85 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 5-11-20”

  3. I’ve been reading the Bible regularly for around 65 years now. Still learning things.
    I didn’t know the words “old testament” were used in the Bible. But Paul does in II Corinthians 3:14. Which causes me to wonder. “If there is an “Old Testament”, there presumes a “New”. So? what is a New Testament in Paul’s day? Likely only Mark had written a gospel. Possibly Matthew, but I doubt it.
    No. It’s a puzzle.
    It may be referring to the risen body as a testament, Not a written account.
    That’s the only explanation I can think of. But they are not of the same structure.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I researched it.
    The phrase “New Testament” is used six times. Jesus uses it to the last supper when he says the wine is the “new testament” in His blood. So? The body that is sacrificed is the “new testament”. But it is used about three other times in the NT.

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  7. Chas, the term testament is synonymous with covenant. The letter to the Hebrews speaks extensively of how Christ’s death in the new covenant was better than the continual sacrifices of the old covenant with Moses (Hebrews 8). Jesus is the mediator of a new and better covenant (Hebrews 12:24).

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  8. Me too, Mumsee.
    I know that John preached the gospel of repentance. But the resurrection, the core belief of Christianity, had not been conceived at that time.
    Indeed. Many disciples didn’t believe it at first.

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  9. In my early years, I found a few Chick tracts my father had picked up over the years, when he was a new believer in the ’70s era. They terrified me, with all their talk of the Mark of the Beast. It wasn’t until years later, when I was reading Revelation for myself, that I realized those old tracts had failed to mention there was another mark mentioned in that book. Slowly, I began to realize that the sensational apocalyptic literature had completely missed what Revelation was actually revealing. This author points out the same thing (and I have friends and relatives on FB sharing the posts mentioned): https://academic.logos.com/covid-19-and-the-mark-of-the-beast/

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  10. The Eldests, who reside in the state my father describes as high in the middle with O’s at the ends, went to church yesterday, as part of the gradual reopening planned by that state. They are members of the orthodox presbytery. Every other pew has been taken out of the sanctuary, families and individuals must sign up for the morning or evening service, as space is deliberately limited, masks must be worn, and social distancing observed.

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  11. Good morning. Nice to see that screen shot header. Chas, I am the telephone icon on the last row to the right. I dialed in by phone rather than doing the video.

    As is typical for us, nothing is ever as easy as it should be. Our neighbor called twice yesterday (first time as I was watching the end of my church service). She is concerned with the cable laying out in the yard between our houses. I told of plans for it to be buried. She is not content with that idea. So, that was what tried to drain the peace out of my solitary Mother’s Day (no wishes from the neighbor for a Happy Mother’s Day).

    The other nuisances of yesterday: accidentally stuck a needle in my finger when making a sewing repair and later the needle broke; I lost a brand new pair of reading glasses presumably while out doing yard work; and, as I was putting ivy in the trash barrel, a couple of ladies walking their dogs down the street stopped and let one dog go potty in our yard as I stood watching. I was not doing much yard work, but wanted to get what all I had previously pulled and left in piles out to the street for today’s pickup.

    I did get the Words With Friends App and got to play that with Wesley. That was great! That was the highlight of Mother’s Day for me.

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  12. Tiny has the one side of her crib removed, while Sixth retains all four railings, as Tiny will honour bedtime, but Sixth still protests. But, in the morning, when Tiny wakes up, she will call until her mother comes to get her up. Sixth, on the other hand, simply scales the railings and gets himself up.

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  13. Fun ‘blog people’ collage 🙂 Chas, the names appear at the bottom left of each square, but they’re hard to read unless you can enlarge the image.

    Well, here we are at Monday again.

    This is a nicely written piece that captures much of where we are now, I thought:

    https://apnews.com/3a9b8238a777f06a13c36a7e0e91c7d0

    _____________________________

    Strangeness of the day: For Americans, an in-between moment
    By TED ANTHONY

    In coming years, when they write the narrative histories of the 2020 pandemic — those paperweight-level volumes that reconstruct these strange days in painstaking and vivid detail — the past week in American life will be a particularly curious moment to unpack. It was unlike what came before, and almost certainly unlike what is still ahead.

    On social media and in real life, Americans fought fervent pitched battles about getting back to their lives — when, where and under what conditions. Mostly, these battles were verbal. Sometimes, they got physical.

    Job numbers confirmed what everyone already suspected: the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression. The face mask evolved from a piece of protective equipment into a political litmus test.

    The coronavirus itself hit the White House just as conspiracy-theory fervor abruptly hit its stride. Mortality numbers were questioned, and a slick and misleading video, “Plandemic,” left some Americans scratching their heads and wondering.

    As the storied halls of the nation’s highest court became virtual, in the background of one oral argument you could distinctly hear what sounded like a toilet flushing. On Saturday, in parts of the Northeast, there was snow — in the first week of May.

    And finally, naturally, the “murder hornets” arrived on American shores to great and misguided fanfare. Minuscule threat though they are, they claimed an instant spot as the ideal metaphor for what everyone has been thinking: Hasn’t there been enough already? …
    ______________________________

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  14. And from Bloomberg:

    https://www.bloombergquint.com/global-economics/scarred-and-scared-the-reshaping-of-american-consumer-begins
    _________________________

    Scarred and Scared, the Reshaping of American Consumer Begins
    Christopher Condon May 11 2020, 2:30 PM May 11 2020, 7:00 PM

    (Bloomberg) — David Wright, 62, stood at the door of his Replay Arcade last week, trying to look at the bright side of things. The sole owner, he’s a tenant at the Mall of Georgia, which shut for a month but re-opened on May 4. “Traffic is about 10% of normal, but that’s 10% better than zero,” he chuckled in a phone interview from his business just outside Atlanta.

    Even with the rosy assumption that the Covid-19 virus will be contained in the coming weeks, the U.S. economy is in for a slow and painful struggle back from this devastating public health crisis. …

    … Severe economic shocks can even scar those who hang on to their jobs but are rattled watching friends, neighbors or relatives lose their work. Economists said it’s also worth noting this is the second recession in the space of 12 years that Americans have been told is the worst since the Great Depression. Richard Curtin, director of the University of Michigan’s Survey of Consumers, worries the cumulative effect, especially on younger generations, could compare to the devastating impact in the 1930s had on the psychology of Americans.

    “The Great Depression affected people their whole lives, and that could be true now for millennials,” he said. There’s also an additional layer this time. This crash was triggered by a virus that, itself, can kill. How that will affect consumption is unclear. Early signs from economies that are already re-opening, and from surveys of consumer attitudes, don’t look promising. …
    _________________________________

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  15. These masks are irritating. My face is too small or the mask is too big. It does have metal at the top so I can pinch it up. I did learn a trick to cross cross like a ponytail holder over my ears to make it tighter.
    mr P is in surgery.

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  16. DJ, the temperature is above freezing today, but it is snowing (meaning it is colder at cloud level). I remarked to Second, “Do you sometimes get the feeling that God has a sense of humour?”

    There is a meme that has been shared of a picture of a terrified child in a roller coaster clutching the hand of their parent who is smiling, headed by the caption ‘When God says, “I have a plan for your life.” How it feels:’ The thing is, that sort of terrifying uncertainty, of not knowing what a day might bring forth, is how it has felt for me much of my adult life. I have alternately lived and hated the feeling, but I have certainly learned a lot and most importantly, grown in faith, that God is good. It grieves me deeply to see Christians panicking and clutching at their ‘rights’ (a term not found in the Bible) and looking for the conspiracy that ‘must’ be stripping their comfort away from them. If they stopped looking at the wind and waves and looked back at their Lord, then they could walk on water in the middle of the storm.

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  17. (8:49) Thanks roscuro. I’m looking forward to our church’s dive into Revelation in a few months.

    So what is going on with churches all of you attend? I know mumsee’s has been meeting in person, but are there others now talking about resuming in-person worship?

    Our church very likely will launch “live” services again this coming Sunday, pending a meeting of the session Wednesday night. It would only be done with numerous restrictions, including attendance numbers (so there will be more than one service, requiring people to be assigned or sign up for them I would imagine); masks, no physical contact, older and/or those who are vulnerable urged to stay home, no use of the onsite restrooms, social distancing in the sanctuary, file in one way and out the other. Communion logistics remain undecided.

    I err on the side of caution with this virus and am among those concerned about re-opening (businesses, etc) too soon. I doubt people will rush out in large numbers to ‘shop’ anyway, but it will still usher in more possibilities for further spread.

    Our numbers for both new cases (but that also reflects more testing) and for deaths continue to rise rather significantly in LA County. I’d feel much better if those numbers were truly leveling off and declining.

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  19. The big issue for churches is not the space, but the singing and preaching, as the breathing required for either can aerosolize germs, and unlike other respiratory illnesses, COVID-19 is wholly asymptomatic with some while it is deadly for others. Singing is a key part of worship, but perhaps it may need to be curtailed in person for a time, out of love for one’s neighbour. There is another thing that needs to be addressed upon reopening, which was touched on by the link Cheryl shared yesterday. Those who hold contempt for the social distancing rules and refuse to observe them and come to church could endanger others in the congregation.

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  20. Chas- I’m the ugly guy in the bottom row. That young woman on my left is Kim. As Janice said, she is the phone icon. The row above us is (L-R): Cheryl, Ann, 6 Arrows and her piano – she gave a short concert – and RKessler. Above that row are Linda, Roscuro/Phos, Nancyjill, and Kizzie/Karen. Top row are Jo, Michelle (I guess she stood up to take the picture), Kare (I think) and AJ.

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  21. Mrs L just said “We have ducks!”

    Sure enough, out ion front of our house a male and female duck were waddling along. He was in our flower bed, she was in the grass. Strange, as I don’t think there are any large bodies of water nearby, unless the golf course has a pond in it. He had the bluish (teal) neck, but I don’t know what that kind of duck is called.

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  23. Morning! Next time tell us to say “cheese” before taking that screen shot 😂
    Cool start to the day here with rain moving in around noon. We are supposed to receive a good bit of moisture this week for which we are thankful…
    I’m off to get some errands accomplished before the rain falls….praying for Mr. P this day….

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  24. Oh, in looking at Google maps there are a couple of large ponds back there. But this is the first time we’ve seen ducks. We also had a small yellow bird the other day. We normally only see sparrows, robins, the occasional cardinal and our nesting finches, along with other small birds.

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  25. Peter, don’t you have a pond inside your house?

    Yes, I’d read about the issues with singing (and, anyway, who can really sing wearing a mask??). Maybe they’d have just a couple folks from the music team as we’re doing now on our live-stream service. Theoretically, the in-person service will be about half as long as normal, with a shorter sermon and (?) a couple songs, corporate prayer and readings. No SS.

    But we also will continue to live-stream for those at home. An older couple (he’s British, she’s German, they’re forever young and attractive — she was an airline attendant, he’s a journalist who did some acting back in the day — but are now in their late 70s, maybe 80ish? I believe) said they already would probably stay away. He had a rather scary bout with Type A influenza late last year, all while still recovering from hip replacement surgery.

    It sounds like a couple of the ‘young turks’ in our church are anxious to get back, cautioning that this is not a good precedent to set for churches (ok, true, but …. ??). Our 10 elders have been hashing it out for the past few weeks. We can “attend” those discussions via zoom (normally congregation members can attend in person as well, but cannot participate). A plurality of elders will be needed to actually set a date; the one that was bandied about earlier was this coming Sunday.

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  27. DJ, you asked, so here is our church plan put out this past week (an Atlanta metro area small church).
    Framework for Regathering

    Bridgepoint Church at Toco Hills

    May 4, 2020

    These guidelines from our Direction Team and Staff are based on the best information and advice available to us from knowledgeable sources for the sole purpose of saving lives by not creating situations that could put our church participants in danger of COVID-19 infection. While there are many of us who desire to return to normal activities immediately and do not fear the possibility of being infected, we believe to be consistent with the teachings of Jesus in John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that someone down his life for his friends” and Matthew 22:39b “Love your neighbor as yourself” we must be more concerned about the effects it could have on others than ourselves. With a significant number of the COVID-19 virus infections in Georgia spreading from church and funeral services, we have a responsibility to not create opportunities that, while important in our faith walk and based on scripture, could harm other people unknowingly.

    Timing

    The decision to roll-out gathering opportunities will be on a week to week basis after June 12th as the situation develops and informed by knowledgeable sources based on White House Guidelines for 14 days of declining infections and deaths due to the COVID-19 virus. We will announce the commencement of gathering opportunities and their accompanying guidelines at least seven days in advance utilizing email and social media.

    Phase-In Stages

    · Initial (When Situation Allows a Safe Pathway)

    o Sunday Opportunities

    § Two identical worship services at 9:30am and 11:00am so people can be distanced (we can only get 65-70 people in the Worship Center at a time with distancing requirements)

    § Streaming remains a priority alternative

    § No physical greeting time, bulletin, cards and announcement/prayer sheets

    § No small group studies but mothers with small children can use the nursing room

    § No snacks or refreshments provided

    o Wednesday Opportunities

    § No food service

    § No adult or children activities

    § Virtual is encouraged but youth may meet with approved social distancing and hygiene practices

    o Weekday Meetings and Study Opportunities

    § Virtual highly recommended but approved social distancing and hygiene practices used if in-person is desired

    § Normal Sunday morning groups may meet during the week or after 2:00pm on Sundays with strictly controlled approved social distancing and hygiene practices

    § PointGroups meet as desired with strictly controlled approved social distancing and hygiene practices applied if in-person is implemented

    § Stand-alone short-term age-graded activities allowed with strictly controlled approved social distancing and hygiene practices

    § Office will remain open 10:00am-4:00pm Monday – Thursday

    · Intermediate (Once the pandemic is well under control for an extended time)

    o Sunday Opportunities

    The same as the Initial Phase with the addition of small group studies and the provision of coffee using approved social distancing and hygiene practices

    o Wednesday Opportunities

    § Children may meet if all public schools in our community are meeting with approved social distancing and hygiene practices implemented

    § Desired adult activities may meet if desired with approved social distancing and hygiene practices

    § No food service

    o Weekday Meetings and Study Opportunities

    § Virtual highly recommended but approved social distancing and hygiene practices used if in-person is required

    § PointGroups meet as desired with strictly controlled approved social distancing and hygiene practices applied if in-person is implemented

    § Short-term age-graded activities allowed with approved social distancing and hygiene practices applied

    § Office will be open 8:00am-5:00pm Monday – Thursday

    · Eventual (Vaccine developed and dispensed into the population or virus is basically controlled)

    A return to pre-pandemic services, ministries and meetings that are deemed vital for Bridgepoint to fulfill her mission and purpose while enhanced by new opportunities and systems discovered during the pandemic that improve our work.

    Procedure

    · Enlist volunteers to move from 10:45am service to the identical 9:30am service

    · Capture contact information at a welcome station or using an app without the use of paper

    · A deep cleaning of facilities in use before occupation

    · Ventilation rates and purification options researched and upgraded if needed

    · Wash hands for 20 seconds as often as possible

    · Use hand sanitizer which will be available

    · Doors held open as people enter and windows remain open if possible

    · No physical greeting enabled

    Important Georgia Guidelines…

    · Medically fragile & persons over 65 should continue to shelter in place and utilize virtual services

    · Those not feeling well, have a fever, or have had direct contact with someone who likely has or is confirmed to have COVID-19 should not attend

    · Facemasks Required (One-time use paper masks available for those w/o masks)

    · Maintain at least six feet between the person in front of you, behind you, and each side of you during the entire service

    · Family members may sit together

    · Immediately be seated upon arrival and once a service ends everyone should immediately go to their vehicles

    · Removal of items touched by multiple people such as offering plates, bulletins, announcement sheets, hymnbooks and communal communion items

    Long-Term Adjustments

    We are not certain where the next few years will take us but it is obvious that our life as Bridgepoint Church at Toco Hills after the pandemic will be different than before. That is not necessarily a negative reality. As the writer of Hebrews reminds us in chapter 1 verse 8 , ”Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” we know that God’s word and the Gospel never change. But during this time, we are discovering some fresh new avenues of communication and community enhancement that might be repositioning us to be a more effective Body of Christ than we could be without these new revelations. Will our life in the future expect everyone to attend physically to be considered active? How can we make the virtual experience more personal? What have we learned about connecting with and serving our community that needs to be continued? Do we need all the space we have to accomplish that which is expected of us? Can our space be used in a different way in order to be more Gospel relevant? Have the changes we have been forced to implement moved us from our normal traditional comfort zone and closer to being a 24/7 church? What would a 24/7 church look like on our corner? Are there better ways for our guests to feel at home without a physical touch? Can a “High Touch” church flourish in a “No Touch” world? Could placing offering in a designated location be the first step for us to have a more interactive worship service? We don’t have the answers yet to these and other questions but we are going to love discovering the solutions in the days ahead. These are days of great expectation ahead!

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  28. “Covenant” in the ESV, considered one of the more accurate English translations currently:

    2 Corinthians 3:14 English Standard Version (ESV)

    14 But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

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  29. Thanks Janice (I still “see” Taco Hills Church)

    Sounds pretty reasonable and I like the idea of waiting until numbers fall more in line with an actually receding of virus cases.

    In LA County, we aren’t really seeing that, I don’t think — although some of the health officials believe we’re beginning to peak and stabilize. But i think it would be wiser to hold off until those statistics look a little better than they do now for us.

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  30. Speaking of birds….weren’t we?….yesterday there was the most amazing brightly colored bird at the bird bath and I quickly looked up what he might be. It was a Western Tanager. I had never seen one out here before. He was bright Orange/red/yellow with black. The contrasting colors were breathtaking. Then there was the house finch and another similar but with a yellow breast….and I know that one was not a goldfinch as it was larger than that. We are having fun playing “guess what kind that one is” around here!

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  31. We are not really close to lakes either, but had a baby duck come up our driveway years ago when our girls were young. It was clearly injured a bit. We put it in a shoebox and brought to an area lake where the ducks were fed quite regularly by people. I am not sure it survived, but the girls were quite happy about it all. We do have ditches and/or ponds that fill up in the spring time, so I suppose that is where this one came from.

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  32. The use of ‘testament’ for ‘covenant’ in some Bible translations stems from Latin translation, which used the Latin ‘testamentum’ for the Greek ‘diatheke’, meaning ‘covenant’.

    Not sure that the ESV is any more accurate than other translations. Its decision to translate a preposition indicating ‘motion toward’ in Genesis 3:16 as “contrary to”, essentially altering the phrase’s meaning to support one interpretation of the passage, raised considerable concern. I refer to the ESV in research but prefer either the KJV, as the one I am most familiar with, or the HCSB, which uses clearer terms in parts, but I am aware of the shortcomings of both.

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  33. If anyone is interested, Paul Washer has series on Proverbs for children and teens, but they are good for adults as well. Each session is 20-25 minutes in length.

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  34. I always preferred the New American Standard — until they updated it (or messed with it in my mind). Glad I still have my old one.

    All transactions will have their own particular shortcomings.

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  37. I have not heard yet of any transition plans for our church, thought I’m sure the staff is thinking about it and discussing it.

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  38. Nancy Jill, how special to see a western tanager! I’ve seen it only in bird books, but immediately its image popped to mind.

    At the pond down the street from me (I clocked it at half a mile), last week I saw a black-crowned night heron. I frequently see great blue herons there, and in spring and summer a pair of green herons (saw for the first time yesterday) and later their young, and once I saw a great egret. Also wood ducks (never a good look at a male) and mallards and Canada geese. And belted kingfishers.

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  39. Well I see I can’t neglect checking in here for a week at a time as I did last week. Sorry I missed the meetup. Any plans to do it again?

    Thanks for the caption, Peter. I had confidently and correctly identified every person except one, and your caption confirmed my guess about that one.

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  40. Kevin, Michelle e-mailed invitations to everyone for whom she had e-mails. I missed you, and DJ, and Chas at the time; there may well have been others missing too, but those are the people I thought of. (Mumsee showed up near the end of our time.)

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  42. Mumsee, it explains why you aren’t in that photo where all the rest of us have such beautiful photos, and yet I didn’t mention you as someone we missed seeing. 🙂

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  44. Re church reopening: as I said the other day, ours may reopen as early as this coming Sunday, with a lot of stipulations in place. The problem is, our stay-at-home order expires Friday, and they may not know until Friday whether it will be extended or allowed to expire, or whether it will officially expire but with new rules in place that make either impossible or impractical to meet. But there isn’t a lot of time to plan if we don’t know until Friday that it’s OK to meet Sunday, so they made tentative plans last week.

    Businesses must be in pretty much the same place, however. If the governor and/or mayor don’t let people know until Friday (the end of the workweek) whether other co-workers can join them or some businesses can reopen, it makes it quite tricky to make plans with only the weekend in which to get it done. So I’m hoping they let us know Wednesday or Thursday what the decision is, or at least the “likely” decision. Truth is it doesn’t affect us much either way–we plan to sit out at least the first couple weeks of reopening. But I’m hoping that it does happen, and that it doesn’t increase the number of cases, and that by June my husband is OK with us going back to “live” church. (If it were just me, I’d go the first Sunday, but it isn’t just me and I won’t.)

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  49. I am thankful our lead pastor is in his 60’s so our reopening plans seem to be geared to keeping the older folks safe and in the loop as much as possible. When I go back, I will still be in the same earlier service but it will be a blended music style service. I wanted it to be that way all along so I am thankful about that change.

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  50. I finally went out and did something besides work. I had to get new tires – ordered over the phone – and go to the bank. I have a homemade mask, so now I can say I got money from the bank wearing a mask.

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  52. I only used the addresses I had, and even then missed some. So, you’re now in my WV label system, Kevin B, and good to go.

    Let’s do it again, what time and day?

    My calendar is open tomorrow and Wednesday. I’ve got meetings and an appointment on Thursday and Friday.

    This time, let’s all bring something to share. I want you to bring something you LOVE to show us and tell us why.

    It can be a book, movie, souvenir, photo, person, adorable baby, whatever.

    No guarantees P,G, & E won’t shut off the power this time–that was a surprise, it’s not fire season–but it’s raining today so all should be well the next couple of days. 🙂

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  54. I took my life in my hands this morning and drove, gasp, to Rohnert Park–15 miles from home ON THE FREEWAY–which is the farthest I’ve been from home since I was last there to see Hillary!

    We took a social distancing walk through a lovely neighborhood where she lives–it reminded me of Cheryl’s neighborhood–not far at all from her house a wide sort-of road along a creek with few other walkers and lots of vegetation.

    We walked probably half an hour to a golf course and then home through there. It started raining at the golf course so we were very damp by the time we returned to Hill’s dad’s house.

    We had an excellent conversation about spiritual matters. I’m at yet another tricky spot in my biography and talking with a bona fide missionary was helpful.

    A good day. Now to lunch and work.

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  55. So mumsee was late?

    I now have regular cloth (and paper) masks, but also had ordered some cheap “cowboy” bandanas, useful for hair, dogs and also for faces in a pinch. I noticed printed in block letters on each of them: MADE IN CHINA

    Groan. We don’t even make western ‘cowboy’ bandanas here anymore?

    I really hope one of the more positive things that comes out of this will be a re-evaluation of our trade tether with China and develop some new trade partners, including possibly Mexico — and perhaps to begin doing more manufacturing at home. I realize there are financial barriers to US production, sadly; the cost is much higher due to wages and other worker protections, which we clearly would not want to lose.

    But I do hope we could be motivated at least to move back in that direction.

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  60. I love that song, Michelle, thanks for sharing Linda’s recording.

    I have one meeting tomorrow at 11-noon PDT, otherwise my calendar’s pretty clear this week.

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  62. Minnesota is estimating that 700,000 hogs a week are being euthanized. That is a lot of pork being turned into fertilizer or going to landfills.

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  63. I was the one who leveled the “fashionably-late” charge against Mumsee. 🙂

    Could we Zoom Wednesday, Michelle? I have a lot of piano lessons Tuesday afternoon/evening, but none Wednesday. I enjoyed our visit last week and would love to be a part of it again, if possible.

    It will be nice to have others in addition to all of us on the last call. Chas, DJ, and Kevin have been mentioned. Anyone know Kathaleena’s or Pauline’s emails?

    Am I missing anyone?

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  64. When does mumsee ever march to the beat of a normal drummer?

    Wednesday is the only day I can’t join in, unless it’s morning.

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  66. We are home. We have been for a while. All looks good. He is t going to be happy with the instructions the doctor has given. Walk, walk, walk, lose weight. This is going to be a 6 month recovery. No bending, twisting, lifting. SIX months. She has a few other things to tell him when he goes back. I liked her.

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  68. Michelle, that’s quite a story at 3:34. I didn’t watch the video, but read your blog entry and hers. I could do Wednesday evening. (Or Tuesday evening.)

    Hubby and I may go to a local state park tomorrow, one we drive fairly near a few times a year on the way somewhere else, but we have only been there once, on my birthday almost two years ago, and I fell and injured my knee and it took all summer to heal. (Finally found out I was allergic to the cream I had used on it just twice.) Anyway, I keep seeing lovely wildflower and bird photos others post on Flickr from that park–sometimes species I’ve never seen or that I’m not seeing now–so I’m hoping we can go and see something special. After that the weather turns iffy again for a while.

    I did get a local walk this morning that was pretty special. A pair of green herons down at the pond, and I think a third one. (Birds were flying around chasing each other, and while I never for sure saw three birds, I think I did.) Then on the trail I saw a chickadee that seemed to go to a nest, and I realized the nest (in a tree crack) was low enough to look into it, and so I did. The young ones were down inside and I couldn’t see them, but I could hear them, and on the way back I saw the mama (or daddy) leave from another feeding of them. And birds were singing for me all over.

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  71. Michelle- We didn’t have a/c in our car when I was young, and never drove thru the desert in the afternoon when I was growing up. We’d leave for long trips in the evening or midnight.

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  73. OK. ZOOM meeting this Wednesday, May 13 at 5 pm PACIFIC for an hour. Bring your “share” item.

    I have email addresses for the following:
    Ann, Chas, Cheryl, DJ, Mumsee, Janice, Jo, Kare, Kizzie, Kim, Linda, Peter, Kessler (Renee!), Roscuro, Six Arrows, and AJ.

    If your name is not on that list, I’m missing you somehow.

    Send me an email, or contact me through my website (which goes to my email) https://www.michelleule.com/contact/

    Liked by 1 person

  74. Wednesday depends on work

    Today I covered (remotely) the Long Beach updated numbers news conference with the mayor and city’s chief public health physician.

    What I now have more clarity on (since the questions were raised) is that churches (as well as places like dog parks, athletic fields) are not opening soon per the governors phased plan.

    So I suppose I’m wondering what happens if/when churches do start meeting anyway in a week or two?

    Like

  77. Chas has a smart phone, though, right? And Chas does have a telephone and can at least add his voice. (I did that the first time I was asked about joining a Zoom meeting, I was added by telephone.)

    Liked by 1 person

  83. Another Zoom! Great. Now I have to find something to share. Will it be like show-and-tell in grade school?

    I guess there won’t be time to read a (very) short story I wrote several years ago (20?). I’ve been translating it into Spanish for my students when I think of it.

    Maybe I can convince Mrs L. to let me show you a picture of her, since she won’t get on camera. Or the grandchildren. Or my almost 20 year old car with 357k miles I haven’t had to drive 90 miles a day, five days a week, for the last month and a half. I’ll think of something.

    Like

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