calvary

1. sullied stained deformed and fractured 
2. purchased redeemed cleansed and now whole
3. 
   
4. so easy to receive for myself
5. so difficult to extend to another!

palm sunday

1. spirit of God, descend upon my heart. wean it from earth; through all its pulses move. stoop to my weakness, mighty as thou art! and make me love thee as i ought to love.
2. 
   
3. i ask no dream: no prophet ecstasies, no sudden rending of the veil of clay, no angel visitant, no opening skies. but take the dimness of my soul away. 

the swedish art of aging exuberantly - margareta magnusson (2022)

this is mostly a collection of essays on life from the perspective of great age written with disarming superficial simplicity so that it reads lighter than oliver sacks' gratitude but is as bijou a book as the other.

not as good as her first book perhaps but still the same spell-binding chattiness.

she shares two pearls i relate fully to: take care of what hair you have (left), and eat chocolate.

good things

not being a rabid nature-lover, here are things that delight even a philistine:

• the smell of outdoors when the rain first starts
• also when snowflakes just begin falling
• being snugged up indoors with hot soup while it storms outside
• and being snugged up indoors with the snow falling outside
• being outside before the rain with ominous skies and the winds in your face
• being outside with that lovely nip in the autumn air
• and nothing beats the joyous riot of a field of wildflowers in spring

there is a pattern here. i don't seem to like summer except indoors with air conditioning.

spring cleaning

on account of being confined because of zoster and of being home alone and of suddenly experiencing an unseasonal attack of energy, i:

• clear out the junk cupboard and put up years of unsolicited samples / souvenirs / empty boxes for onward donation 
• clear out the bookcases and discard several years' worth of antediluvian insurance tax and travel documents 
• clear out the stationery baskets and discover many more unsolicited goodwill products, similarly directed for onward donation

at the end of which the junk cupboard the bookcases and the stationery baskets look as solidly immutable as ever and i retire to bed for a much deserved nap. so much for döstädning.

shingles 2

it occurs to me the time-honored classical description of zoster pain as being dermatomal may have been authored by someone not actually experiencing zoster in the first-hand up-close-and-personal sense.

a personal encounter with zoster will tell you that the pain involves that whole half of the body containing the offending dermatome and is not in any way as civilized and contained as being confined to the dermatome alone. or even the next dermatome. no siree. the pain sadly engulfs the entire half body, freely co-opting neck and limb and other uninvolved anatomical parts. it would cross the midline if it could, i tell you.

in other news, this is day 2-and-a-half of acyclovir and the damn vesicles are still going strong.

my visit to the coffee-shop

what i notice from random furtive glances at various passers-by's cellphone screens is that the top 3 preoccupations of middle-aged-looking people in public when they are scrolling their phone are:

• the stock market
• flight schedules
• text messages (in giant font)

84, charing cross road - helene hanff (1970)

witty self-deprecating charm bundled with all-round goodwill generosity and welcome served on a series of epistles and garnished with the passage of time and history.

luvverly re-visit.

helene hanff is really a refreshingly agreeable writer.

shingles

not the one over the door.

the one that is a dainty cluster of vesicles on a discreet part of the body from which emanates waves of gut-wrenching pain, is wot. owwwwwhhhhhh.

in other news, thank God it's now and not earlier (traveling) or later (traveling). although HOM has to go and ask, why didn't you get the vaccine? fear of needles, that's why.

little idiot (note to self)

having just irretrievably dispatched down the rubbish chute the activation QR code of the new continuous glucose monitoring kit that i buy at a huge discount i am now bereft of the toy i planned to test and am newly committed to a second kit at a smaller discount and thereby negating any discount to begin with. the new technology had better be worth it. 

< cue ominous murmurings much head banging and dark looks at self >

taking stock

xiamen jb (and jb and jb and jb) kyushu xiamen (again) earthquakes fires and storms and monsoon surges illness and infirmity (stalwart companions) politickings and chicanery (robust perennials, these two) meetings and farewells and most lately the bloodbath in the wall street 'hood.  periodically featuring people, some uninvited.

it's enough to put a girl off the rest of the year.

or make her ask bemusedly, where did the first quarter go?

time off

solo ideas for april, the little poster says, and suggests a visit to my favorite coffee shop (great thought!) a trip to the museum (yes! been some time) a walk in the park (that too) or a meal al fresco (until reality sinks in certainly).

here is lunch al fresco (as close as it can comfortably get without breaking into sweat) pour un.