Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Wednesday, Time For Catching Up

 With all our rain everything is looking so green and not only green but the sunflowers look like they have grown a foot over the weekend. Hopefully, this evening I can get two shrubs planted that I've been putting off getting them into the ground. Kind of like Goldie Locks and the Three Bears, the ground was too dry, the ground was too wet but maybe by this evening it will be just right. 

It felt like this past week held so much, excitement, drama, disappointment, good news filled in-between with the ordinary. With all the emotions involved, by the end of the week, both Roy and I were dragging a bit, tired and in search of rest. Throw in a couple of restless Buddy nights and by yesterday afternoon I felt depleted. Part of that though was the good kind of tired because we met as a class for the first time in over a year. We put two round tables together in the Fellowship Center to discuss, learn and laugh. It was such a good feeling to gather once again, even though not in our room but that didn't matter. 

Life with the Feral Fam is interesting. Biggio has discovered he is a boy. He is a late bloomer and this morning he is filled with desire. Oh my. He tried to take on the dominant male and I am glad wisdom overrode desire. Well, at least for now. I also saw a quick glimpse of kittens, younger than Punky's. Camo brought her litter over for a late afternoon supper last afternoon. I don't know how many but I saw flashes of orange and then black and white. No wonder Junior sleeps all day in the garage. Two and a half years ago she abandoned Punky and Strawyer here for Cali and Riley to look after. I think she has had other kittens but hasn't been around. I think she lives over near Tipton Hill or by the church. HP is a late arriver for breakfast this week. She is engrossed or sleeping somewhere on the gravel road. Boodos, actually touched my hand this morning. That is a kitty cat breakthrough. None of the Boos have ever shown any interest in anything but food. Boodos, has been gravitating toward HP's special bowl for several day, even when I am standing there. 

At Ingles yesterday, the man sacking my groceries asked if I was a Baylor Bear and he made the Sic Em sign. (I had a Baylor t-shirt on) I said yes. Then we both shook our bear paw hands and made the downward motion and we both said rather loudly, "Sic Em Bears!" You should have seen the looks we got from across the front of the store. He said his wife is a Baylor Bear, got her masters there. You don't have Baylor recognition too often here. My favorite is when, once again in Ingles but this time in the parking lot, a man asked me what is a Baylor? Told him. He said his sister retired from Baylor Medical in Dallas and was now a traveling nurse for Yancy county or it could have been Madison. He always wanted to ask her what was a Baylor but didn't want her to think he was ignorant. One of my favorite stories of living here. Just received my Alumni By Choice Baylor shirt. Need to wear that soon. 

On Sunday morning when we met in Sunday School, I gave a short devo so we could think about the past year, what we did wrong, I confessed to buying too much soup, what we are grateful for, what we've learned and what do we carry forward. I mentioned a book Enlightenment Hat by Hat by Nevada Barr. This is a written account of her wrestling with concepts, beliefs and acceptance of her finding Christianity as having been raised agnostic and then as an adult an atheist. She would not be invited to a proper women's ministry event, because she exposes the rough and raw growth, maybe with a few cuss words thrown in. I'd go hear her though if she was talking about this book. I have never read any of her fiction. Her chapter on stillness is one of the best ever. She talks about not experiencing a life of hurried littles. Being someone who embraces wholeheartedly, the little things being important, well this grabbed my attention. She writes on finding stillness based on Psalm 46, be still and know that I am God and she also duly notes when one has a monkey brain, the stillness can be difficult to find and maneuver. I like her and usually reread this book every year. 

Just learned a new term to me, bullet journaling is called bujo. Who knew? Well, those in the know knew, knowledge new to me. Since all the journals, paper, folios, pens and the such have hit my Facebook timeline, it is like being a kid in the candy store. Yes, a few of those offerings have found their way here. Such a vast array of writing implements available. 

There are those internal struggles that we grapple with mostly on our own. We might ask for counsel or advice from time to time, but it would seem it is a silent and private trial. Happenings in the world, our country, our churches; we want to understand or sometimes we don't want to and we quietly table the queries of our mind, cause nobody else knows. I have not tabled the issues but, I have on a time table and on the way I can recognize wrong thinking, or erroneous contemplations go through them. Mainly at this point there is a lot of reading involved, being introduced to concepts and realities I barely or never knew about. I learned on Twitter yesterday that if we take time to understand, we are living out privilege. I don't know if that is a true statement or not, but that is how I know how to eliminate, change or whatever, ideas and realities. 

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With the humidity down in our area, yesterday and today look to be promising temp wise. I got one shrub planted yesterday and a few other outside essentials taken care of. Worked on my SS lesson and talked with Rena to get fall material ordered. Lifeway did away with the Bible Illustrator and in my opinion the best piece of work they did. The quarterlies, while better than in the past, are still deficient. I used to think when the SBC didn't know what to do with people, they had them write quarterlies or run Baptist camps. I may still kind of think that. 

 


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