Here are some recent thoughts on the season of Lent and a devotional book I am using:
https://brentwoodhomepage.com/bob-mckinney-what-i-know-377/
Tuesday, March 12, 2019
Monday, February 25, 2019
When it rains . . .
Oh my, but we are tired of the rain here in the Southeast -- middle Tennessee, in particular, but all around us it's soaking wet.
I don't complain about the rain much, and it seldom affects my mood or sense of well being. But we have had SO MUCH rain that I'm beginning to be weary of it all and it just might start putting me in a bad mood.
But hope springs eternal, and it appears we are done with the rain and dreariness for a while. We woke yesterday morning and this morning to beautiful sunshine. It's cold, but I can take the cold if it's just not wet for a while.
I wrote those first two paragraphs a few days ago, then got distracted with something. I'm pleased to say the bad mood never came, but it was getting close.
To go with the yucky weather, there is all kinds of sickness around. There is an ongoing debate about whether the cold temperatures make us sick. My parents and their peers all believed it religiously, and that's how I was raised. Going out in "night air," walking around barefoot, going outside in chilly temperatures without proper clothing, going outside with wet hair -- all of these made me a candidate for sickness in my growing-up years.
When I raised my own children and relaxed those rules a bit, every time one of them got sick, 90 percent of the time, my parents and parents-in-law attributed it to their being cold. Passive-aggressive comments and not so passive-aggressive comments were duly noted.
I have to wonder what my folks might have thought a few weeks ago when I was diagnosed with pneumonia. It was Super Bowl Sunday and I had been fighting a cold for about a week. I thought I was feeling better but over the weekend the cough became worse.
I told Wife that Sunday morning, to be on the safe side, I was going to go to a walk-in clinic and get checked out. The doc there listened to me breathe with her stethoscope and said, "I think you have pneumonia."
I requested that she listen again because surely that could not be correct. Another listen and a chest x-ray confirmed her suspicions. Right then and there she made me put on a mask, told me to cancel my Super Bowl watching plans and stay home and rest for at least the next three days. That, along with a breathing treatment and an antibiotic, seemed to do the trick.
Somewhere my parents are shaking their heads, saying they knew I would eventually get sick if I kept going outside without a heavy-enough coat on.
I don't complain about the rain much, and it seldom affects my mood or sense of well being. But we have had SO MUCH rain that I'm beginning to be weary of it all and it just might start putting me in a bad mood.
But hope springs eternal, and it appears we are done with the rain and dreariness for a while. We woke yesterday morning and this morning to beautiful sunshine. It's cold, but I can take the cold if it's just not wet for a while.
I wrote those first two paragraphs a few days ago, then got distracted with something. I'm pleased to say the bad mood never came, but it was getting close.
To go with the yucky weather, there is all kinds of sickness around. There is an ongoing debate about whether the cold temperatures make us sick. My parents and their peers all believed it religiously, and that's how I was raised. Going out in "night air," walking around barefoot, going outside in chilly temperatures without proper clothing, going outside with wet hair -- all of these made me a candidate for sickness in my growing-up years.
When I raised my own children and relaxed those rules a bit, every time one of them got sick, 90 percent of the time, my parents and parents-in-law attributed it to their being cold. Passive-aggressive comments and not so passive-aggressive comments were duly noted.
I have to wonder what my folks might have thought a few weeks ago when I was diagnosed with pneumonia. It was Super Bowl Sunday and I had been fighting a cold for about a week. I thought I was feeling better but over the weekend the cough became worse.
I told Wife that Sunday morning, to be on the safe side, I was going to go to a walk-in clinic and get checked out. The doc there listened to me breathe with her stethoscope and said, "I think you have pneumonia."
I requested that she listen again because surely that could not be correct. Another listen and a chest x-ray confirmed her suspicions. Right then and there she made me put on a mask, told me to cancel my Super Bowl watching plans and stay home and rest for at least the next three days. That, along with a breathing treatment and an antibiotic, seemed to do the trick.
Somewhere my parents are shaking their heads, saying they knew I would eventually get sick if I kept going outside without a heavy-enough coat on.
Sunday, January 27, 2019
Christmas 2018 "from India"
For our international Christmas Eve celebration last month, we celebrated the food and culture of India. It was another smashing success.
The only ones who wore indigenous dress this year were Daughter and SIL. Wife had something, but ran out of time and never quite got around to putting it on.
The little guys were with us at the start, but went to bed before we sat down to dinner.
The food was great -- chicken tikka masala, lamb kabobs, naan bread and some other dishes, the names of which now escape me. There were a couple of tasty drinks too, including a curry-based Scotch one with sounds dreadful but was very good.
Wife said this one was the most challenging for her, but as usual, she made it very special and we all had a great time. This was our eleventh year of our international Christmas Eve, which began the year Wife asked how we would feel about having "non-traditional" food at Christmas, and having it on Christmas Eve. We gave our hearty approval, and that year we had Mexican food.
The rest is history and what started as a departure from tradition has resulted in a tradition in itself. Go figure.
For the fourth year in a row, it was Wife, Younger Son and me on Christmas Day. We went to see the movie "Mary Queen of Scots," then were joined late afternoon by Older Son, DIL and GS2. We went to a great little burger and beer spot that was open. On the 26th, we celebrated Christmas and it was nice enough to be outside some.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Christmas Eve table before we all sat down, as well as the food table.
The only ones who wore indigenous dress this year were Daughter and SIL. Wife had something, but ran out of time and never quite got around to putting it on.
The little guys were with us at the start, but went to bed before we sat down to dinner.
The food was great -- chicken tikka masala, lamb kabobs, naan bread and some other dishes, the names of which now escape me. There were a couple of tasty drinks too, including a curry-based Scotch one with sounds dreadful but was very good.
Wife said this one was the most challenging for her, but as usual, she made it very special and we all had a great time. This was our eleventh year of our international Christmas Eve, which began the year Wife asked how we would feel about having "non-traditional" food at Christmas, and having it on Christmas Eve. We gave our hearty approval, and that year we had Mexican food.
The rest is history and what started as a departure from tradition has resulted in a tradition in itself. Go figure.
For the fourth year in a row, it was Wife, Younger Son and me on Christmas Day. We went to see the movie "Mary Queen of Scots," then were joined late afternoon by Older Son, DIL and GS2. We went to a great little burger and beer spot that was open. On the 26th, we celebrated Christmas and it was nice enough to be outside some.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Christmas Eve table before we all sat down, as well as the food table.
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