I saw this recently on a list of cheerful songs, thought I should have a look.
I’ve always liked Dolly…
Clear Blue Morning
Entering
Another day entering in to worship – in our living room, but in the company of many. We had an early church service at 8.30am, then I logged on to an evening service at 5pm – I’m loving the feeling of connection I get from these online services.
In the meantime I was finishing some submissions for a couple of projects I’m participating in. The first was recording videos of a couple of choir parts for an online choir – it was originally a pub choir, but because of restrictions is now a couch choir. I had until 7pm tonight to submit, and managed to get them done this afternoon. They’re not great quality (my cough made it hard to hold notes or get any power into them) but I’m excited about being part of it!
There are quite a few videos of past collaborations on their Facebook page, but here’s my favourite at the moment – it makes me smile!
I also wrote an entry for Furious Fiction – every month there’s an email with prompts, and you have just over a weekend to write a 500 word story. I’ve only done a few, but I’ll keep on and get better as I go.
It’ll probably be an early night tonight. Last night I was kept awake by a fast moving, flying cockroach that seemed impossible to kill. Thankfully, it has been disposed of now.
Sleep will be sweeter knowing I’ve finished what I set out to do today!
Reading The Day Away
We’ve been staying home lately, and mostly pottering round doing this and that… I’ve still been getting dressed each morning and keeping (fairly) normal hours. Today I thought I’d embrace the home-bound experience and stay in bed in my pyjamas 😀
I had been planning to do this anyway – it’s Saturday. I’ve not been well today, though, so it seemed an obvious choice. My Babe has been doing the shopping trips on his own, as we want to help reduce the number of people out and about as much as we can. I went to help yesterday morning (those Aldi carts are easier to unpack with two, and the scanning is usually done at warp speed…) and this morning I felt like I’d been hit by a truck.
Coincidence?
Well, yes, probably.
Nevertheless, it’s been nice to do nothing much but read, despite a massive headache making it hard to concentrate. I think I’ll probably get dressed tomorrow, though…
Another distant worship interlude for you –
How To Be At Home
…if you happen to be rich.
Obviously these gadgets are beyond the grasp of most people, but I had a giggle 😀
This is Richard Ayoade in “Gadget Man“. There’s also “Travel Man“, which you can watch at the moment on SBS on demand.
Staying Home
Another day in the continuing coronavirus saga…
Went shopping to pick up some essentials today – no toilet paper, which we expected (we have enough at the moment), but when we tried to get some mince for Biggest Boy’s birthday dinner tomorrow (he’s 21!) – a vast expanse of empty shelves! We’ll improvise…
How shall we proceed?
None of us in this family are in the risk groups for complications even if we catch the virus, so we’re not worried there. But in our various social circles there are those who are. There seems to be some evidence to show that younger age groups (and possibly older but basically healthy?) can be carriers while being asymptomatic, so waiting until we feel sick to self isolate may be too late for others who are vulnerable.
We are in the fortunate position of not having to go out much – our normal life is fairly isolated. There are still some situations where we’re out of the house, or people come to us. At this point it’s a case by case decision as things unfold…
There are many who don’t have the luxury of staying home – those in essential services, those who can’t afford it, service industries… for those people, and the ill, elderly and immunocompromised, we have a responsibility to do what we can to reduce the spread of the virus.
What to do while we’re isolated?
There’s always books! My answer for everything 😀 Use your local library (before it may need to shut down?) Get as many books as you can. Have a look for books online.
Create. Write that Great Novel you’ve always wanted to. Or a poem (it doesn’t have to be “good”!) Bake cakes with the kids. Dance round the living room until they need to take a nap 😉
There are also free courses online, or movies, in a variety of subjects – some are always free, some may just be for this period of time… also some suitable for school age children.
I’m looking forward to browsing what’s on offer!
If you’re still unsure why it’s beneficial to self isolate or practise social distancing, here’s a clip from one of my favourite shows, which demonstrates how disease spreads…
Live Long And Prosper
In this time of coronavirus fear and “social distancing“, we are renegotiating contact with others… the basic handshake is avoided, and other greetings put in its place. For our church, as for other places of worship, that means using the Vulcan salute.
A good choice, I think!
Quite apart from the geek factor, the hand gesture is derived from a Jewish symbol, used during a priestly blessing. Leonard Nimoy (Spock in the original Star Trek) remembered seeing it as part of a service in the synagogue in his childhood, and when faced with coming up with a Vulcan greeting, modified what he had seen.
The original blessing is done with two hands, arms held out and hands touching to form the Hebrew letter “shin”, which stands for “Shaddai”, or “Almighty God”. In this form there are restrictions on who can perform the gesture and the accompanying blessing, but as the Vulcan salute is modified, it is available for anyone to use.
Tomorrow we’ll be telling each other to “Live long, and prosper”, to which the proper response is “Peace and long life”.
And we’ll be extending a blessing to each other as we do it!
Snippets
I’ve been reading again!
Over the holidays I binged on cozy mysteries, so now it’s time for more educational and inspiring books (not that I’ll give up on my mysteries!). I have lots of books in my bookcases that I haven’t read, and I’m working my way through those.
Our library also has new books coming all the time – I can usually go in each week and find something I haven’t seen before.
I’ve just finished a book called “Bare”, by Susan Hyatt. It’s got a lot about weight loss, but coming from the perspective of loving yourself where you’re at, and finding out what you’re actually feeding when you binge eat (or over work, over exercise… add your particular excess here…) One section is about what to do with the hectoring voices in your head. There are a few different options; this is one of my favourites.
Another that I quite liked has to do with reacting to the rogue thought as a bouncer would –
(Scenario)
Thought – “You’re useless/ugly/horrible” etc…
Mental “bouncer” – “What!! You again! Trying to sneak past me – get out of here!”
What else have I been reading?
My devotional reading this morning lead me to John Donne’s Holy Sonnet XIV –
“Batter my heart, three person’d God; for, you
As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend,
That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow mee,’and bend
Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new
I, like an usurpt towne, to’another due,
Labour to’admit you, but Oh, to no end,
Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,
But is captiv’d, and proves weake or untrue.
Yet dearely’I love you,’and would be loved faine,
But am bethroth’d unto your enemie:
Divorce mee,’untie or breake that knot againe,
Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I
Except you’enthrall mee, never shall be free,
Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.”
I haven’t read much of Donne. There are nineteen Holy Sonnets in all – take a look!
Here’s two songs to finish the day.
😀
Love
It’s Valentine’s Day!
Hearts, flowers, chocolate…
I enjoy all that – I know some people think it’s an over-priced excuse to indulge, and that it undervalues everyday, long-lasting, persevering love. There is that element, of course. I think we have to make that choice to mark the day, while remembering the sentiment for the rest of the year.
But do we celebrate only a narrow definition of love?
Romantic love is pretty well covered. What about families – parent/child, siblings? Love between friends – that uplifted feeling you get when a beloved friend drops by unexpectedly, or you’re sitting down over a cuppa just nattering away. Love for the furry members of the family, who tend to adore unconditionally, and help to calm and lower blood pressure…
And above that, love for God, and His for you.
Today can commemorate sad memories and loneliness for many people. I don’t want to minimise the pain of that, but I do wonder if we, as a society, elevate romance too much at the expense of the rich diversity and fulfillment of other relationships…
Happy Valentine’s Day!
❤
May you be able to look around you and see (and be) the love!
Here’s a snippet of a training manual 🙂
“Love is large and incredibly patient. Love is gentle and consistently kind to all. It refuses to be jealous when blessing comes to someone else. Love does not brag about one’s achievements nor inflate its own importance. Love does not traffic in shame and disrespect, nor selfishly seek its own honour. Love is not easily irritated or quick to take offense. Love joyfully celebrates honesty and finds no delight in what is wrong. Love is a safe place of shelter, for it never stops believing the best for others. Love never takes failure as defeat, for it never gives up.”
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (Passion Translation)
…and of course – there’s always Twoo Wuv!
1000 Fields of Roses 