Current Events

Am listening to CFRB 1010 via CFRX 6070 (Toronto, Ontario news talk radio).  Eating a bowl of stew I left in the oven too long.  It isn’t stew as I had growing up, which is really a beef soup.  This is a variation of a stew from the, “Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery”.  The bowl of stew I cooked didn’t get burned.  Amazingly!  There is a state of emergency for Ontario.  In Canada they coined a new word, “Caremongering”.  To monger is to sell or purvey something.  The Bible talks about, “fear mongering” [one word]. Caremongering, is where one shops for elderly neighbors and such like.  

I had a physical at the doctor’s today. It was nearly a, “virtual” instead of a physical.  We had to wait in the parking lot and call to let them know we were there.  They came out to get me when they were ready.  Douglas had to stay in the car. Saw a new doctor as the old one retired. That was a shock when he announced his retirement.  The new doctor is a woman.

Douglas texted and he’s bringing me cheese and potato perogies from Thomas’s.  [Perogies are Polish.] I am not afraid of the virus exactly.  I do feel like I have walked into a dystopian novel’s story though.   The questions we have are things like:

Will Annie’s [a restaurant in Livonia] open up when the, “scare,” is over? [My first dinner choice was their fried shrimp.]

Is all this quarantine / isolation — social distance — just an exercise in, “what can we get away with in order to control the population, in the name of safety”?

What of these, “new normal,” measures will actually become adopted permanently and be normal in the end? [elbow bumping etc.]. 

 Will this, “social distance,” thing make worse the isolation caused by social media and screen gazing? I mean, will we get so used to, “social distance,” that when the, “scare,” is over, we become even more connected to people via screens, and social media such that we rarely connect in person?  In other words, will, “social distance,” become, “normal”?

If we are allowing these emergency measures to happen, what other measures or restrictions of liberty will, “they,” try next time?  

Douglas will be home soon.  I am supposed to be glueing a paper bag to the bottom of a box. [Have the bottom half of an Amazon box I am working on.  It is large and flat.  I want it to put small bits of paper (words and pictures) I have collected,  in it to sort them.]  I want to use the paper scraps in collage in a notebook.  I discovered an old planner book I bought for the photos inside it.  I am putting collage and journaling on the pages. [art journaling, junk journaling]  It is coming out really nice.  Glueing the bag to the box covers up the flaps so bits of paper won’t get lost under the flaps.

Douglas is home.  Going to eat and watch TV with Douglas later.  I recorded an old British program, “Escape to the Country,” via the CBC in Canada.  It is kind of like, “House Hunters”. This episode had them looking for million Pound [£££££] properties. We might watch that.  We watched a movie off the on demand the other day.  It was called, “Knives Out”.  It is a kind of murder mystery.  It was really good.  Great to see Christopher Plummer!!  Yet it needed something.  Of course I always say that, and can’t quite put my finger on what it needs.  This time we figured if the murder victim had faked his death or orchestrated the whole thing in the first place, that would have made the story better. 

I want Douglas to read this before I post it.  He is wanting to take advantage of early spring weather [late winter] and walk up and get a bottle of cream at the store.  So I have to finish now, if I am to keep Douglas happy.  If I keep writing to this, I will be, as Joe Bitner used to say, “burning daylight” [i.e. wasting daylight].

  

Bought a lot of eight pens on eBay

I bought a lot of eight pens on eBay.  Nine pens came in the mail.  You can click on the photos in order to see what they look like.  You can also see how they write. Some of these pens are fountain pens.  Some are rollerball pens.  Others are ball points.  They are fun to write with.  No. 3 pen came with ink already.  It is very smooth and it writes well.  We went to a mall that is quite a ways from us.  It is the mall where the, "kids" who, "hang out at the mall" drive Porches to get there.  There's a Neiman's and a Burberry's store in there.  I went to Paradise Pens to get ink.  I got the No. 1 pen to work.  It is a French fountain pen. Jean Pierre Lepine Paris. It is way fun to write with.  Had I bought it new it would have been fairly expensive.  Another fountain pen came with ink in it but wasn't writing.  I soaked the nib end in water.  It still didn't write.  Then I realised the ink wasn't opened.  I opened it.  The pen writes fine.

I bought 8 pens. September 10, 2016.  They were shipped, September 15, 2016.  Nine pens arrived, September 15, 2016.
$8.00
$3.02-- shp.
---------
$11.02

I'm off to get lunch.  More posts as things come up.

"Hiatus"

January 29, 2016   Hiatus... (From the Radio Drama Writing Journal on the writing website.)

I will not be writing to the story, "Historical Fiction," aka., "We Find Ourselves Returning to Find Home," for the time being.  The opening of the radio drama contest has come and gone.  The deadline is nearly upon us. Sometime in early November 2015 I decided to use the, "Writing Map," I bought.  ("Write Around the Bookshop")  The first entry in the notebook was from November 7, 2015.  I thought that since the opening of the radio drama competition came and went,  I would put my radio drama on hold in order to concentrate on the work I needed to do around the house. We always have lots to do getting the house ready for a Christmas guest.  I was tempted and distracted by the Writing Map.  I figured that it would be something simple to keep me from getting involved in a major project that would detract from the house work.  The writing map was indeed simple.  There was more room left in the notebook when I was finished.  So I downloaded more writing prompts.  Around the time I did that, I had started a notebook for notes to a fully fledged story.  Please look at the index page for, "How I Learned to Read a Book," in order to learn more.  There is also a Journal for that story as well.  I will write more to this journal when and if it becomes relevant. 

January 23, 2015

I am thinking about writing a radio drama for the, "BBC World Service -- BBC World Drama -- International Radio Playwriting Competition".  According to their website, "The competition will open again in October 2015." It is usually a few months after the opening that the competition closes.  This means that I have enough time to write something.  And Ishould also have enough time for revisions.  This text has come from the  journal of my radio writing efforts.  The reason I am sticking the, "Radio Writing Journal," with the Lums Chapel stories, is because I am thinking of writing something with my Lums Chapel characters for the competition.

I am working on a novel already. I will continue to take notes and keep that story, "in mind".  I need to keep up with some house work.  I also need to do a few things in the computer room in order to make the room an even better working environment.  I have a goal of making room in the living room for an indoor bike.  Another goal is to actually ride the bike.  Then I hope to get out more this summer to ride my outdoor bike.  One of the writing books I have talks about how to stay healthy so you can be freed up to write.  I also need to get around people more during the day.  Yet another goal is to ride the outdoor bicycle, to do the writing at the library this summer.  I had planned on doing that last summer but never managed to get there.

I want to keep praying about this.  I need to know if I should embark on such an ambitious project.  And I need to know what to write.  I have some ideas, but I want to do what God wants.  I don't want to do what I want and then try to fit God into the story some how like an after thought. 

You can check back to that page whenever you want to read about my progress.

I wrote this on Tuesday, March 18, 2014.

I read this in front of our, Home Church, as a teaching, (with modifications) March 30, 2014. 

I started off by reading, Psalm 119:2 

"Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart."

I've had a slight stomach issue today.  Must have eaten something that sat out too long.  But rather than dwell on, "what's ailing me," I am bringing back to my remembrance some things we have been studying lately.

It will be getting spring here soon.  The snow is finally melting.  We have seen snow on the ground most of this winter.  I am making plans to ride my bicycle, to take photos of the neighborhood; to get some exercise; and to enjoy God's creation as I do some writing and studying in a local park.

Today, I have been listening to FBN Radio (fbnradio.com).  They are having their Spring share-a-thon.  They just played a song, "Let's talk about Jesus".  http://youtu.be/a1kUqjsXLWw It might not be 100% accurate, but the sentiments are, "Let's talk about Jesus more and more."  As I was writing this, FBN would play songs that were apropos to the subject I was typing at the moment.

My Brother in Christ, Tony sent out his daily email verse today, with 2 Corinthians 5:18 KJV

"And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;"

It reminded me of something I want to do while I am out on my bicycle.  I want to believe for God to put people in my path that I can speak his word to.

On a side note, FBN just told of a man who was out of money.  He prayed to God, "I am willing to be a failure if it brings glory to you."  At that point all kinds of money rolled in.

I switched from the radio to listening to the Legal Alert. http://www.christianlaw.org/cla/  I was listening to a segment about the times of the year that school children are apt to be, "persecuted," for sharing their faith in school. (Christmas and Easter).  I was thinking about what I would say if someone told me to stop speaking God's word.  What came to my mind is, a record in Acts chapter 4 (KJV).  You can read this in context sometime, Peter and John were before the Sadducees.  They were commanded in verse, 18, "not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus".  Acts 4:19 and 20, "¹⁹ But Peter and John answered and said unto them, (the Sadducees) Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. ²⁰ For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."  

"Oh say but I'm glad!"  http://youtu.be/6bFFg36Acgg

"While the ages roll, I'll keep on praising him"...  http://youtu.be/s-18iHIR-pY

I am endeavoring more and more to speak the things of God which I have seen and heard, rather than the negatives (news) and, "chaff," (trivia) which I read in books and see on the Internet. (Chaff is the waste part of wheat that gets blown away when the grain is harvested.)

My dear friend Tony reminded me of the word, "chaff," this past Sunday.  We have been doing an in depth study of Psalm 119 with Reverend Wayne Clapp live via the Internet.  (You can find a video recording here, http://m.youtube.com/user/emrldcstcff).  

^{Psalm 119: 33 (KJV) "}Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end."  God can and will teach us his word.   We just have to ask God to explain things we do not understand.  The word, "keep," reminded me of a castle's keep.  You can read about the keep here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep. Briefly, the castle's keep is a fortified tower that was the last place where the most important people living in the castle (king) would take refuge during a siege.  When the castle was over run with the army of an enemy, the king had an apartment in the keep. As we read this verse on Sunday, I just had a mind picture of me putting God's word in the keep of my inner castle.  

I have been watching lots of football (soccer) matches (games) this year.  We are at that point in the season when the commentators talk about the match, they speak as if they just witnessed the most important, match, goal, or event, for this season of that club (team) or maybe for the whole league (English Premier League). Because I have followed this league before, I know these minute details will be mostly forgotten come the start of the new season.  Sure, statistics will be kept.  We will be reminded of the number of career goals, or the club history of a player.  Yet only the most die hard fans will remember a spectacular tackle that was made early in the 2013-2014 season.   

As I watched a recorded football match Sunday afternoon, I was reminded of the, "chaff" that Tony brought to my remembrance.   All these worldly things, even football, are so frivolous compared to eternity. All these statistics and such like, will be forgotten some day. Studying, Psalm 119, we have been reminded of the depth of God's word.  

"Wonderful words of life" http://youtu.be/PVh--AlfkH4

As we studied Psalm 119, on Sunday, Tony mentioned how much information is located in such a small space.  That reminded me of something in radio communications.  There is a way to send computer text over radio with amateur (ham) radio.  There was also something Douglas told me about.  There was something in the 1980's where a submarine would surface for a few seconds and they sent out a radio message with potentially lots of information it.  They would close out (finish) in a short amount of time.  Psalms 119 reminds me of that type of radio transmission.

Ok, I've probably written enough.  This was a lot of fun and it helped my tummy heal! 

God bless,

Robyn

"New" Desk Saga

God is so good! I always seem to get my cake and eat it too.

Have been studying Ergonomics.  I wanted a table for my computer keyboard.  I have one for the computer.  I got a fancy desk chair cheap because my sister works for the company.  It is good to sit in because I am not in pain. It is like orthopedic shoes for my back. For the chair to work at it's best I need the keyboard to be around lap height.  I can raise the chair to work with an existing table.  But I have to put my feet on a wooden box.  I am not at my most comfortable that way.  I want to have my hands and arms lower than they would normally go.  Not just because it is good on my back, but because of the wrist position.  It is difficult to sit and write if I am in pain.  

I have a set of table legs my stepfather got from a "paint your own furniture" place.  We tried to find a table top to go with them.  The table would have been the height we have already.  I have a nice table top that is meant for use with the legs, but it is in use holding the printer.  It is huge anyway.  I know there are keyboard drawer things you can buy to attach to a table to make it a computer desk.  I saw them online.  Without being able to measure it or see how sturdy it is, I didn't want to buy one.  They don't have the measurements in the online descriptions.  I need a specific size.  

I began to think we could not cobble a table together that would work.  We tried all sorts of furniture places to look for a table.  We wanted a cheap one in case we had to saw on it or modify it.  We tried Salvation Army, expensive new furniture stores, and stores with older cheaper stuff in the back.  We even tried a furniture salvage kind of place.  Everybody we asked, thought we were nuts.  A table that sits beside a sofa might have worked except they weren't long enough for a full sized keyboard + room for the mouse. They didn't have room for my legs.  I asked my brother in Christ computer geek, where we could see a keyboard drawer in the flesh.  He said, to go to Ikea.  We saw one that would work.  It is slightly flimsy, but most Ikea seems to be that way.  We took measurements of the item.  

We looked at the legs again. I realized that the Ikea thing would work with the legs.  It depends upon the table top we use. I looked for a piece of wood to use on top.  We have part of a headboard, that was too long and too narrow the other way.  I went and looked at the rafters in the garage.  I saw some shelving and doors.  Douglas had taken apart an old kitchen cupboard for his grandmother in the mid 1990's.  I thought the parts would come in handy someday.  Some day is here.  We measured one of the doors.  In the decorating magazines they take old doors and use them for table tops. Our door is a good size. I am going to scrub this some, and remove peeling paint.  I may leave the old paint on as much as available, for a rustic, "shabby chic" type look. Anyway, except for some masks, (so I don't breath paint dust,) screws, a sand paper block and whatever else--- the ikea thing, this will be a, "free" table.  

Will take photos of table pieces and the process to put it together.  Will send a link when I get them online.

Sterling wants out.  I have an email to write.  I need to be in bed already!  (Months ago. Ha!)

Friday, "Goings On"

Am writing this during a thunder storm.  Have iPad unplugged.  I was believing for rain, but didn't expect it to storm.  It has been so hot here lately.  It has been an official heat wave.  Was hoping for rain to cool things off a little bit.

We don't have air-conditioning in this house.  (cold air to cool the house)  There's probably money for it somewhere.  But we figure since we generally get these heat waves in parts of July and August and they usually last two weeks or so at a time; it is not worth spending the money on it.  When we go through the heat wave though, it seems like air-conditioning would feel nice.  It might make it hard to breath though. =

I'm eating the remains of dinner. (chili cheese fries from Ram's Horn)  Maybe not the most healthy but it sure tastes good.  I am even having a home made, "'slushy" drink.  (Small [10 Fl. Oz. / 296 ml] Welch's grape juice bottle from freezer.)

Watching part of a François  Truffaut film, via TCM.  I'm not really watching it.  It is just on as background.  I was watching the British Foreign Secretary (William Hague) answer questions about British foreign policy.  That was a, "real hoot".  Ha!  That was also on as background.  I wanted something on that I wouldn't get too interested in.  Sunday TCM will air a great French film.  Mon Oncle (My Uncle) by Jacques Tati.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Tati  It is a funny story about a boy and his uncle.  
Jacques Tati is one of my favorites!  

It is really storming out.  I hope everyone is ok.  Poor Sterling the cat, doesn't like thunder. 
 I am getting very sleepy.  There is a radio drama off the Internet I want to record tomorrow at 9:30 AM.  It has been so hot, we didn't feel like eating much.  Sterling is so thin.  He will fatten up for winter.

The real reason I am writing...   Something strange happened earller at a few minutes 
before midnight.  
This car pulled up outside the house.  It was pointed towards our house--- as if it would 
back up into the drive way across the street. 
The front headlights were shining into our house.  Whoever was driving was honking the 
horn as if to summon someone. They sat outside our house a minute or two.  It was if they were waiting on someone from this house to come out to their car.
I thought it was rather odd.  Eventually they pulled into the driveway across the street.  
They backed into the garage.  They honked the horn again.  At least it sounded as if the car 
I saw was doing all the honking.  I don't know if the person they summoned ever came.  
The reason I write about this is because it was, "mysterious".  It was mysterious because 
I didn't know what was going on.  Had I known what was, "the deal", then it would not have been mysterious.--- It was probably a very innocent thing.  It is the kind of situation I want to add to my, "Osbert Pickle" story.  A mysterious car outside a house at night.

I must be going.  Enough posting for now.