Sunday Church, Kane, and Dinner

I rose, as I have of late, closer to 8 than 7, and I dreamed and woke with the sunrise, but managed to sleep again. I made coffee, now drinking yesterday’s coffee every other day, and skipped breakfast as I was not hungry. Maybe a mistake, as I was starved for lunch later. I found my way to the office, it had not moved, and sat in my work chair, turned on the light (which is also an anti-depression light), and began my usual tasks.

The locals were up too.

Sipping liberal coffee, Fair Trade, and reading my transactions in Quicken (and correcting them), reviewed my balances, read (mostly deleting) my email, blocking the phishing emails (labeled as coming from friends, family, and popular companies but show strange emails and almost always the same click-bait text), and reading the news (mostly depressing). With that done, I start recalling Saturday and writing its story.

Most of the morning was spent writing the blog. I invest the morning (or late evening) in writing the story of the previous day. Not really a summary but a retelling, as a summary does not have the same emotions as recalling, composing, and telling a story. It also gives me a little freedom to comment and select when I want to cover events, sometimes connecting them logically as I often recall them in a different order than they occurred.

I find my way and finish with time to shower, shave, and so on for church. Today, I head the music while playing games with Z at the church on Wednesday, a patriotic service. I put on a white shirt, a whale tie from Deborah with hints of red, and a blue vest. I arrived just as the previous church, Emmaus, was ending its service. I ushered, and Dondrea did a solo as Ken was out and gave an excellent sermon. The gist, if I can use that word, was that in America we talk about freedom, but we often confuse freedom from various tyrannies with the freedom to do things. While we are free, Dondrea reminded the listener that our best choice is to help one another and build a free and good society. Or, in other words, it is not about ‘me’ being free, but ‘us’ being free to live safely together and be successful. It was also interesting that many of the words in the patriotic songs included themes like refinement, self-control, and becoming. All suggesting we are all in this together. The golden rule is not to ‘do to others’ but to be there for others. Find the sermon here at about 13:30.

(Pastor Anne, Dondrea, and me)

I headed out around 12:15 and got home around 12:30, passing a terrible wreck involving some SUVs on TV Highway. Someone had pulled out of McDonald’s into the path of an oncoming vehicle. I then spent about an hour on a video call with Jeanne and Deborah working out the details of our upcoming trip in Michigan. Jeanne was more familiar with the Michigan Upper Peninsula and made most of the suggestions. I tried to be helpful. We managed to get a plan together, only to discover we hit one Mining Museum on the day it was closed, and the boat tours were also timed for the morning or afternoon. Deborah will rework the timing and likely reverse our path to arrive on better days for certain events.

I share (maybe overshare) some things, but as a cancer survivor, I like to share how the surgeries and meds are working. While we talked about travel, I made a salad with muffaletta-style olive spread and other goodies. My colon decided it had seen enough with salads, veggies, olives, chopped sandwich meats and cheese, and pickled beets, and soon I was spending considerable time together. I was able to come back to Deborah and Jeanne a few times.

Despite the difficulties, Deborah will finish up the planning. I have some hotels to put in, and then we will work out the rest soon. We will have to be flexible, and I will try to front-load a few things in case of events.

With the in progress now and my colon settling, I saw it was the 75th Anniversary of Citizen Kane, and I headed to Movies on TV, our local Regal Movies place, acquired popcorn and a kid’s soda (for too much), and enjoyed two hours of black-and-white. I enjoy the movie because it always looks modern, almost like someone just made it black-and-white. Every shot seems needed (no fluff), and every word is no more than needed to tell the story. I liked it again. “Rosebud,” I missed the first time, and now watch for it and see how it is slipped into much of the story.

It was now time for dinner, and I headed to BJ’s Brewhouse for prime rib. The England vs. Mexico game was on, and I cheered for Mexico (they were behind at halftime when I arrived), mostly because they were playing in Mexico City. The local crowd was mostly for Mexico. England was nearly impervious to Mexico’s endless shots (with England down a player after a red card). One last shot from Mexico missed by inches, and another bounced off the bar, leaving England a win and missing out on extra time. It was a strange, fierce game, reminding me of USA football.

After that, I paid my bill after I had coffee and a single scoop of ice cream for dessert. Air VW the Gray was then my way home, having remembered to charge it to 100% the night before. I then read for a while. I started to nod off, put the book away, and then fell asleep. I had many dreams, all faded now, and woke often.

Thanks for reading.