7 Super Quick Takes

It’s hard to get a good picture of this cat. Gosh is he relaxed.

Have so lost all track of days and seasons and hours and meaning. Is it time for takes?

One

Seriously happy that the three sick kids were all standing up last night. They immediately went and lay down again, but still, it was pretty great.

Two

They did lie around in the living room for an hour in the evening so that we could finally finish Barchester Towers. Such a great book. It was lots of fun accusing each other and all the people we know of being awful. I’ve been whispering to myself constantly for the last two months, “Don’t Be Mrs. Proudie…Don’t Be Mrs. Proudie…” and one only need whisper “Slope” to make someone stop and become a nicer person.

Three

I’ve said this before, but it’s better to read good novels than to give long lectures. It would be really hard to list out all the ways that Mrs. Proudie or Mr. Slope are so bad, and then to explain how to avoid it. It’s easier just to read the book and get the whole picture in a few lines and then try not to be like that.

I say that because I’m reading/listening to a more modern, whatchacallit, “Self-Help” book and while there are some interesting points, the thing that bugs me is how flat the human person is in that kind of world. I’ve said this before, haven’t I? I guess I wouldn’t be so irritated by self-help as a genre if it made an effort to plumb the depths of the human person. But the point seems to be to keep things as light and fluffy and inane as possible.

Four

Unlike this book which goes all the way down, in the way that I like best (with humor) to the dregs of the person and then climbs back up again to the mercy of God. I read most of it out loud to Matt, who laughed so hard he cried, and has been trying to quote it in sermons but now he Can! Because we have a real copy! So good. It’s like anti-self-help, you do need help, and God would love to give it to you. Seriously, go buy it, you’re stuck inside anyway.

Five

I am bemused, like Kelly about the idea that we all have so much time now. Really, having several children fall ill means that we have to catch up a week of school work as the academic year marches inexorably on. The only thing that has gone away for me is driving anywhere, and I didn’t do that very much anyway. Feeling rather jealous, actually. Could really use a holiday right about now.

Six

I’m sure everyone is praying more than usual. If you felt like it, you could totally pray for my parents who are on their way back to the US from Mali this moment. My mom says it so much better:

This trip has been a gift from God. You know how it is when you go back to a place long-known but almost forgotten. You slide into familiar ways as if you’re putting on a pair of well-worn shoes. The sights and sounds, the way the wind blows, the greetings you hear as people encounter each other—it all comes back and you feel suddenly more at home than you ever imagined.
So we went to Farakala Village, to people we have long known, and got the news. The weather was hot, Hot, HOT, and Bob was weary. The butane fridge my father once bought me refused to cool anything, and the solar panel refused to produce energy, so we had to charge our computers and cellphones in the translation office. But that worked, and we got lots of work done in the short week we were there.

They will eventually come here, but not until we are sure it is safe for them.

Seven

I’m going to make a meat pie today. Thought you’d like to know. I’m going to make the usual flakey pastry crust, which needs to be handled firmly and without fear. You don’t want to handle it too much because it will become tough, but if you are fearful it will crumble to bits in the wrong kind of way. While that is resting I’m going to saute an onion and some garlic and brown some sausage, and then I’m going to add mushroom and carrot and whatever else I have in the fridge, and some tomato, and a little bit of thyme that is actually coming up in the still be-wintered garden. Once it is all melded together I will bake it for about an hour, who knows. It’s going to be gorgeous, and also really nice with just a thimble full of red wine because, after all, it is Friday, and who knows what tomorrow may bring?

Only God, and surely he can handle it. Have a nice day!