Good morning, Chas.
Good whenever, to Wanderers, near and far.
It’s Tues. but I am still in Monday mode.
Art has gone to the office. He is armed with Alka Seltzer if he needs to go on the offensive. He still feels a little off but not too bad.
Covid numbers have continued to go down here, but now after the big weekend togetherness it will be interesting to watch the numbers. That will be the real test.
Speaking of tests, the thought occurred to me that Covid 19 could have just been a test. It worked.
I need to trash that negative thinking.
What is everyone reading? I am about to start reading When Your Voice Became Mine: There IS a Mailbox in Heaven, by Celeste N. Bowers. A mother has written about her young daughter who died and how the daughter inspired others.
Chas, do you have a Super Giant Print Bible? If you don’t have one, it is time to get one with the largest print possible. The darkest print for contrast helps, too.
A bit of a panic this morning when I suddenly realized I’d forgotten to file my time card for last week. Let’s hope it got in, otherwise payday (this Friday) may be complicated. I had 2 days off last week and with the holiday yesterday I just didn’t remember it.
It’s Tuesday but feels like Monday, of course. Tomorrow is another early morning trip to the vet with Cowboy for treatments, neighbor said he can be available to get him into the car for me in the driveway. I’m so grateful for him right night now, and realize this is an inconvenience. I got him a Home Depot gift card last week.
It was a fairly productive weekend, managed to drop off the bags of electronic waste — and my old TV — at the center on Saturday and yesterday got the kitchen and bathroom floors cleaned.
We’re getting our May Gray (which blends into June Gloom) although we’re supposed to get some warm temperatures later this week along with some off-shore winds blowing in from the east/desert so everyone’s worried about fires again.
Glad Art is feeling better.
Our numbers are still looking good, although last week saw a little bit of an uptick — but compared to what it’s been, that’s still in the low numbers. We’re anticipating reopening statewide on June 15, barring anything unexpected.
Praying for some other countries, though, that are now going through siege with Covid.
Chas, give audible books a try; there are also some good podcasts or daily radio shows. Here’s the one from Truth for Life (Alistair Begg) which looks good:
~ In a culture that’s increasingly hostile towards Christianity, how are we supposed to live? Is it enough to remind ourselves that this world isn’t our home? Alistair Begg addresses these concerns on Truth For Life as we begin a study in the book of Daniel. Daniel 1:1-21 ~
What a world God made. While you talk about May Gray and June Gloom those are beautiful months for us. We start to green up in May and have some early blossoms. June brings forth even more. All over the world, at various times, God’s renewal is shown forth.
A summary account of the immune system – and yes, as they note, there is many more layers of complexity to it than can be summarized rapidly: https://creation.com/immune-system
When you’re still in school, that shifts to June-July-August, or at least it did back in the dark ages when I was a kid. I think “summer break” is a bit wobbly now, date-wise, depending on the school district.
Good Afternoon. Fellowship of the Blog — I like that name.
Hubby and I along with 5th and 6th Arrows took an enjoyable road trip to visit 1st Arrow on Saturday. It was the first time 6th and I saw 1st’s new house. It is a new construction, small but well suited to his needs; it sits on about 1.5 acres of land — very prairie-like. Hubby found a good deal for 1st Arrow, on a used riding mower in very good condition, which was for sale in our area, so we hauled the mower up to 1st’s. A nice day for a journey, and a pleasant visit.
I made lunch that day, cooking on a gas stove for the first time. 1st let me know about some of the stove’s idiosyncrasies, and everything turned out good and I didn’t burn down his new house. 😀
We are taking the week off from school. I also do not have any piano lessons except for my Tuesday students this afternoon evening. (Make-up lessons from the week in early May that I canceled their lessons due to a migraine that day.)
Next week I have three new students starting — two at home and one at the studio. There was going to be another one starting at the studio besides the one who is, but those people changed their mind after initially saying they would. I had a feeling they wouldn’t follow through, so I hadn’t picked up any music for them or given much thought to lessons for the kid. I’m glad now that I didn’t invest a whole lot in preparing for someone who flaked out before starting.
Last month I lost four students in a five-day period. Yikes, that was kind of brutal, even though it was a good overall how it played out, I think. Two of them were the ones kicked out by the studio owners — or the dad’s behavior, rather, was the reason the family was dismissed — another one was way overbooked in too much stuff and was experiencing considerable anxiety, so the parents decided to lighten her load by discontinuing some of her activities, and the last one, along with all her siblings studying with other teachers, was unenrolled because of sports conflicts and all the kids loved sports and really didn’t care for music. (Mom admitted it was her dream rather than theirs that they all receive music lessons. Much better all-around, in my opinion, when the kids take some delight in their activities and don’t have it be simply a parent’s dream and nothing more.)
Despite all those good reasons for ending the lessons, I still find it challenging to avoid negative self-talk and if-only-I-had-done[or not done]-this, those kids would probably still be with me. “Good teachers don’t lose that many students in that short a time.” Etc. I know my thinking is skewed when I give in to thoughts like that. I find it a challenge to let go of those ideas, though. Maybe I need more practice with that?
The days of cultural Christianity are fading. It’s time to rethink normal.
Diving deep into 1 Peter, Elliot Clark encourages believers to faithfulness amid persecution and cultural exile.
The book will help you shore up your faith to prepare for coming storms.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Chas, the death knell for me as a kid was when I started seeing the dreaded Back-to-School ads on TV or “school days” displays department store windows when shopping with my mom.
Donna, we didn’t have TV when I was a kid.
I saw my first TV in a store window in New Orleans on my way to Texas to join the Air Forc
That was in August of 1949.e.
So back-to-school must have really hit you without much warning, Chas. No kid really looks at the calendar during summer, right?
June and December were the only months we cared about anyway.
But one day you’re running through the fields barefoot, playing baseball, riding your bike — and the next thing you know, you’ve got to get up early, wear uncomfortable clothes, and go to school. Brutal.
Yes! Quite a difference from finding shady spots by creeks and in creeks to play, and then having to be all dressed for long days in a schoolroom without shade or air conditioning and with open windows that might offer a muggy breeze. It was miserable until it cooled down.
On Janice’s question about reading, I’ve finished my course of reading that I had lined up for recovery. The three main books I had in my lineup were:
‘Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population’, an exhaustive and sometimes dense account of the worldwide population control efforts. This is a much more detailed and accurate account of the population control movement than the politically charged ‘The Merchants of Despair’.
‘Island of the World’ by Michael O’Brien – when I finished this book, I said to myself, “That was one of the most beautiful books I ever read.” It was a difficult novel to read, as it does not flinch from portraying the horror of partisan wars and unjust imprisonment, but it captured the beauty of a life quietly lived in faithfulness despite outward adversity.
‘Courage to Stand’ by Russell Moore – this was an unexpected addition to my reading list, as Eldest thought I would like to read it while recuperating. I confess I braced myself, as I do not find Christian living books generally helpful, but this one was full of grace, redirecting the focus from self to Christ in situations of conscience, using Elijah as an example.
I also read several lighter books. In the past year, I discovered the BBC productions of Margery Allingham’s Albert Campion mysteries, and so tried out a few of the books. I enjoyed a couple, but in general I found them less interesting than Allingham’s contemporaries, Dorothy L. Sayers and Josephine Tey. I read my second favorite Tey book, ‘The Franchise Affair’ to my mother during my convalescence (my first favorite would of course be ‘The Daughter of Time’).
Tiny and I continue our reading journey. We are currently reading the classic British children’s novel ‘Ballet Shoes’ by Noel Streatfield. Tiny currently dreams of being a dancer, and I thought it a good way of giving a realistic picture of the work involved.
And Back-to-School week invariably seemed like the hottest of the year. We have more of a dry heat here (thankfully), but no A/C back then either, of course — and wearing those new, ‘starchy’ dresses, ugh. We couldn’t get home fast enough to change back into our shorts or jeans and T-shirts and sneakers.
When I was in 6th grade, we moved to a 40 acre ranch, though dad was a doctor and mom a teacher. We did not see any friends all summer. Finally we got to go to the county fair with our 4h animals, what a treat. And then school began. For country folks, going to school means connecting with friends.
Roscuro that is a mighty pile of reading. It sounds wonderful for eyes that can handle it and brains to process it! I always have several books I read along as the mood fits the moment, but I tend to have one I am concentrating on getting through as quickly as possible for reviewing.
I would have been ready had they waited for the weather to cool down. The officials were out of sync with God’s good summer gifts of special outdoor times.
The Real, I couldn’t handle it either. My body just shuts down with heights, doesn’t matter what my brain says.
Janice, it was nice to have all that time to read again, as I had barely read anything for myself this past year – work stress made it difficult to concentrate. It was just so nice to spend a half a day reading an entire book (some of the lighter reads I finished in half a day). As for eyes, my eReader allows me to adjust font size. All the books I read except ‘Island of the World’ and ‘Fatal Misconception’, oh, and the children’s book to Tiny, were on my eReader.
In elementary school I got a new outfit for the first day of school. Of course it would not be cool summer clothes to suit the heat of the first weeks in school. Can anyone relate? When we were teenagers some of us young ladies would trade clothes or rather borrow a dress from a friend once in awhile. We did that in the dorm at college, too.
I’m pretty sure that transparent pool would have me flipping out. I’ve seen the walkways they have jutting out from tall mountains, I couldn’t do that either.
I loved going back to school after summer break. I did not mind school one way or the other, it was just what you did. And no, never did any homework. Mom and dad figured it was my deal and I could deal with it. I did lug big stacks of books home once in a while, in middle school, but never thought to open them after getting home or what to do with them if I did. One of the many reasons I do not hold public school in high regard. I passed with reasonably good grades never having turned in any homework or ever studied for a test. And I am not that bright.
That pool makes me think of a story that was in Reader’s Digest quite a few years ago (I think that’s where I saw it). A husband and wife were swimming together in their hotel pool, just the two of them I believe. The wife was swimming underwater when her bikini top came off. She swam after it and put it back on, and didn’t think anything more about it.
The next day the two of them made their way to the bar in the hotel. At one side of the bar was a giant fish tank. They looked but didn’t see any fish in it, so they asked about it. “Oh, that’s actually the hotel swimming pool.”
I don’t do public pools, but that one I’d like to try. I love heights, and would like to try the one on the Sear’s Tower (or whatever it’s called now) and the Grand Canyon.
As for summer: I officially started it at noon today. The school had a short ceremony with cake. The principal asked me to say a few words. I didn’t know what to say so I rambled for minute or so.
Wandering Views 
Good morning again.
When you can’t see well, the red line comes up to tell you that something’s wrong. But your poor eyesight doesn’t tell you what.
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Good morning, Fellowship of the Blog. Another beautiful day in the neighborhood.
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Good morning, Chas.
Good whenever, to Wanderers, near and far.
It’s Tues. but I am still in Monday mode.
Art has gone to the office. He is armed with Alka Seltzer if he needs to go on the offensive. He still feels a little off but not too bad.
Covid numbers have continued to go down here, but now after the big weekend togetherness it will be interesting to watch the numbers. That will be the real test.
Speaking of tests, the thought occurred to me that Covid 19 could have just been a test. It worked.
I need to trash that negative thinking.
What is everyone reading? I am about to start reading When Your Voice Became Mine: There IS a Mailbox in Heaven, by Celeste N. Bowers. A mother has written about her young daughter who died and how the daughter inspired others.
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I wish I could read something.
But even the large pringt bible is a chore now.
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Chas, go with audibles.
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Chas, do you have a Super Giant Print Bible? If you don’t have one, it is time to get one with the largest print possible. The darkest print for contrast helps, too.
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A bit of a panic this morning when I suddenly realized I’d forgotten to file my time card for last week. Let’s hope it got in, otherwise payday (this Friday) may be complicated. I had 2 days off last week and with the holiday yesterday I just didn’t remember it.
It’s Tuesday but feels like Monday, of course. Tomorrow is another early morning trip to the vet with Cowboy for treatments, neighbor said he can be available to get him into the car for me in the driveway. I’m so grateful for him right night now, and realize this is an inconvenience. I got him a Home Depot gift card last week.
It was a fairly productive weekend, managed to drop off the bags of electronic waste — and my old TV — at the center on Saturday and yesterday got the kitchen and bathroom floors cleaned.
We’re getting our May Gray (which blends into June Gloom) although we’re supposed to get some warm temperatures later this week along with some off-shore winds blowing in from the east/desert so everyone’s worried about fires again.
Glad Art is feeling better.
Our numbers are still looking good, although last week saw a little bit of an uptick — but compared to what it’s been, that’s still in the low numbers. We’re anticipating reopening statewide on June 15, barring anything unexpected.
Praying for some other countries, though, that are now going through siege with Covid.
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Chas, give audible books a try; there are also some good podcasts or daily radio shows. Here’s the one from Truth for Life (Alistair Begg) which looks good:
https://www.truthforlife.org/broadcasts/2021/06/01/god-is-still-on-the-throne-part-1-of-2/
~ In a culture that’s increasingly hostile towards Christianity, how are we supposed to live? Is it enough to remind ourselves that this world isn’t our home? Alistair Begg addresses these concerns on Truth For Life as we begin a study in the book of Daniel. Daniel 1:1-21 ~
There’s also a transcript:
https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/god-still-throne/
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What a world God made. While you talk about May Gray and June Gloom those are beautiful months for us. We start to green up in May and have some early blossoms. June brings forth even more. All over the world, at various times, God’s renewal is shown forth.
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Oh, I love June Gloom and May Gray. But I’m an outlier when it comes to summer. lol
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Although July is quite nice — our classic summer month, blue skies, sunshine, not usually “too” hot yet.
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I see in an email that our latest hire majored in journalism, race and resistance studies
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Hey, AJ, is that an osprey nest on the pillar?
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June is my favorite month for lots of reasons.
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A summary account of the immune system – and yes, as they note, there is many more layers of complexity to it than can be summarized rapidly: https://creation.com/immune-system
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I don’t have a favorite month. For almost 91 years, I’ve been taking them as they come.
It has worked real well.
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October-November-December for me
When you’re still in school, that shifts to June-July-August, or at least it did back in the dark ages when I was a kid. I think “summer break” is a bit wobbly now, date-wise, depending on the school district.
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Donna, I also hated to see September t come whan I had to go back to school.
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Good Afternoon. Fellowship of the Blog — I like that name.
Hubby and I along with 5th and 6th Arrows took an enjoyable road trip to visit 1st Arrow on Saturday. It was the first time 6th and I saw 1st’s new house. It is a new construction, small but well suited to his needs; it sits on about 1.5 acres of land — very prairie-like. Hubby found a good deal for 1st Arrow, on a used riding mower in very good condition, which was for sale in our area, so we hauled the mower up to 1st’s. A nice day for a journey, and a pleasant visit.
I made lunch that day, cooking on a gas stove for the first time. 1st let me know about some of the stove’s idiosyncrasies, and everything turned out good and I didn’t burn down his new house. 😀
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We are taking the week off from school. I also do not have any piano lessons except for my Tuesday students this afternoon evening. (Make-up lessons from the week in early May that I canceled their lessons due to a migraine that day.)
Next week I have three new students starting — two at home and one at the studio. There was going to be another one starting at the studio besides the one who is, but those people changed their mind after initially saying they would. I had a feeling they wouldn’t follow through, so I hadn’t picked up any music for them or given much thought to lessons for the kid. I’m glad now that I didn’t invest a whole lot in preparing for someone who flaked out before starting.
Last month I lost four students in a five-day period. Yikes, that was kind of brutal, even though it was a good overall how it played out, I think. Two of them were the ones kicked out by the studio owners — or the dad’s behavior, rather, was the reason the family was dismissed — another one was way overbooked in too much stuff and was experiencing considerable anxiety, so the parents decided to lighten her load by discontinuing some of her activities, and the last one, along with all her siblings studying with other teachers, was unenrolled because of sports conflicts and all the kids loved sports and really didn’t care for music. (Mom admitted it was her dream rather than theirs that they all receive music lessons. Much better all-around, in my opinion, when the kids take some delight in their activities and don’t have it be simply a parent’s dream and nothing more.)
Despite all those good reasons for ending the lessons, I still find it challenging to avoid negative self-talk and if-only-I-had-done[or not done]-this, those kids would probably still be with me. “Good teachers don’t lose that many students in that short a time.” Etc. I know my thinking is skewed when I give in to thoughts like that. I find it a challenge to let go of those ideas, though. Maybe I need more practice with that?
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Janice’s question about what we’re reading:
Four books. Well, actually three now, since I finished one of them on the ride home from 1st Arrow’s house Saturday:
You’re Not Enough (And That’s Okay): Escaping the toxic culture of self-love [finished]
The End of Alzheimer’s Program: The first protocol to enhance cognition and reverse decline at any age
I Read It, But I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers
Singing Exercises For Dummies [insert trademark symbol here — I don’t know how to type that]
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Here’s a free e-book from The Gospel Coalition:
https://giveaway.thegospelcoalition.org/evangelism-as-exiles/
Living as “strangers in our own land” —
The days of cultural Christianity are fading. It’s time to rethink normal.
Diving deep into 1 Peter, Elliot Clark encourages believers to faithfulness amid persecution and cultural exile.
The book will help you shore up your faith to prepare for coming storms.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Chas, the death knell for me as a kid was when I started seeing the dreaded Back-to-School ads on TV or “school days” displays department store windows when shopping with my mom.
Nooooooo!! Already????
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Donna, we didn’t have TV when I was a kid.
I saw my first TV in a store window in New Orleans on my way to Texas to join the Air Forc
That was in August of 1949.e.
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So back-to-school must have really hit you without much warning, Chas. No kid really looks at the calendar during summer, right?
June and December were the only months we cared about anyway.
But one day you’re running through the fields barefoot, playing baseball, riding your bike — and the next thing you know, you’ve got to get up early, wear uncomfortable clothes, and go to school. Brutal.
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Yes! Quite a difference from finding shady spots by creeks and in creeks to play, and then having to be all dressed for long days in a schoolroom without shade or air conditioning and with open windows that might offer a muggy breeze. It was miserable until it cooled down.
LikeLike
On Janice’s question about reading, I’ve finished my course of reading that I had lined up for recovery. The three main books I had in my lineup were:
‘Fatal Misconception: The Struggle to Control World Population’, an exhaustive and sometimes dense account of the worldwide population control efforts. This is a much more detailed and accurate account of the population control movement than the politically charged ‘The Merchants of Despair’.
‘Island of the World’ by Michael O’Brien – when I finished this book, I said to myself, “That was one of the most beautiful books I ever read.” It was a difficult novel to read, as it does not flinch from portraying the horror of partisan wars and unjust imprisonment, but it captured the beauty of a life quietly lived in faithfulness despite outward adversity.
‘Courage to Stand’ by Russell Moore – this was an unexpected addition to my reading list, as Eldest thought I would like to read it while recuperating. I confess I braced myself, as I do not find Christian living books generally helpful, but this one was full of grace, redirecting the focus from self to Christ in situations of conscience, using Elijah as an example.
I also read several lighter books. In the past year, I discovered the BBC productions of Margery Allingham’s Albert Campion mysteries, and so tried out a few of the books. I enjoyed a couple, but in general I found them less interesting than Allingham’s contemporaries, Dorothy L. Sayers and Josephine Tey. I read my second favorite Tey book, ‘The Franchise Affair’ to my mother during my convalescence (my first favorite would of course be ‘The Daughter of Time’).
Tiny and I continue our reading journey. We are currently reading the classic British children’s novel ‘Ballet Shoes’ by Noel Streatfield. Tiny currently dreams of being a dancer, and I thought it a good way of giving a realistic picture of the work involved.
LikeLiked by 2 people
And Back-to-School week invariably seemed like the hottest of the year. We have more of a dry heat here (thankfully), but no A/C back then either, of course — and wearing those new, ‘starchy’ dresses, ugh. We couldn’t get home fast enough to change back into our shorts or jeans and T-shirts and sneakers.
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But it wasn’t long before “homework” called (channeled by your mom).
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Cloned my feelings, DJ, about the first week back at school.
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When I was in 6th grade, we moved to a 40 acre ranch, though dad was a doctor and mom a teacher. We did not see any friends all summer. Finally we got to go to the county fair with our 4h animals, what a treat. And then school began. For country folks, going to school means connecting with friends.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Roscuro that is a mighty pile of reading. It sounds wonderful for eyes that can handle it and brains to process it! I always have several books I read along as the mood fits the moment, but I tend to have one I am concentrating on getting through as quickly as possible for reviewing.
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6 Arrows, your books all sound good and practical, the type I use to read before I finally decided to try Christian fiction. Now I read a mix.
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Today’s reading: The port’s revised draft EIR for the SCIG project
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Yes, that’s an osprey nest.
In fact, it’s the nest of the 2 birds I posted pics of a week or 2 ago. :0
This one….
Put me down for a NO! 😲
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By the end of each school year I was so ready to be done, but by the end of summer I was ready to start school again.
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I semi- was ready to go back in high school to see everyone and (more so) college.
But not in elementary school LOL.
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I would have been ready had they waited for the weather to cool down. The officials were out of sync with God’s good summer gifts of special outdoor times.
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The Real, I couldn’t handle it either. My body just shuts down with heights, doesn’t matter what my brain says.
Janice, it was nice to have all that time to read again, as I had barely read anything for myself this past year – work stress made it difficult to concentrate. It was just so nice to spend a half a day reading an entire book (some of the lighter reads I finished in half a day). As for eyes, my eReader allows me to adjust font size. All the books I read except ‘Island of the World’ and ‘Fatal Misconception’, oh, and the children’s book to Tiny, were on my eReader.
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In elementary school I got a new outfit for the first day of school. Of course it would not be cool summer clothes to suit the heat of the first weeks in school. Can anyone relate? When we were teenagers some of us young ladies would trade clothes or rather borrow a dress from a friend once in awhile. We did that in the dorm at college, too.
LikeLike
I’m pretty sure that transparent pool would have me flipping out. I’ve seen the walkways they have jutting out from tall mountains, I couldn’t do that either.
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I loved going back to school after summer break. I did not mind school one way or the other, it was just what you did. And no, never did any homework. Mom and dad figured it was my deal and I could deal with it. I did lug big stacks of books home once in a while, in middle school, but never thought to open them after getting home or what to do with them if I did. One of the many reasons I do not hold public school in high regard. I passed with reasonably good grades never having turned in any homework or ever studied for a test. And I am not that bright.
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Of course, maybe my teachers were that good.
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No on the pool.
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That pool makes me think of a story that was in Reader’s Digest quite a few years ago (I think that’s where I saw it). A husband and wife were swimming together in their hotel pool, just the two of them I believe. The wife was swimming underwater when her bikini top came off. She swam after it and put it back on, and didn’t think anything more about it.
The next day the two of them made their way to the bar in the hotel. At one side of the bar was a giant fish tank. They looked but didn’t see any fish in it, so they asked about it. “Oh, that’s actually the hotel swimming pool.”
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I don’t do public pools, but that one I’d like to try. I love heights, and would like to try the one on the Sear’s Tower (or whatever it’s called now) and the Grand Canyon.
As for summer: I officially started it at noon today. The school had a short ceremony with cake. The principal asked me to say a few words. I didn’t know what to say so I rambled for minute or so.
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Good night Jo.
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Two days of school left. I may stay up for a bit as I have to call my insurance company about my claims. Night time seems to work best.
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