just dessert

HOM and i toddle over to the neighborhood ice cream joint after dinner for pistachio gelato.

half the neighborhood has also taken to after-dinner ice cream.

of valleys and still waters

we have a straightforward old fashioned sermon today sticking entirely to the passage. this is surprisingly rare and much appreciated when presented. i thank the preacher and find a fan club around him. it appears there are a few of us who hanker for straightforward old fashioned sermons that stick to text although unfortunately the current fad favors a pop psychology message garnished with the bible verse of the week.

after church we spend some time catching up with old friends. the trouble with a semi-retired oft-traveling lifestyle is that one ends up hi-and-bye with many beloved people and soon we discover we have all grown older in the meantime. 

for example, D has developed dementia in the years we have not sat down for a good chat. P is active with her community work and at peace with her non-remission. E and S have just returned from the camino de santiago. if S can do it, bum hip and all, i think perhaps HOM and i can too.

with this past week i feel, to my dazed delight, that God is anointing my head with oil as he leads me beside the deep unknown waters of uncertainty. thanks be to God.  

good saturday morn

lovely overcast morning. the type where you just return under the sheets and nap.

my father's brain - sandeep jauhar (2023)

this is a painful read, especially towards the end of his father's life. he is honest about the indignity of advanced dementia the stress of caregiving and the distress of surrogate decision making. i am humbled as an aging person a daughter a care provider and a fellow human.

they need to make this required reading for somebodies.

he writes best when describing gritty unpleasantnesses, by the way. like the choked toilet. you want to retch along.

senior moment

time was when a pencil wuz a pencil.

now you have exam-grade pencils.

existential problem

what i say is, perhaps they have a vegetarian copywriter.

another sunday

all my life you have been faithful - all my life you have been faithful - with every breath that i am able - oh i will sing of the goodness of God. - Jenn Johnson (2019)

playing in the band today and thinking there are few more satisfying moments than when everyone plays their different parts and we all sound a voice together. the cello, of course, makes me want to take up a new instrument. or just weep.