As January 2022 departs it left a familiar snowy calling card; perhaps colder than previous ones.
Looking outside this morning
Our Christmas tree still twinkles from morning to night, and we are still sipping our coffee from seasonal mugs.
Avoid the 2022 Xmas rush and order one today! 🙂
The weather is seasonal, and our social calendar . . . is . . . limited. We are doing well because we are not doing much.
Even the pace of painting has slowed this January . . . I think I got too caught up in the books —Bullies and Saints, and Robert E. Lee.
In this time of troubles, the church’s failures seem magnified; yet such a sweeping overview that John Dickson offers comforted and challenged me, He concluded:
“Christ’s melody remains beautiful — dare I say unique. And when Christians perform it, they leave an indelible mark on the world.” (A good review)
Dickson describes the bullies who blew their performances, and the saints who excelled. Its timeliness, written in 2021, reminds me to keep checking my performance against the original.
Growing up, I believed Robert E. Lee was comparable to Abraham Lincoln; Dr. Allen Guelzo disabused me of that notion in a compassionate and compelling biography.
“. . . His biography examines why Lee betrayed the Union he had faithfully served, and it is not a flattering portrait. It is certainly a detailed one. . .
This is somebody who committed treason,” says Guelzo, who is both the son and father of career Army officers. “Robert E. Lee raised his hand against the Constitution he’d sworn an oath to defend. I take that seriously . . . (LA Time Review)
Hmmm . . .
Have you read some books recently that made you stop and wonder?
Since March 2020, good books have been good friends, and help me see important things worth taking seriously. ( Fiddling with Paints and Books )
Throughout pandemic I am so grateful for their companionship; the authors are bursting many bubbles.
What books have burst your bubbles — or helped you see important things worth taking seriously ?
Finally, as January departs the COVID testing is up; the positivity rate is falling, and hospitalizations are declining. But between 50 and 60 people are daily dying from COVID and the complications it brings.
All this as the headline NEW COVID VARIANT dispelled the quiet of these ruminations.
People get so in the habit of worry that if you save them from drowning and put them on a bank to dry in the sun with hot chocolate and muffins they wonder whether they are not taking cold. ~John Jay Chapman (1862–1933), letter
Still enjoying this year’s hearty poinsettia . . .
And I am still painting for fun and profit. 😉