Thanks Kathleena. I got the card yesterday, but was too occupied. I had a ear-doctor appointment.
I am saving the cards.
I get a magazine (of sorts. don’t know what else to call them) from Southwestern Seminary, like the other schools.
In it is a picture and listing of some of the “ministers” in the seminary. Among them is Dr. Rebekkah Naylor Becky was a missionary to India. Evidently never married. Back at Southwestern. Her father, Robert was president of Southwestern Seminary, and pastor of Travis Ave. BC at the time. All that to say:
Becky was one of our kids when Elvera and i led a Baptist Training Union group of kids. She must be in her seventies now.
Strange: In an assembly, we would be contemporaries.
That insect is one of many species of robber flies (they’re carnivorous). That one is perhaps 2/3 inch, so I was extremely pleased to get the detail I did, especially of those compound eyes. Technically speaking, that is one of my best photos all summer, out of tends of thousands of shots this year.
It and two others of insects, also among my very best shots technically and artistically, were entered in “photos taken in July” in a Flickr contest of macro photos. I think there were 27 photos in all in the contest. Only one of my photos got any votes. (This one didn’t get any. I had a shot of two red insects on a yellow flower with green leaves behind the flower–three bright and perfect colors–and it got one vote.) It was one of those humbling times, because I’d been specializing in such photos all summer and other people were entering shots taken of flowers in their garden or whatever (photos they had taken just to enter the contest, not choosing the best three out of thousands of photos). When I vote in such contests, I click on all the photos to see them in their largest form and to see, for example, that eye detail comes through or else that a photo is actually a little blurry at full size, but I doubt most other people do. They’re judging it by seeing it in its two-inch little square. Anyway, it was a reminder that social media can’t be how I get my affirmation. 🙂
Who else is struggling these days. I want to go to a restaurant and be “normal”. I want to be around people. I’m in the office today. Yesterday my training room got moved around. No one moved it back. It’s a minor inconvenience. I moved it back. It just irritated me that no one thought to put it back for class today. I slept yesterday during the day. I slept last night. I still am tired. I could crawl back in bed right now. I want some semblance of normal.
Mr. P on the other hand is still in Covid lockdown mode. I’m not sure what is right or wrong in this situation. I really would love to go back to bed. Alas, I cannot do that.
Kim” I’m afraid it will never be “normal” again.
My life is affected by different circumstances, but I see what you, and others, are going through.
I think we are entering into a new era.
Along those lines, what are the protesters in Portland protesting?
Good morning. I am taking a break from Bible study before I get on the phone with the Bible study group. I am on my tablet while my phone is charging. The tablet lets me be me and not Anon.
I am thankful to see the header on my larger tablet screen. That is an awesome photo, Cheryl. You are an excellent photographer and I really appreciate your subjects in macro.
It’s time to make coffee. My cup of wakeup Rooibos tea is finished so now I will have a cup of Sumatran coffee. Traveling vicariously through my mug drinks! Rooibos is Red Bush from South Africa.
I suspect everyone is struggling these days, Kim. I have no idea what is best to do either. I see lots of people running around and they all seem fine. OTOH, I really don’t want to be foolish with our health issues, especially my husband’s.
I know my children are struggling with choices about school. Our youngest and her husband do not agree yet. One wants a hybrid, so the children do not miss out on classes they cannot get online. The husband wants all online. If she pushes and if a child gets sick, gets bad health issues or worse, that can be bad all around. If she is right that certain children need more for their particular needs than online and she gives in then what? I suspect these types of discussions are going on all over the country.
Even the health care experts do not seem to agree and those in government offices are all over the place. One person in health care was told she had a tested positive patient. She has a husband and less than one year old. When she asked what she should do, she was told nothing. They just wanted to notify her. What? She was not told to isolate or stop working or anything. We hear all kinds of different stories and wonder? How can we not be struggling in some way?
OTOH, we do know we and all of it is in God’s hands. How to walk in faith, but not in presumptuousness is another issue. Again, Kim, how can we not be struggling?
Morning! That bug has big eyes!!
It does seem many of us are weary worn of this new normal. I am tired of cooking, not breaking bread with friends, not having my coffee chats with so many dear friends. What does the future hold for us…ah the unknown. But resting in His knowing, His plan is our comfort. Again, reading in the Psalms this morning and then there is this:
1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
I saw some sweet pictures on Facebook of the first day of school in Ukarumpa. So this morning I made a list of who is in my class so that I could pray for them. I will ask for a class list, but there are all too busy right now for me to ask. If I can’t be there my prayers can.
Time to do some walking. My knee has been hurting, but hopefully walking will help. We are slated for five days of over 100. Yikes!
Kim, yes, I’m quite tired of it. In some ways my daily life hasn’t changed much–I have worked from my home with my husband in the home too since we married almost nine years ago. But I have been inside a building other than my own house exactly twice in the last give months. March 10 was the last time I was inside a store of any kind. I had to do some research at church, and I did a lot of work to make sure no one else would be in the building while I was there (we even put notes on all the doors saying please don’t come in, but call my husband’s cell phone if you need something), and I had an eye doctor appointment for something that was potentially serious (but, praise God, was not). Other than that it has been my own home, our car, and going out for walks.
We last attended church in person March 1. When I go out for walks, I’m constantly aware of where everyone else is, and I look over my shoulder periodically to make sure I’m not being overtaken by a bicyclist or a jogger. I’m getting outside every day–several days past 100 days in a row–and that helps, but it isn’t normalcy. I also have a busier-than-usual work schedule, which has kept me from watching movies with my husband or calling church members on the phone. Periodically I have to remind myself it will be worse if I get it, so keep persevering. But this isn’t how I wanted to spend 2020. I wanted to travel down to Nashville to see the friends I haven’t seen in several years now, and I wanted to be able to go away for a few days for our anniversary this fall, and I even wanted to take a trip to my birth state, Arizona, which I haven’t visited for way too long (since my mom’s funeral in 2003). But sheltering in place is the call for the moment, and that’s what I’m doing.
I’m struggling with that regional mail story I have to do, the LA area postal carrier union rep is supposed to call me today so that will help, but these “regional” stories ideally need voices from areas throughout our entire footprint which is huge and takes in three counties.
Good morning Supposed to get up to seventy two today. Yesterday was ninety. A couple days from now are slated to be one hundred. Husband is taking the younger three on a long arranged whitewater rafting trip today. Ought to be chilly!
Yes, this is getting old. Like Cheryl, though, my day-to-day routine hasn’t changed drastically, I already had been largely working from home for close to a year when this thing hit — but I did “go in” to the office on occasion and I miss that, it helped to change the routine up. (But our office setups had changed drastically already anyway, there was no more ‘newsroom’ to go to, you could go in and not see more than 1 or 2 other co-workers during the course of the entire day anyhow.)
I can grocery shop for myself but with that knee injury those trips weren’t particularly enjoyable, hobbling painfully to get the errand done asap so I could get home and put the knee up again. I occasionally go out on interviews, doing one later today, but those also have been cut back due to the virus (they prefer we do whatever we can by phone or from home and with my knee that became a necessity for me anyway). I can take drives when I just need a change of scenery (they’re usually tacked on to an errand, I don’t often “go out” just to drive around — but I can and have done that at times).
I missed several annual get-togethers with friends and will miss more going forward through the fall and holidays. And I haven’t visited Carol since this all began, naturally. She keeps telling me how she wants to go to the Christmas Eve service in Hollywood again this year with me and one of her other friends (the 3 of us did that 2 years ago) and then eat at the pancake house afterward on Hollywood Boulevard like we did that time also. Carol hasn’t been able to physically get into my car in 2 years and she’s no doubt much weaker now than she was then, she’s been in this current rehab, bed-ridden (though they’re working on getting her back up on her feet every day) for a long stretch. I don’t think she’ll be able to go anywhere like that again. But I go along when she mentions it now, I say yes, let’s aim for doing that. It won’t happen due to covid-19 alone, but even if that virus miraculously lifts and it’s deemed safe even for her to go out in her rather precarious health condition, I’ll not be able to get her physically into or out of my car most likely. Still, we all need something to look forward to and dream about, I suspect even Carol knows it’s all very unlikely.
Many people have a rougher go of this than I do and I’m well aware of that. Again, my day-to-day life hasn’t changed drastically and thankfully work is always busy so my weekdays are full and weeks go by fast. I *can* go out if needed or I just really want to. If nothing else, I get to the store and to physical therapy twice every week. I have neighbors to gab with.
But like Kim, I just want to sleep so much now which I think is an escape. I go to bed early, which is very unlike me, I sleep in a lot on weekends on top of that. Much of the extra sleeping and my own tired mood has been knee-related, too, however, and now that my knee is finally, after something like 4+ months now, recovering, I’m hoping I’ll feel more back to myself. Constant pain really does just wear you down after a while, not to mentionnot being able to move comfortably, even just walking in the house.
Yes, Kim, I am feeling the same even though we’re not quite as locked down as some states. I still need to see my doctor for my arm injury from May which has not improved AT ALL.
I will be laid off in early September because our spring school program and summer camp were not allowed to run at all and that is the vast percentage of any income our camp receives. We do have many donors, but they can’t cover that amount and many of them have been adversely affected by all this as well. The worst part is that we don’t know if/when we will be able to run again. Do I look for another job? Do I raise puppies to sell? 🙂 Do I look for work from home? I’m to old now to drive an hour each way for any type of job (that’s how long it takes to get to the nearest city with jobs).
I’d love to go to a restaurant, but then I think of how much it will cost, so we don’t go.
But God knows and He’s holding us in His hands. It’s not easy, though.
Bible study and prayer time with the ladies was a blessed sweet time as usual (although several were missing for various good reasons).
The thing that is different for me now is trying to arrange my grocery shopping time so I can feel safe from exposure to Covid. Now the best time for me to shop is when I need to fix Art’s breakfast. It’s such a little thing, fried eggs in the morning, but that is Art’s love language. I am still considering if I need to make something different for him, but he is very set in his ways.
I also miss taking Karen to doctor appointments. She desperately needs to go but is terrified so much that she is choosing not to go.
I have compromised with my brother so that he makes himself at home here getting things from the fridge, etc., bringing germs here from the north of Atlanta while Art brings in germs from the south of Atlanta. I could go crazy dwelling on that. I choose to trust in God.
Wesley’s second scheduled commencement, this weekend, will not involve him being there in person. We can view an online program put together for May and June graduates. He is invited to walk at any future graduation (who knows when) making the purchase of a 500.00 cap, gown, and regalia perhaps worth it in the future. As a professor he needs those as part of his position requirements for all graduations he will be expected to attend.
So those are my momentary rants, but they are all covered by the goodness of God who gives good gifts that I need only to observe and appreciate.
From the staff call today, one of the reporters mentioned he’d run spell check before turning in his story yesterday — and it auto-changed “special education students” to “seduction education students.” Sigh. We can’t win sometimes.
One of our other good regional editors is going on a 9-mo leave to take a master’s program.
Kare, I’m so sorry about the camp situation and having to maybe find new work. What is the arm injury? Shoulder, elbow? I so sympathize with injuries now that I’ve been through this knee problem. It’s no fun.
Well, I’m swamped with work, better get back to it. It’ll be a busy few days ahead.
From World Magazine’s quick-hit “Sift” roundup this morning on the VP pick for the Dems:
_______________________________
Biden picks Harris as running mate
Sen. Kamala Harris beat out former national security adviser Susan Rice, Rep. Karen Bass, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and several other possible choices for a spot next to Joe Biden on the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket. Harris ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination before dropping out in December 2019. The former vice president called senator from California “a fearless fighter for the little guy and one of the country’s finest public servants” in a tweet on Tuesday.
What experience does Harris have? She started her political career by becoming an elected attorney for the city of San Francisco. She served her state as a prosecutor and then as attorney general from 2010 to 2016, when she won a seat in the U.S. Senate. During her campaign for the nomination, Harris bashed Biden for his previous association with Southern senators who supported segregation, but she threw her full support behind him after he became the party’s presumptive nominee. Harris is known for her fierce defense of Planned Parenthood and prosecution of pro-life activists.
Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Bob Brown’s report from 2016 on Harris’ seizure of undercover videos involved in the Center for Medical Progress’ investigation into Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the illegal trafficking of body parts from aborted babies. —Kyle Ziemnick
_____________________________
I’m catching up with you all and with my intense work done am head’s up and looking around, how long, Lord?
But! At least it’s not the Blitz in London and the bombing of Bremen and so forth–how many of those folks wondered how long the war would continue?
Meanwhile, I’m trying to wean away some from social media. It’s just gotten so discouraging and wit the election now heating up, just too soul-draining.
A writer friend, however, posted something this morning which just resonates with some of this emotional fatigue. The article helped me put it all into context. 🙂
First, the Spurgeon quote from the article; the link will follow.
Many servants of God are made to feel their weakness in another way, by an oppressive sense of responsibility…. Do not take an exaggerated view of what the Lord expects of you. He will not blame you for not doing that which is beyond your mental power or physical strength…. We are not the Father, nor the Saviour, nor the Comforter of the Church. We cannot take the responsibility of the universe upon our shoulders. [Emphasis in original.]
Just as we can not take on ultimate responsibility for saving souls, we shouldn’t view ourselves in the Holy Spirit’s role of supreme Comforter. It’s too much of a burden and a guilt trip considering our lack of success in either occupation. But as Christians we do need to let the Hply Spirit have full access to do His work through us, to let Him be our strength in weakness.
Thank you, Michelle, for that burden relieving share. There are so many prayer requests now that I feel burdened by that weight.
I have just finished typing out all the prayer requests for the Bible study group. We did not break into two groups today so I got to do them all. So much.
No, Kim, it has had no real impact on me. I don’t go shopping or to restaurants or anywhere else. Church a little bit. But at the same time, I am enjoying the teaching from son’s church in addition to what is here. But I definitely see that I am the anomaly.
My main struggle this summer is dealing with death. My best friend in June. A week later, the very nice co-owner of one of our local music stores. She and her husband were/are lovely people, and I miss seeing her smiling face upon walking into the store now.
Then my last aunt last week.
Next … my sister-in-law, from whom cancer has taken so much already? … my aging parents, especially my dad, who is 90, and spends almost all of his waking hours lying on the couch? … someone else I’m not expecting?
I’m trying to live in and deal with the moment, and not think of future sadness, but that’s hard, given all the deaths this summer of people who rapidly succumbed to their cancer (within weeks of diagnosis for my friend and my aunt, and before I had even known that the music store co-owner had been diagnosed — I’d seen her this spring, and she looked wonderful, same as always; a couple months later, she was gone).
Life is fleeting; death is final. I’m still trying to come to grips with the sadness, the robbery, that is death.
Speaking of death, it was so sad to read of the death of your neighbor’s son, DJ. Tears sprang to my eyes when I heard that. My heart goes out to his mom. Their family is in my prayers.
6 Arrows: When you reach 90, and your body parts don’t do what you want, and your mind doesn’t recall the simplest thing, you will not say that death is “robbery”. God had made a way to liberate us from the constraints of this body. Someday, soon I hope, I will be liberated and go to meet my Savior and Lord. Awaiting the time I will descend with Him and a new body that will not hurt anywhere.
I don’t know if we will know each other then. But I hope so.
Thanks for sharing your wisdom, Chas. That’s very true. My dear Bible study friend who died last December at the age of 95 longed for the time the Lord would take her home. She wouldn’t call that robbery, either.
It’s just that sometimes it feels that way for those of us who are left behind after a loved one passes, though we may be confident that that precious one died in the faith. Weeping and rejoicing; loss (for us) and gain (for the believer) simultaneously.
Praise God for His mercy on us through Jesus after sin and death entered His perfect creation.
Neighbors who lost their son are carrying on, the older son told me yesterday it was, in some ways, a relief as his brother had become so encumbered by his addictions that worry about him had dominated the family, especially his mom, for the last couple years. But the grieving will go on. I hadn’t gotten to know him as well as the other brother and for that I’m sorry. He wasn’t around a lot, was sort of in and out of the picture, but when he was clean and we spoke on occasion he seemed like a sweet spirit, shy, and apparently just overtaken by his problems. He had studied as a chef and worked at one of our premiere coastal resorts nearby for a while.
Temps here broke 80 today, booo. But it’s only supposed to last for a few days.
I managed to use my contactless payment method on my phone at the drive-through I hit on the way home, very nice. I’ve used it before but only online, never at a real place where they just scan it.
I don’t feel like my life has changed that much with school and work dominating time not at home with family. We always wear masks at work when any infectious person is around, but the 12 hr mask wearing is now the norm. I wear a mask and go where ever I want, shopping wise. I am not a big shopper, so not really an issue. When Trey is in town with me, he puts on a mask and there we go. We live in a very small town, so church was out for about 6 weeks, but we have been meeting regularly, singing, without masks. We have even been out to eat in our small town. The state moved restaurants to only outdoor seating, so if I wanted, we could go eat. Miguel has worked at the track, which has gotten him out of the house much more than he would have otherwise. He takes temps and puts on arm bands signifying they have passed the covid screening for the day.
We have had various groups of grands throughout the summer, and Connor has been with us most of it. With our critters and garden, all of our time is full, so we don’t miss the outings which might have taken place. We wanted to go camping, but our governor had deemed that there be no overnight camping at state parks, so that did not happen.
I am grateful for work, it’s probably kept me somewhat sane. And today was a good day as I was able to go out for a ‘real’ in-person interview, not just being a phone & computer jockey all day long.
Much of my work, writing, is somewhat solitary and phone interviews are fine but it is nice to get out for more of a fun feature and in-person interview now and again.
This evening I watered all the flower pots on the front porch, hanging and otherwise (it’s a lot now), will catch up in the backyard tomorrow.
Tomorrow also is my followup with the ortho MD, I have tons of questions for him. I had to cancel my PT appt so that means this will be the first week in 4 months that I haven’t seen him. Weird feeling, that’s all such a part of my weekly routine now.
Wandering Views 
Thanks Kathleena. I got the card yesterday, but was too occupied. I had a ear-doctor appointment.
I am saving the cards.
I get a magazine (of sorts. don’t know what else to call them) from Southwestern Seminary, like the other schools.
In it is a picture and listing of some of the “ministers” in the seminary. Among them is Dr. Rebekkah Naylor Becky was a missionary to India. Evidently never married. Back at Southwestern. Her father, Robert was president of Southwestern Seminary, and pastor of Travis Ave. BC at the time. All that to say:
Becky was one of our kids when Elvera and i led a Baptist Training Union group of kids. She must be in her seventies now.
Strange: In an assembly, we would be contemporaries.
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I never would have thought of photographing a bug on a limb. But I have to admit. That is a good photographic feat.
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That insect is one of many species of robber flies (they’re carnivorous). That one is perhaps 2/3 inch, so I was extremely pleased to get the detail I did, especially of those compound eyes. Technically speaking, that is one of my best photos all summer, out of tends of thousands of shots this year.
It and two others of insects, also among my very best shots technically and artistically, were entered in “photos taken in July” in a Flickr contest of macro photos. I think there were 27 photos in all in the contest. Only one of my photos got any votes. (This one didn’t get any. I had a shot of two red insects on a yellow flower with green leaves behind the flower–three bright and perfect colors–and it got one vote.) It was one of those humbling times, because I’d been specializing in such photos all summer and other people were entering shots taken of flowers in their garden or whatever (photos they had taken just to enter the contest, not choosing the best three out of thousands of photos). When I vote in such contests, I click on all the photos to see them in their largest form and to see, for example, that eye detail comes through or else that a photo is actually a little blurry at full size, but I doubt most other people do. They’re judging it by seeing it in its two-inch little square. Anyway, it was a reminder that social media can’t be how I get my affirmation. 🙂
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Who else is struggling these days. I want to go to a restaurant and be “normal”. I want to be around people. I’m in the office today. Yesterday my training room got moved around. No one moved it back. It’s a minor inconvenience. I moved it back. It just irritated me that no one thought to put it back for class today. I slept yesterday during the day. I slept last night. I still am tired. I could crawl back in bed right now. I want some semblance of normal.
Mr. P on the other hand is still in Covid lockdown mode. I’m not sure what is right or wrong in this situation. I really would love to go back to bed. Alas, I cannot do that.
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Kim” I’m afraid it will never be “normal” again.
My life is affected by different circumstances, but I see what you, and others, are going through.
I think we are entering into a new era.
Along those lines, what are the protesters in Portland protesting?
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Good morning. I am taking a break from Bible study before I get on the phone with the Bible study group. I am on my tablet while my phone is charging. The tablet lets me be me and not Anon.
I am thankful to see the header on my larger tablet screen. That is an awesome photo, Cheryl. You are an excellent photographer and I really appreciate your subjects in macro.
It’s time to make coffee. My cup of wakeup Rooibos tea is finished so now I will have a cup of Sumatran coffee. Traveling vicariously through my mug drinks! Rooibos is Red Bush from South Africa.
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I suspect everyone is struggling these days, Kim. I have no idea what is best to do either. I see lots of people running around and they all seem fine. OTOH, I really don’t want to be foolish with our health issues, especially my husband’s.
I know my children are struggling with choices about school. Our youngest and her husband do not agree yet. One wants a hybrid, so the children do not miss out on classes they cannot get online. The husband wants all online. If she pushes and if a child gets sick, gets bad health issues or worse, that can be bad all around. If she is right that certain children need more for their particular needs than online and she gives in then what? I suspect these types of discussions are going on all over the country.
Even the health care experts do not seem to agree and those in government offices are all over the place. One person in health care was told she had a tested positive patient. She has a husband and less than one year old. When she asked what she should do, she was told nothing. They just wanted to notify her. What? She was not told to isolate or stop working or anything. We hear all kinds of different stories and wonder? How can we not be struggling in some way?
OTOH, we do know we and all of it is in God’s hands. How to walk in faith, but not in presumptuousness is another issue. Again, Kim, how can we not be struggling?
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Morning! That bug has big eyes!!
It does seem many of us are weary worn of this new normal. I am tired of cooking, not breaking bread with friends, not having my coffee chats with so many dear friends. What does the future hold for us…ah the unknown. But resting in His knowing, His plan is our comfort. Again, reading in the Psalms this morning and then there is this:
1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
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I saw some sweet pictures on Facebook of the first day of school in Ukarumpa. So this morning I made a list of who is in my class so that I could pray for them. I will ask for a class list, but there are all too busy right now for me to ask. If I can’t be there my prayers can.
Time to do some walking. My knee has been hurting, but hopefully walking will help. We are slated for five days of over 100. Yikes!
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Kim, yes, I’m quite tired of it. In some ways my daily life hasn’t changed much–I have worked from my home with my husband in the home too since we married almost nine years ago. But I have been inside a building other than my own house exactly twice in the last give months. March 10 was the last time I was inside a store of any kind. I had to do some research at church, and I did a lot of work to make sure no one else would be in the building while I was there (we even put notes on all the doors saying please don’t come in, but call my husband’s cell phone if you need something), and I had an eye doctor appointment for something that was potentially serious (but, praise God, was not). Other than that it has been my own home, our car, and going out for walks.
We last attended church in person March 1. When I go out for walks, I’m constantly aware of where everyone else is, and I look over my shoulder periodically to make sure I’m not being overtaken by a bicyclist or a jogger. I’m getting outside every day–several days past 100 days in a row–and that helps, but it isn’t normalcy. I also have a busier-than-usual work schedule, which has kept me from watching movies with my husband or calling church members on the phone. Periodically I have to remind myself it will be worse if I get it, so keep persevering. But this isn’t how I wanted to spend 2020. I wanted to travel down to Nashville to see the friends I haven’t seen in several years now, and I wanted to be able to go away for a few days for our anniversary this fall, and I even wanted to take a trip to my birth state, Arizona, which I haven’t visited for way too long (since my mom’s funeral in 2003). But sheltering in place is the call for the moment, and that’s what I’m doing.
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Careful with the knee & that heat!
I’m struggling with that regional mail story I have to do, the LA area postal carrier union rep is supposed to call me today so that will help, but these “regional” stories ideally need voices from areas throughout our entire footprint which is huge and takes in three counties.
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Good morning Supposed to get up to seventy two today. Yesterday was ninety. A couple days from now are slated to be one hundred. Husband is taking the younger three on a long arranged whitewater rafting trip today. Ought to be chilly!
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Yes, this is getting old. Like Cheryl, though, my day-to-day routine hasn’t changed drastically, I already had been largely working from home for close to a year when this thing hit — but I did “go in” to the office on occasion and I miss that, it helped to change the routine up. (But our office setups had changed drastically already anyway, there was no more ‘newsroom’ to go to, you could go in and not see more than 1 or 2 other co-workers during the course of the entire day anyhow.)
I can grocery shop for myself but with that knee injury those trips weren’t particularly enjoyable, hobbling painfully to get the errand done asap so I could get home and put the knee up again. I occasionally go out on interviews, doing one later today, but those also have been cut back due to the virus (they prefer we do whatever we can by phone or from home and with my knee that became a necessity for me anyway). I can take drives when I just need a change of scenery (they’re usually tacked on to an errand, I don’t often “go out” just to drive around — but I can and have done that at times).
I missed several annual get-togethers with friends and will miss more going forward through the fall and holidays. And I haven’t visited Carol since this all began, naturally. She keeps telling me how she wants to go to the Christmas Eve service in Hollywood again this year with me and one of her other friends (the 3 of us did that 2 years ago) and then eat at the pancake house afterward on Hollywood Boulevard like we did that time also. Carol hasn’t been able to physically get into my car in 2 years and she’s no doubt much weaker now than she was then, she’s been in this current rehab, bed-ridden (though they’re working on getting her back up on her feet every day) for a long stretch. I don’t think she’ll be able to go anywhere like that again. But I go along when she mentions it now, I say yes, let’s aim for doing that. It won’t happen due to covid-19 alone, but even if that virus miraculously lifts and it’s deemed safe even for her to go out in her rather precarious health condition, I’ll not be able to get her physically into or out of my car most likely. Still, we all need something to look forward to and dream about, I suspect even Carol knows it’s all very unlikely.
Many people have a rougher go of this than I do and I’m well aware of that. Again, my day-to-day life hasn’t changed drastically and thankfully work is always busy so my weekdays are full and weeks go by fast. I *can* go out if needed or I just really want to. If nothing else, I get to the store and to physical therapy twice every week. I have neighbors to gab with.
But like Kim, I just want to sleep so much now which I think is an escape. I go to bed early, which is very unlike me, I sleep in a lot on weekends on top of that. Much of the extra sleeping and my own tired mood has been knee-related, too, however, and now that my knee is finally, after something like 4+ months now, recovering, I’m hoping I’ll feel more back to myself. Constant pain really does just wear you down after a while, not to mentionnot being able to move comfortably, even just walking in the house.
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Yes, Kim, I am feeling the same even though we’re not quite as locked down as some states. I still need to see my doctor for my arm injury from May which has not improved AT ALL.
I will be laid off in early September because our spring school program and summer camp were not allowed to run at all and that is the vast percentage of any income our camp receives. We do have many donors, but they can’t cover that amount and many of them have been adversely affected by all this as well. The worst part is that we don’t know if/when we will be able to run again. Do I look for another job? Do I raise puppies to sell? 🙂 Do I look for work from home? I’m to old now to drive an hour each way for any type of job (that’s how long it takes to get to the nearest city with jobs).
I’d love to go to a restaurant, but then I think of how much it will cost, so we don’t go.
But God knows and He’s holding us in His hands. It’s not easy, though.
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Sweaty, oh, so sweaty…. But I did three miles and feel good.
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Bible study and prayer time with the ladies was a blessed sweet time as usual (although several were missing for various good reasons).
The thing that is different for me now is trying to arrange my grocery shopping time so I can feel safe from exposure to Covid. Now the best time for me to shop is when I need to fix Art’s breakfast. It’s such a little thing, fried eggs in the morning, but that is Art’s love language. I am still considering if I need to make something different for him, but he is very set in his ways.
I also miss taking Karen to doctor appointments. She desperately needs to go but is terrified so much that she is choosing not to go.
I have compromised with my brother so that he makes himself at home here getting things from the fridge, etc., bringing germs here from the north of Atlanta while Art brings in germs from the south of Atlanta. I could go crazy dwelling on that. I choose to trust in God.
Wesley’s second scheduled commencement, this weekend, will not involve him being there in person. We can view an online program put together for May and June graduates. He is invited to walk at any future graduation (who knows when) making the purchase of a 500.00 cap, gown, and regalia perhaps worth it in the future. As a professor he needs those as part of his position requirements for all graduations he will be expected to attend.
So those are my momentary rants, but they are all covered by the goodness of God who gives good gifts that I need only to observe and appreciate.
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Not June but August graduates.
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From the staff call today, one of the reporters mentioned he’d run spell check before turning in his story yesterday — and it auto-changed “special education students” to “seduction education students.” Sigh. We can’t win sometimes.
One of our other good regional editors is going on a 9-mo leave to take a master’s program.
Kare, I’m so sorry about the camp situation and having to maybe find new work. What is the arm injury? Shoulder, elbow? I so sympathize with injuries now that I’ve been through this knee problem. It’s no fun.
Well, I’m swamped with work, better get back to it. It’ll be a busy few days ahead.
From World Magazine’s quick-hit “Sift” roundup this morning on the VP pick for the Dems:
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Biden picks Harris as running mate
Sen. Kamala Harris beat out former national security adviser Susan Rice, Rep. Karen Bass, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and several other possible choices for a spot next to Joe Biden on the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket. Harris ran against Biden for the Democratic nomination before dropping out in December 2019. The former vice president called senator from California “a fearless fighter for the little guy and one of the country’s finest public servants” in a tweet on Tuesday.
What experience does Harris have? She started her political career by becoming an elected attorney for the city of San Francisco. She served her state as a prosecutor and then as attorney general from 2010 to 2016, when she won a seat in the U.S. Senate. During her campaign for the nomination, Harris bashed Biden for his previous association with Southern senators who supported segregation, but she threw her full support behind him after he became the party’s presumptive nominee. Harris is known for her fierce defense of Planned Parenthood and prosecution of pro-life activists.
Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Bob Brown’s report from 2016 on Harris’ seizure of undercover videos involved in the Center for Medical Progress’ investigation into Planned Parenthood’s involvement in the illegal trafficking of body parts from aborted babies. —Kyle Ziemnick
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Awesome bug pic 🙂
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I’m catching up with you all and with my intense work done am head’s up and looking around, how long, Lord?
But! At least it’s not the Blitz in London and the bombing of Bremen and so forth–how many of those folks wondered how long the war would continue?
Meanwhile, I’m trying to wean away some from social media. It’s just gotten so discouraging and wit the election now heating up, just too soul-draining.
A writer friend, however, posted something this morning which just resonates with some of this emotional fatigue. The article helped me put it all into context. 🙂
First, the Spurgeon quote from the article; the link will follow.
Many servants of God are made to feel their weakness in another way, by an oppressive sense of responsibility…. Do not take an exaggerated view of what the Lord expects of you. He will not blame you for not doing that which is beyond your mental power or physical strength…. We are not the Father, nor the Saviour, nor the Comforter of the Church. We cannot take the responsibility of the universe upon our shoulders. [Emphasis in original.]
https://www.str.org/w/how-2020-is-taking-a-toll-on-your-soul?
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Just as we can not take on ultimate responsibility for saving souls, we shouldn’t view ourselves in the Holy Spirit’s role of supreme Comforter. It’s too much of a burden and a guilt trip considering our lack of success in either occupation. But as Christians we do need to let the Hply Spirit have full access to do His work through us, to let Him be our strength in weakness.
Thank you, Michelle, for that burden relieving share. There are so many prayer requests now that I feel burdened by that weight.
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I have just finished typing out all the prayer requests for the Bible study group. We did not break into two groups today so I got to do them all. So much.
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No, Kim, it has had no real impact on me. I don’t go shopping or to restaurants or anywhere else. Church a little bit. But at the same time, I am enjoying the teaching from son’s church in addition to what is here. But I definitely see that I am the anomaly.
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Anomaly is truly thy nickname, mumsee 🙂
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An astonishing 22-second video that will change your relationship with corn husking. We’re going to try it!
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Corn on the cob was a regular dinner staple at my house growing up. Iowa roots and all.
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But this solves the husking problem . . . and the cooking issue . . . well, I’ll know after I try it for sure. LOL
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My main struggle this summer is dealing with death. My best friend in June. A week later, the very nice co-owner of one of our local music stores. She and her husband were/are lovely people, and I miss seeing her smiling face upon walking into the store now.
Then my last aunt last week.
Next … my sister-in-law, from whom cancer has taken so much already? … my aging parents, especially my dad, who is 90, and spends almost all of his waking hours lying on the couch? … someone else I’m not expecting?
I’m trying to live in and deal with the moment, and not think of future sadness, but that’s hard, given all the deaths this summer of people who rapidly succumbed to their cancer (within weeks of diagnosis for my friend and my aunt, and before I had even known that the music store co-owner had been diagnosed — I’d seen her this spring, and she looked wonderful, same as always; a couple months later, she was gone).
Life is fleeting; death is final. I’m still trying to come to grips with the sadness, the robbery, that is death.
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Looks fun, Michelle, but I don’t have a microwave. Husband, of course, has several. I do have a toaster oven thanks to DJ.
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Speaking of death, it was so sad to read of the death of your neighbor’s son, DJ. Tears sprang to my eyes when I heard that. My heart goes out to his mom. Their family is in my prayers.
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6 Arrows: When you reach 90, and your body parts don’t do what you want, and your mind doesn’t recall the simplest thing, you will not say that death is “robbery”. God had made a way to liberate us from the constraints of this body. Someday, soon I hope, I will be liberated and go to meet my Savior and Lord. Awaiting the time I will descend with Him and a new body that will not hurt anywhere.
I don’t know if we will know each other then. But I hope so.
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Thanks for sharing your wisdom, Chas. That’s very true. My dear Bible study friend who died last December at the age of 95 longed for the time the Lord would take her home. She wouldn’t call that robbery, either.
It’s just that sometimes it feels that way for those of us who are left behind after a loved one passes, though we may be confident that that precious one died in the faith. Weeping and rejoicing; loss (for us) and gain (for the believer) simultaneously.
Praise God for His mercy on us through Jesus after sin and death entered His perfect creation.
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Neighbors who lost their son are carrying on, the older son told me yesterday it was, in some ways, a relief as his brother had become so encumbered by his addictions that worry about him had dominated the family, especially his mom, for the last couple years. But the grieving will go on. I hadn’t gotten to know him as well as the other brother and for that I’m sorry. He wasn’t around a lot, was sort of in and out of the picture, but when he was clean and we spoke on occasion he seemed like a sweet spirit, shy, and apparently just overtaken by his problems. He had studied as a chef and worked at one of our premiere coastal resorts nearby for a while.
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Back from an interview for a fun story, which I needed.
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Temps here broke 80 today, booo. But it’s only supposed to last for a few days.
I managed to use my contactless payment method on my phone at the drive-through I hit on the way home, very nice. I’ve used it before but only online, never at a real place where they just scan it.
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Thanks, Donna, it’s my elbow. I can still function, just not well, and it hurts.
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Sounds about like my knee.
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I don’t feel like my life has changed that much with school and work dominating time not at home with family. We always wear masks at work when any infectious person is around, but the 12 hr mask wearing is now the norm. I wear a mask and go where ever I want, shopping wise. I am not a big shopper, so not really an issue. When Trey is in town with me, he puts on a mask and there we go. We live in a very small town, so church was out for about 6 weeks, but we have been meeting regularly, singing, without masks. We have even been out to eat in our small town. The state moved restaurants to only outdoor seating, so if I wanted, we could go eat. Miguel has worked at the track, which has gotten him out of the house much more than he would have otherwise. He takes temps and puts on arm bands signifying they have passed the covid screening for the day.
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We have had various groups of grands throughout the summer, and Connor has been with us most of it. With our critters and garden, all of our time is full, so we don’t miss the outings which might have taken place. We wanted to go camping, but our governor had deemed that there be no overnight camping at state parks, so that did not happen.
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I am grateful for work, it’s probably kept me somewhat sane. And today was a good day as I was able to go out for a ‘real’ in-person interview, not just being a phone & computer jockey all day long.
Much of my work, writing, is somewhat solitary and phone interviews are fine but it is nice to get out for more of a fun feature and in-person interview now and again.
This evening I watered all the flower pots on the front porch, hanging and otherwise (it’s a lot now), will catch up in the backyard tomorrow.
Tomorrow also is my followup with the ortho MD, I have tons of questions for him. I had to cancel my PT appt so that means this will be the first week in 4 months that I haven’t seen him. Weird feeling, that’s all such a part of my weekly routine now.
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Well, and I guess I should point out that working also keeps the bills paid on time.
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Here are a couple of posts about Cedar Rapids, Iowa and vicinity.
View at Medium.com
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This is a Facebook photo album of Marion, a suburb of Cedar Rapids, and the city one of my SILs lives.
https://www.facebook.com/jeni.crawford.3/media_set?set=a.10157459277462196&type=3
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Wow 😦
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oh, my, goodness. Thanks for sharing. I don’t get any news. I had heard that this happened, but the pictures show the damage.
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The big news on TV this morning is Biden’s VP pick.
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