Anti-Vacers

 There are so many people claiming to not wanting the Covid-19 vaccine.

One out of four members of the House of Representatives have not taken in--and it's been available to them since it was approved.

40% of Republican men say they won't take it.

Reasons vary from thinking there is something in the vaccine to alter your DNA to not trusting the government to saying it was developed too fast.

Republicans--it was developed so fast because the former President--you're guy--shut down science to get it developed. Many projects were abandoned to work on the vaccine! In the end, that was good for all of us who want to be safe.

Taking the vaccine isn't 'for you', it is FOR ALL OF US.

Those who say masks and social distancing and the vaccine are taking away you're rights, let me give the Governor of Texas' misquote of Patrick Henry.

The Governor said, when announcing the re-opening of his state in spite of the CDC and WHO's warnings:

"Give me liberty AND give me death."

An very telling misquote....

Heart breaking

 I was in the grocery store yesterday when I saw an elderly woman coming out of an aisle. She practically had her head on the handle of the basket. I thought she was just watching to make sure no one else was coming.

But no. Her back was bent so her head was near her right shoulder. I should remember the name for such things, but I don't.

She was painful to watch. My back even started aching for her. So I tried to avoid her.

But sure enough, she ended up behind me in the checkout line.

But by then there was a man--her son?--with her.

He was so kind to her, asking if she needed to sit down and taking her groceries--quite a few of them--out of the cart for her.

I was upset with myself for trying not to see her after the first glance.

But it was so heart breaking.

I don't often pray about specific things--I usually meditate as my prayer--but on my way home I prayed for her, for her being bent, for whatever pain she must feel. And I gave a prayer of thanks for the kind man with her.

Praying helped me feel a bit better about myself as well.

Pray always for those less fortunate than you. And give thanks for those who seek to help them.

 

Where I've lived

 The first 18 years of my life, I lived in an apartment over a grocery store in Anawalt, West Virginia. We had a coal stove in the living room and electric heaters in the bed rooms. Our bathroom was not connected to the living space, so it was unusable for baths in the winter, so we bathed in the living room in a large steel tub. The grocery closed in my late teens, so winters were really cold.

The next four years I lived in Morgantown, WV, in a dorm the first year, an apartment at 69 Ridgewood Ave. the second year, as a Junior I was a hall monitor in another, off campus dorm, and my Senior year I lived in an apartment at 89 Ridgewood Ave.

The next year I lived in a dorm at Harvard Divinity School and the year after that, having married my high school sweetheart, Bern, in an apartment in Somerville.

The next five years we lived in Charleston, WV in a house on Hazelwood Avenue.

For seven years after that we lived in the Rectory of St. Paul's, New Haven for five years and then, separated for a while, in different apartments in New Haven and then, together again, in a house in New Haven.

Since then, we've lived on Cornwall Ave. in Cheshire. Almost 30 years now.

So, I've lived in six different (very) towns and 12 different dwellings.

But here on Cheshire for much the longest--this is 'home'.

Interesting to look back and notice that.

You might want to do that too.

milestone

I just opened my blog and found I have now had 250,003 views.

A quarter of a million views!

I've been averaging over 250 views a day this month.

I thank you all. Your support encourages me to keep writing.

And since I wore my winter coat again today, I needed good news!

So, I'll write on, trying to make the profound trivial and the trivial profound. And everything in between interesting and straight-faced humorous.

Thank you all for sticking with me....

Shalom.

Be well and stay well.

 

Welcome to New England in March

Today about 3, the clouds came and winds that blew the trees crazily. 

Then came the snow, very hard and fast, nearly covering outside our house in Cheshire, CT.

Just as suddenly, it stopped--both the wind and the snow--and in 15 minutes it all melted, leaving everything wet--and the sun came out and the sky turned blue.

A snow squall, I think it called.

March in New England is like that.

It's 20 degrees colder than it was this time yesterday.

I blame Daylight Savings Time.

I got up at my normal time but it was an hour later than it should have been.

DST throws me off for days.

It must have caused the squall.

Just me talkin'....

 

Wandering...

Bern wore a shirt today that said: "All who wander are not lost".

I really like that.

I remembered Dion's song "The Wanderer".

In there somewhere it say, "I roam around, around, around, around...."

Wandering and roaming are good things.

"Wandering" and "wondering" are not that far apart in spelling or meaning.

"Letting your mind wander" can turn up all kinds of things you couldn't have found through logic or directness.

I sometimes just drive around Cheshire, wandering, finding streets and places I've never seen before.

I heard a long piece of NPR today about how valuable 'day dreaming' can be for adults. Kids do it all the time, but adults, when they have spare time, are usually looking at their phones or a screen.

Day dreaming, roaming and wandering can open up areas of our lives and the world that aren't accessible any other way.

So 'wander', my friends. 'Day dream' and 'roam around, around, around, around....

Trust me, you won't be 'lost', but you will be deeply 'enriched'.

Wander and wonder on, beloved....

 

 

I'd forgotten

Since it's been so cold so long, I'd forgotten how annoyed I get by people walking up and down Cornwall Ave. talking with their phones on speaker.

The last few warm days, days for being out on the porch and deck, I've been reminded how much that annoys me.

Get you friend to come walk up or down Cornwall with you--don't have them on speaker phone.

It annoys me.

Most things about cell phones annoy me:

 *people on their phone in the super market asking about what cereal

 *people on their phone in the car, driving like idiots

 *people looking at their phones while in a restaurant

 *people on their cell phones in any public place

I remember the days before cell phones.

Now those days seem like days of a more wondrous time....