaged, wedded, “anniversaried”? The wedding announcements were complete with descriptions of the bride’s dress and veil. Then the outfits of the Mother’s of the bride and groom were described in great detail. I remember the suit my Mom wore to my older sister’s wedding was described as a fitting two piece suit of winter white, bittersweet and taupe complimented with a taupe bag and heels! 😂 Then there were the obits and birth announcements. It truly did connect the community just as this little local paper does for us informing us of the growth and development happening along with local restaurants and services.

    Liked by 1 person

  63. I appreciate a good obituary, even when I don’t know the deceased.

    I read Crawdads and enjoyed it also.

    I made a long sleeve t-shirt into a cardigan today. I got it a couple of years ago in DC without being able to try it on. I never liked it on and the neck even felt too tight to wear around the house. Making it into a cardigan makes it useful again and I feel less bad about the waste of money. The fabric I added to make the front closure is from a granddaughter’s quilt and it matches wonderfully.

    Liked by 4 people

  64. DJ- World on Fire is a WWII movie about a young, British man who is an interpreter in Warsaw. He is involved with two women, one at home and one in Poland. There is also a American female radio journalist in Berlin having to deal with Nazi censorship. I’ll not say too much more so as not to spoil it. But Sean Bean plays a secondary role as the father of the British girl.

    Liked by 1 person

  65. I had to do a few of the bridal announcements in my (early reporter) days, but thankfully no descriptions of clothing was required 🙂 There were forms the couple filled out — one glitch occurred when someone submitted a fake/joke announcement that had a brother & sister marrying each other, that was pretty much a mess. The 1980s, what can you say?

    We ran regular (paid) obits, of course, but for those people who were prominent in the community, there was an editorial piece, an actual article, focusing on the person’s contributions, quoting those who were impacted by them.

    Liked by 2 people

  67. I saw reviews of “Crawdads” a few months ago, but read the amazon reviews and they were so mixed I decided not to order it. After having so many people on here say you enjoyed it, I’ve ordered it. (I needed something else to take an order up to $25 for free shipping and that made it!)

    Like

  70. It has been decades since I saw Casablanca. It was in the days when men still drove the cars. The reason I bring this up is because there is a song associated with it and I can’t remember what it is.
    And it bugs me.

    Good morning everyone. No church today.

    Like

  73. Thanx Janice.
    I remember the scene, but I didn’t remember the song.
    There used to be a Saturday afternoon program on WAMU, a PBS station in Washington.
    The DJ played old songs on a program called “Play it Again Ed”.
    I know that wasn’t the name of the pianist in the movie. It was his name.

    Liked by 1 person

  76. They used to play that on the classical music station we listened to growing up. My father purchased classic films for us to watch, so I have seen Casablanca several times in my youth. Have not seen it since for many years. Our favorite character was Claude Raines’ French officer, who had the best lines:
    “I’m shocked, shocked to find gambling going on in this establishment”
    “Round up the usual suspects”.
    It was one of the few roles in which Raines played a good guy. We first were introduced to him in the 1935 production of ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’, where he played the plotting Prince John, alongside Basil Rathbone’s menacing Guy of Gisborne and opposite Errol Flynn’s swashbuckling Robin Hood. It was nearly the first film our father added to our library after we got a VCR to play video. He used to find them and buy them, and them give them as presents on our birthday. Every once in a while, we would be digging through one of the many shelves or cabinets in the basement, and come across a stash of films he hadn’t brought out yet, usually because he thought them too mature for us yet. Do we grew up on the films of Hollywood’s Golden Age, from the classic comedians of the silent film era to the eidescreen technicolour epics of the 1950s and almost never saw films of our own era, unless some relative shared them with us.

    Liked by 3 people

  77. I have earlier mentioned this virus’s ability to bring to ACE2 receptors. These receptors are found in more than just the lungs, and it is becoming more evident that these other receptor sites are being affected. Several people on FB are sharing news of a Canadian actor who is having a leg amputated due to COVID-19. This article explains what physicians are seeing: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/04/how-does-coronavirus-kill-clinicians-trace-ferocious-rampage-through-body-brain-toes

    Liked by 1 person

  78. That was so nice of your father, Roscuro.

    I am getting ready to be in Ezekiel with the Sunday school class. It’s stormy today and we could have tornado watches but hopefully not as bad as last Sunday.

    The cleaning lady who takes care of the office on the weekend called Art and said that her husband had died (in his 60s), probably from a blood clot since he recently had surgery. Feeling sad for her because she has recently lost her sister and her dad.

    Enjoy your virtual services!

    Like

  79. This morning, reading in John, I had so much enjoyed yesterday’s 14 that I wanted to read it again. Such an encouragement! I got to thinking how God loves us as individuals but how difficult it is for me to get that. Then I remembered the Aspen groves. Often, the groves are hundreds of trees but really just one tree. Amazing. And we are the Body of Christ. Amazing.

    Liked by 4 people

  82. Janice, I bought a book that contains four different books of sweatshirt makeovers. It is written by Mary Mulari who lives in a town not too far away. I went to a workshop of hers years ago and have watched her on Sewing by Nancy on PBS many times. Nancy went to church with us years ago. She has since passed away. Mary’s sweatshirt makeovers are clever, as are many of her other creations. What I especially enjoy is the easy way she does things and her use of recycled items. The class I took was using old sweaters to make mittens, hats, etc.

    I am not as talented, but more then willing to take advantage of those who are. 🙂

    I bought the book a couple of years ago at a festival from Mary. It is another thing that I have put off using. Now that I know how easy this method is I will have to try it again when I have an actual plain sweatshirt.

    Liked by 1 person

  83. Morning! We have a lovely start of the day in this forest and they are promising a thunderstorm this afternoon! It has been a while since last hearing thunder around here!
    I have to go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription refill and I must wear a mask…I need to breathe. I am taking one of husband’s work masks and I will wrap it with a pretty scarf. At least that mask is more bulbous giving space between my mouth, nose and mask. I really don’t like this part of our “new normal”! 😷

    Liked by 1 person

  86. Enjoyed that new percussion, Kathaleena! And thank you for the info on the t-shirt/ sweatshirt makeovers.

    Somehow I could not find what I needed to get in on the prayer call.

    I put one car out in the driveway from the carport to get all the yellow pine pollen washed away by the rain. The other car, now again, will not start since it has been sitting there undriven.

    Liked by 1 person

  87. Made it to the pharmacy and that is the one and only time I will wear that type of mask. I could not breathe and it kept fogging my glasses! I will just wrap my head in a scarf and call it good.I still feel short of breath after that experience. Oh..if you chew gum while wearing a mask resist the urge to blow a bubble 😬

    Liked by 6 people

  91. It was Habakkuk for us this morning, we’ve resumed our trek through all 66 books of the Bible (Habakkuk being #35). Good message on where God is during times of turmoil and how he will use evil people to carry out his judgement on a nation (“But, Lord, they’re worse than we are!”). They meant it for evil, God means it for good — yet all are held responsible for their actions.

    In the Q&A afterward, there was some discussion about our nation and our pastor reiterated (I’m paraphrasing and editing for length here) that it is our responsibility elect godly representatives; if we don’t, the foundations of the republic can be expected, eventually, to crumble. And yes, we may be there … But only God has determined and knows what comes next.

    Liked by 1 person

  92. Our services continue to be broadcast live (and then live on via video) on FB Live under our church page but also on YouTube which I usually just access on our church home page. I love that the Q&A now is part of what is filmed. People send in written questions after the service, there’s always such a fascinating variety.

    Liked by 1 person

  97. Headline: “Pope dreams of post-virus world where inequalities abolished”

    That would be the New Heavens and the New Earth, I believe.

    As was mentioned in our sermon today, read through the Bible and there were always troubles, always. And troubles much larger than the ones we are facing right now.

    Liked by 2 people

  99. Janice we live at 7400ft in elevation so our air is thinner. I think husband’s shop mask keeps dust and air out! As I was waiting at the counter and the young man waiting on me said he is having a difficult time with his mask…no air and glasses fogging.
    Husband and I took the same route on our walk today as I had yesterday. Again it began to rain then it turned to graupel for the next three miles….and we did her thunder once!

    Liked by 1 person

  100. Paypal and bill-pay came up on the prayer thread. I have a few questions about those but thought I’d put them on the general thread.

    But first, 100?

    Liked by 1 person

  101. So… 🙂

    Is there a fee involved with using PayPal? Like if you pay for something with, or if you receive payment into, your PayPal account, or if you transfer money from PayPal to your bank account?

    With bill-pay, which the studio recommends families set up to pay their private music instructors, what happens if the families have insufficient funds for the bank to pay the individual or business for their services? Does the provider still get paid?

    Liked by 1 person

  102. Graupel!

    The only way I use PayPal is to pay online on some sites as it’s much quicker; it’s linked to my debit card.

    Like

  103. Kathaleena, I really liked that video you posted above. It reminds me of a family in our church who has six kids — another family, I should say, not ours — many of whom play instruments. Piano, violin, cello, maybe some others I don’t know about. The oldest two children are in high school and play in our church string quartet I’ve mentioned in the past.

    DJ, 4:57 and 5:07, LOL!

    NancyJill, that mask-wearing business sounds like something I wouldn’t want to do! Especially being a glasses-wearer.

    Another reason I think I’ll stay at home a while longer!

    Liked by 2 people

  105. Cheryl – You mentioned parents who praise their children for “thinking on their own”. What that usually means is that the children think just like the parents.

    On a related note, among some comments I’ve read on Facebook by those who think the coronavirus is almost a hoax (merely “a bad cold”, as one put it), I’ve seen at least a couple people accuse those of us who take it seriously as “parroting the TV news”. One lady called us “sleepy conspiracy denialists”.

    Liked by 1 person

  109. I am looking forward to Tuesday, when MTNA (Music Teachers National Association) is starting their Virtual Conference. The organization presents a yearly conference, normally in-person, in late March, but this year’s got canceled due to COVID-19.

    In lieu of that, they’re offering all members free access to the virtual conference in the member section of their website. I am so excited that I get to hear speakers like Tim Topham, a creative piano teacher/blogger from Australia, and Noa Kageyama, whose blog The Bulletproof Musician helped me several years ago when I resumed performing in my early 50s and found I was experiencing performance anxiety for the first time in my life.

    I had considered going to the actual conference, as it was going to be in Chicago, which is a lot closer than Baltimore, Orlando, and Spokane, places its been held other years since I’ve been a member. The proximity of it, being in the Midwest, combined with those two presenters I mentioned above, really made the idea of going rather attractive. Plus, I knew other teachers from my area who were planning to go.

    The time and cost factor were the main drawbacks to attending, though, and ultimately I decided not to go.

    But now I can, right from the comfort of my own home! I can watch the sessions anytime after they become available, and don’t have to factor in travel time or any monetary cost.

    In 2022, the Conference — assuming it’s held — is slated for the Twin Cities. That’s even better than Chicago would have been! I’m not generally a big conference-goer, but I’d like to put on my bucket list attending at least one MTNA Conference, and Minneapolis/St. Paul would be just the ticket. 😉 Hopefully they’d have presenters and guest artists that would make the conference worthwhile — they generally do get some prominent members of the industry on board each year.

    Liked by 3 people

  113. Gas isn’t quite that low here, but where I stopped today (on the way home from taking younger son to work at Taco Bell) it was 1.39 – which means that I paid 1.79 for the no-ethanol gas. That’s still the lowest I’ve paid in I don’t know how long.

    Like

  116. Interesting FB messaging time with a friend a little while ago — she’s the childhood friend who never darkens the door of a church since she left her Methodist youth group because they were hypocrites; she seems sure of her own eternal security but knows so little about Scripture and continually likes to point out how “others” are going to “have to answer” for themselves someday to a ‘higher power.’

    She loves the idea of karma, but I suggested we’d better be careful what we wish for as we’re all guilty of sin in thought, word and deed, pretty much daily. She really doesn’t perceive that at all in herself and likes to wish ill on those she feels behave badly toward her.

    Interesting to encounter folks who are so immune (seemingly) to any sort of self-examination. She seems so assured of herself, that she’s done everything right, unlike other people. …

    She joked that the pandemic is probably God’s way of “thinning the herd” of idiots. I told her we’d better hope not as we’ve all been idiots at some time or another! No response 🙂

    Liked by 3 people

  117. Oh, I spoke too soon, she just answered “Yes we are lol” (idiots at some time or other). Maybe there are openings with her after all! 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  120. Nancy Jill, did you wash your glasses with soap before you put on your mask? That was one of the things that was supposed to help with the fogging. I will have to try to remember that when I go out again with one on.

    We have no idea what our gas prices are, since we have not been out driving in a long time. They are probably more than that, though. Still, they are down and that is nice.

    Liked by 1 person

  121. aarrrrrrghhh…. trying to get digital book from the library. But it does not recognize me and then it said contact the librarian they already have someone by that name….
    feeling so frustrated. I found the digitals books that I wanted but none of the information is working. Can I do hulu without a library card??

    Like

  125. Michelle – The way I have heard the statement (about children thinking for themselves), and I think the way Cheryl was referring to it, it has to do with what political or social views the children are proclaiming. The parents are proud of their children for thinking for themselves by agreeing with their (the parents) views.

    Like

  126. I did spray my glasses with the non fogging solution or so it says….good for non glare coated glasses and won’t fog…but they did. I will try the soap trick next time when I go out with a scarf around my face 😊

    Like

  128. Kizzie, yep, the “thinking for oneself” definitely meant “parroting the same kind of information that I’m parroting, from the same kind of sources.” Honestly, except for people with advanced medical training, who in this situation is really “thinking for themselves”? It could be a rather dangerous thing to do! No, we’re all choosing which sources we trust, and they’re trusting the sources that say “This is no worse than the flu; in fact, the flu is worse.”

    So, for example, more than one of my siblings have told me, “More people have died of the flu this year than of Covid-19!” That may well be true, but it’s an apples-to-oranges comparison even if it is true. Three differences jump out: one, in America, Covid hasn’t been around as long as the flu season has, so the flu got a head start. Two, we have been “social distancing” for Covid, and who knows how many lives that might have saved–something that wasn’t done for the flu. Three, this isn’t over yet. (It also ignores the fact that in select populations, notably nursing homes, it has had a serious result far worse than the flu.)

    When my older daughter was two (I wasn’t around to see this, but have heard the story many times), my husband was cutting radishes, and she begged for a bite. He told her, “You won’t like it,” and she insisted she would. So he gave her a radish, or maybe a slice of a radish. She took a bite and said, “See?” He said, “Wait a minute.” It took a few seconds, but as the taste registered on her face, it was a whole different look.

    We’ve only just bitten the radish. We don’t know the long-term effects of this disease yet, how many people will die, or how many people will survive but with lingering issues. To say that someone “thinks for himself” because he’s able to go on Facebook and tell people that the government overreacted and this disease isn’t as bad as the cure for it is to be making an assessment before one has actually tasted the radish. A very young man from a very sheltered background with no college training is simply not in a position to be making pronouncements about this not “really” being a pandemic. He isn’t thinking for himself at all; he’s parroting people who are making pronouncements, and probably fairly ignorant pronouncements. (I haven’t actually seen any of his posts, but I have heard how “proud” his mother is, and have heard how ignorantly she is speaking.)

    Liked by 1 person

  129. I normally don’t need gas when we go hiking, since we’re right here in town with several short but steep trails (river bluffs, you know). But when I saw how low gas is, and the car was down to only 1/4 tank, I stopped. Then we got over to our side of town along the major highway and gas was $1.29. Quite a difference for a small city like this.

    Like

  130. I appreciated our pastor mentioning this morning that he’s not a doctor, an infectious disease expert or a constitutional lawyer, although all can readily be found these days on social media. 🙂

    We all need to maintain some humility in this discussion, but I agree mostly with Cheryl, there are many things we sill have to understand about this disease and comparing it to the “flu” is short-sighted, at best.

    Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.