Povey Prattle

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. ================================== 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 th...

 I was in a tither yesterday. The news from the Ukraine, from Israel/Palestine, from the U.S./Mexican border (and from  many other places)  was all bad, and  all too dreadful. My anxiety level was HIGH.      This was not good.     I became so very  anxious Acting on a suggestion from Rabbi Rachel Barenblatt (The Velveteen Rabbi),  (you can follow her thread at the Episcopal Cafe's "The Lead"  Friday July 18th 2014 -  "What to do when all the news is bad"     http://www.episcopalcafe.com/      I  decided to  fast from all  media and social media on Saturday 19th July. This means that I will abstain from  T.V. and  Radio news; from internet news, from e-maul, and from postings on Facebook,    I will  endeavor to enjoy an anxiety free Sabbath. See you on Sunday, pove,  

I need spectacles for reading and for computer work. I do not need them for distance sight such as driving.  Nevertheless I opt for progressive lenses with the top being lens-less and the bottom being good for reading etc as I dislike having to take my glasses on and off. I am fortunate (I think)  to have excellent optical insurance (courtesy of the Church Pension Fund) which enables me to have a free annual eyesight test, and a reduction in the cost of frames and lenses. So off I went on June 24th to  Target Stores Optical Services for an eyesight test ( which determined that my sight  is deteriorating very slowly and there is next to no signs of macular degeneration or cataracts). I placed an order for new lenses and frames  ( at a cost of $295 even with the optical insurance and a "Target Red Card" holder discount of $14. Without insurance the new glasses would have cost $565.  That is astonishingly high.  No wonder poor people opt for ...

Some readers may recall the sagas of my encounters with my (ahem)  "somewhat difficult" neighbour. She is the one we found at 5:00 a.m. back on May 14th, flat on the ground and hallucinating wildly, in  a neighbours driveway. She went off to the hospital and I went off to the United Kingdom. Upon my return I called one of her brothers, a good and wise retired Judge from Michigan.  He told me that she had been moved into a nursing home in Venice FL and asked me to visit her. That I did (for his sake), and found her to be in good spirits and in improving health.  She asked my to retrieve her mail.  I did so, and after boxing it  up, I posted it to her. (Of course I  had not entered her villa alone - the President of our Condo. Assoc. came with me (wise as serpents, innocents as doves?) Last week another of her  brothers called and asked me to visit her again, That I did last Saturday ( for his sake ).  She was even m...

I am reading Iris Murdoch's 1958 Novel "The Bell". She uses two words which I have never encountered. 1.  rebarbative 2. animadverted I have never seen these words before today.  I do not know what they mean.  Do you? (I have not yet looked them up in a dictionary)

A good site in which to dabble on one of those "not much happening days".         http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/0/