No news was good news
I am at the end of my fast from the news media. I am none the worse, and much the better after this sabbatical from news and chatter created anxiety.
I walked with Penne at leisure, prayed, spot cleaned some stains in my very old bedroom carpet, defrosted and cooked the last of my "fourth of July Special" steak, and ate it with sautéed asparagus and green bell pepper.
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A friend from Church is in the hospital having had part of one leg amputated earlier this week. Soon he will begin receiving treatments for bladder cancer.
I visited him today. His room T.V. was on (chatter, chatter, chatter from CNN). At my request he turned it off in less than a minute.
For once I was not in a hurry. He opened up and chatted not about the surgery, but about many of the sad failures and disappointments of his life. I listened.
You know, sometimes we meet people in Church where they put on a good face, leading us to believe that they have their shit together. (It's hard to be honest in Church). But once in a while we are able to break through the b.s. of religiosity and talk about life as it is, not life as we perform it.
Thus it was today. I was moved to hear his story, and honoured that he trusted it with me. I, for once, did not offer counsel. I simply listened, and then pronounced God's blessing.
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I finished reading Iris Murdoch's novel "The Bell". Oh my goodness she understand human nature, and the foibles and follies of religious life. None of her characters are entirely wonderful. None of them are utterly bad. I venture to say that we'd have a more healthy Church if we understood, as does Iris Murdoch, than none of us are entirely wonderful, nor are any of us incorrigibly bad.
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I began to read David Reynold's book - "The Long Shadow: The Legacies Of The Great War In The Twentieth Century". (Norton 2014). This is an important book about which I shall write more in a few days.
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Early evening saw me visiting with my gorgeous octogenarian friend Betty and a new friend Carole. Betty and Carole are much more interesting than CNN news.
===================================
And then there is Penne. She is in canine heaven when I am at home for most of the day. She sets up shop in which ever room I am. She sometimes lies down on my bed. I sit beside her and begin some sweet talk. Her tail wags, and wags, and wags. She stretches out on her left side, and puts her right front leg over my arm. Then she moves her body and pushes me away so that I can give her a belly and nipple rub. Damn that dog reads me so well.
===================================
I walked with Penne at leisure, prayed, spot cleaned some stains in my very old bedroom carpet, defrosted and cooked the last of my "fourth of July Special" steak, and ate it with sautéed asparagus and green bell pepper.
==================================
A friend from Church is in the hospital having had part of one leg amputated earlier this week. Soon he will begin receiving treatments for bladder cancer.
I visited him today. His room T.V. was on (chatter, chatter, chatter from CNN). At my request he turned it off in less than a minute.
For once I was not in a hurry. He opened up and chatted not about the surgery, but about many of the sad failures and disappointments of his life. I listened.
You know, sometimes we meet people in Church where they put on a good face, leading us to believe that they have their shit together. (It's hard to be honest in Church). But once in a while we are able to break through the b.s. of religiosity and talk about life as it is, not life as we perform it.
Thus it was today. I was moved to hear his story, and honoured that he trusted it with me. I, for once, did not offer counsel. I simply listened, and then pronounced God's blessing.
==================================
I finished reading Iris Murdoch's novel "The Bell". Oh my goodness she understand human nature, and the foibles and follies of religious life. None of her characters are entirely wonderful. None of them are utterly bad. I venture to say that we'd have a more healthy Church if we understood, as does Iris Murdoch, than none of us are entirely wonderful, nor are any of us incorrigibly bad.
==================================
I began to read David Reynold's book - "The Long Shadow: The Legacies Of The Great War In The Twentieth Century". (Norton 2014). This is an important book about which I shall write more in a few days.
===================================
Early evening saw me visiting with my gorgeous octogenarian friend Betty and a new friend Carole. Betty and Carole are much more interesting than CNN news.
===================================
And then there is Penne. She is in canine heaven when I am at home for most of the day. She sets up shop in which ever room I am. She sometimes lies down on my bed. I sit beside her and begin some sweet talk. Her tail wags, and wags, and wags. She stretches out on her left side, and puts her right front leg over my arm. Then she moves her body and pushes me away so that I can give her a belly and nipple rub. Damn that dog reads me so well.
===================================
There is some news which is good news.
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