Saturday and Breakfast Out and a Rummage Sale

I slept really well last night! I wasn't sure that would happen since I went to bed so early again.  But I got up only once in the night. When I finally got up at 5:00, I fed Missy and had a cup of Chai myself. Then I worked the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.

Bob and I will each take a car this morning to the rummage sale at the senior center. I have my trunk full but perhaps I could get what he has in my back seat. That would save us having to find parking for another car. I have a lot of odds and ends to get rid of. I hope I don;t have to bring it all back home. If I do, I will stack the two boxes back in the living room closet floor and have my own rummage sale this spring. I have one white table under my bed. I could use it.

He says he only has two boxes.  We may only take my car. And I would like to leave earlier for breakfast. I would like to pick him up at 6:46. We would then have more time for breakfast. We will see what he says. This rummage sale is from 8:00 until 3:00.

More later....

The rummage sale was very slow. That's probably because there was a huge Farm and Home Show going on at the college. Their parking lots were filled to capacity. We had to park across the street in the Prescription Shop parking lot to attend the part of it we saw after we left the rummage sale at noon. We had both sold nearly everything we took.

Bob and I did go take in the Farm and Home Show this afternoon and then stopped at Arby's and had a roast beef sandwich afterward. I took him home to take his nap. Marilyn will call us to come help her with her boxes with whatever she has left at the end of the rummage sale. She has my number and Bob's too.

More later...

She called and Bob and I went up to help her load her leftover stuff but others and had already pitched in to help her.

After I came back home...and with the printer she gave me....I lay with Missy on the sofa and took a short nap.

Bob dropped by to say he was too tired and sleepy to come over to watch TV. I was glad. I took my bath and watched TV until 8:00 when Missy and I went on to bed.

Lenten Sermon

I Was Blind and Now I See

March 26^th 2017

JOHN 9:1–41

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided.

¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”

²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. ³² Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹ Jesus said,^[a] “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Exploring the Scripture

I don’t always  appreciate John’s gospel account as much as the synoptic gospels because it was such a late account and is so different from the synoptic gospels. The writer of John’s gospel saw Jesus as completely different from that of the synoptic gospel writers. 

But this account of the healing of the blind man is storytelling at its best: It has a complete cast of characters, a detailed dialogue, conflict, and resolution. But a long story like this can easily tempt us to address every facet of the account and its implications for modern life. It would be more suitable for us to choose one feature of the story and the day’s theme provides a place to focus: on the contrast between the man who is blind, but is healed and gradually comes to understand who Jesus is and what Jesus is doing to change the outlook of their society; and the religious leaders who are portrayed as collaborators and as remaining blind.

But first we need to first recognize a couple of points: First, today we understand the physical causes of visual problems, but in the ancient world many assumed that such conditions were the result of personal or generational sin. Jesus rejects this explanation in verse 3. Then second, when John refers to “the Jews,” in this story, he is referring to the religious leaders of his time, not an entire people. We need to note that every character in this story is Jewish (including Jesus!).

As the story progresses it becomes obvious the man’s physical blindness offers Jesus an opportunity to open other’s eyes. 

However, the larger purpose of the story was to show how the man gradually came to see who Jesus was and to expose the spiritual blindness of the other people in the story. The blind man first refers to Jesus as a prophet in verse 17, but by verse 22 we are told that he may have confessed that he understands Jesus to be the Messiah. Later in verse 28 he is seen as a disciple. In the final passage Jesus asks him if he believes in the Son of Man. The man is still not sure and asks who that is. When Jesus states that he is talking to him, he responds with the words, “Lord, I believe” and becomes a follower.

The first hearers of this story may have been members of a congregation in a cosmopolitan city, several generations after the resurrection, for whom the author of John wrote his Gospel account. Historians believe the Jewish-Christian members of the congregation faced persecution by local Jewish religious leaders because of their confession of Jesus as the Messiah. The Jewish people had an entirely different concept of the Messiah. They believed the promised Messiah would liberate their nation from the oppression of the Romans. Jesus, on the other hand, was among them to teach them a different way of living and of dealing with the oppression. He used parable and metaphor to illustrate that. But the Jewish Christians never came to understand that. 

They likely related to different characters in this story. Those who were afraid to confess publicly Jesus as the Messiah could probably understand the blind man’s parents (v. 22). Those who had been expelled from the synagogue likely identified with the blind man (v. 34). The story not only affirms Jesus’ power to help people to understand his message, but also shows how fear of persecution was preventing some of them from seeing they, like the first disciples, were also betraying him although in a different way.

It is then not surprising that this story has been chosen for the Lenten season, a time when we are challenged to examine our lives and confess our failings. And like the audience that first heard this story, we sometimes find it frightening to share our faith in God with others. 

The season of Lent is traditionally understood to be a time for reflection, contrition, and consideration of the sacrifice Jesus undertook for our sins. It has been, as you know, traditionally recognized for the forty days leading up to Easter. Preceded by Shrove Tuesday, upon which Christians are to prepare to confess their sins, Lent is entered into as a holy season of penitence.

Of course, all that is contingent upon a belief in the atonement theory of the crucifixion by which we accept that Jesus died to save us from our sins and bring us into eternal relationship with the divine being, God. If our belief in that story has cracks in it, the idea of Lent can become nonsensical. Why would we need to be penitential if we are considering the death of a man who didn’t die for our sins? Or if we didn’t believe in the idea of sin as it was constructed in the early centuries of Christianity? Why would we consider an act of contrition the appropriate response to an act of barbarity and violence?

The seasons of the Christian year and the festivals and traditions that are celebrated within them are usually based upon doctrinal or theological premises that may be difficult to discern at first blush. Communion often feels like a beautiful, communal meal. The doctrinal assertions that undergird it, however, are considerably different than many assume. Similarly, Lent can be thought of as a meaningful time for reflection and the consideration of love, justice, and kindness when the doctrinal beliefs upon which it is built no longer synch with contemporary understandings elicited through the study of the historical Jesus or the evolution of the idea of God.

If our understandings have shifted and we no longer believe that Jesus died for our sins, something I do not believe, does that mean, however, that we should give up on the idea of Lent? I do not think so. Sometimes setting aside a period of time for intentional reflection on life, on love, and on the things that flow from the often challenging intersection of those two things, can be a very important discipline to undertake, particularly in the busy craziness of twenty-first century Western society.

This is prescribed period in which to do this. Forty days feels good to me. And giving something up for Lent, an idea that is built on the practice of fasting, again, an act of penitence, can be worked in, if you like, by way of breaking a bad habit, or building up a good one.

As with other ecclesial practices and understandings, however, I invite you to leave behind the exclusively Christian word associated with it And so I invite you to undertake a course of reflection and study if that is your wish and to set aside the term: Lent…. If to hold onto it continues to overshadow your period of reflection with a bleak and dangerous interpretation of a tragic story. I am not suggesting that you deny others their right to use the word or to critique them for it. My thought is simply that you practice without it and see if it feels okay for you. You don’t need the doctrinal interpretation to reap the benefits of reflection and a sabbatical time away from the daily grind. And I would be willing to bet that if you share the news of your intentional forty-day practice with someone who is not involved in church – someone at work or a family member – they will be far more likely to want to know what it is you’re doing and why.

If you’re at a loss as to what you would do if you weren’t self-examining, here are some ideas. Think about what one or another of them would elicit in and from you. Would it make your life or the life of another more meaningful? If so, it is certainly worth trying. But the list is simply to stir your own imagination and see what you might undertake against the backdrop of your own life. Consider, make a pledge to yourself, and, if you can, keep track of how to feel as you move through your time.

Some suggestions:

• Keep a Journal

• Sign up for a poetry blog or buy a book of poetry and read a new poem every morning when you get up and the same one every evening before retiring. Better yet, write a new poem every day!

• Tape these words of commitment,  up next to your bathroom mirror. In the morning, consider how they can affect your day positively; in the evening, acknowledge what you might have done better and celebrate the good you made happen.

As I Live

As I live every day,
I want to be a channel for peace.
May I bring love where there is hatred
and healing where there is hurt;
joy where there is sadness
and hope where there is fear.

I pray that I may always try
to understand and comfort other people
as well as seeking comfort and understanding from them.

Wherever possible
may I choose to be
a light in the darkness
a help in times of need
and a caring, honest friend.

And may justice, kindness, and peace
flow from my heart forever.

Amen

• Write a thank you note to someone every day. Such as that person down the street who you don’t know but who gifts the community each year with a beautiful garden or Christmas light display.

• Think of a charity you’d like to support. Every day, place an amount of money you’d like to contribute to it and a note to explaining why you want to support it (yes, a different one each day!). Read the notes when you’re done and, if you feel like it, send them in an envelope with your check.

• Subscribe to the daily TED talk and learn something new every day. Follow up on stuff that really intrigues you.

Break the mold that Lent has been and release the new you that you’ve not yet met! And don’t forget to celebrate you while you do it!

Sometimes we are challenged, like the healed man, to testify to others of the good God has done in our lives. Like them, we can have our physical and spiritual eyes opened as we expect the coming of the light of God into our lives not only at Easter time but every day we live.

We are often unable to see how fear inhibits our faith and witness. Others may challenge us to share the good news as we understand it with them. The light of God can open our eyes to see how God’s works are revealed in each of us. So let us ask ourselves, “With whom do we identify in this story?” Also when have we been hesitant to discuss our personal beliefs in God and our personal understanding of who Jesus really was? Then when have we taken a risk to share that understanding and discuss it? 

Bob and Karan and I belong to a group that meets twice monthly to watch a Living the Questions video. We meet in the homes and watch this progressive video and afterward spend an hour sharing our thinking and then sharing refreshments.  No one has any answers and we all know it. But we all have opinions and comments and sometimes sharing those opens our eyes to new ideas or even new truths. We invite the congregation to join with us if you wish. 

During this season of Lent, let us ask ourselves “What is difficult to look at in ourselves, in our families, and in our congregations? And in what ways does the presence of God in our lives help us to see our personal failings and to learn to accept knowing about and accepting God’s love?

Friday and Exercise Class also Cinnamon Rolls.

Today is exercise class again. Afterward we will go up to Utopia and have cinnamon rolls and a Utopiachina. Then later, at lunchtime we will have hamburgers and french fries.

In the afternoon if there is no wind, I want to bag leaves.  I want to get those out of my flowerbed again. Trees are nice for shade but a pain in the neck for the mess in the fall.

I also need to get around to vacuuming the apartment again. I never did get that done this week. When I go to exercise class, I have a hard time getting everything done.

Tomorrow, from 8:00 AM until 3:00, we have the rummage sale at the senior center. Bob and I are sharing a table.  I have culled out a bunch of stuff to get rid of. Eventually, as I get older and perhaps more frail, I will need to move down with Scott and Ginger and I will have an auction at that point and get rid of my furniture. It won't bring much. Although it's all Drexel and Thomasville, really good furniture, most of it was bought in the 70's and early 80's..except for the dining room table which was made by the Amish. We bought that in the middle 2000's.  Bob really wanted that. We sold our other Thomasville dining room table and chairs to Bobby and Karan.

Yesterday evening I climbed up on my step stool and changed the direction of my ceiling fan to clockwise to get as much of the heat that goes to the ceiling down where it would do me some good. That worked fine. Bob was here and lent me a shoulder to touch for balance.

More later....

Exercises went fine and afterward we set up the tables for the rummage sale tomorrow.  Then we went to Utopia and had our cinnamon rolls and Utopiachinos.  So I wasn't too hungry for lunch. I did want to clean up some of the leaves that are still blowing around. I filled two plastic bags.

Then I fixed lunch. It was about 12:30 when we ate.

Bob brought his bills and is going to schedule them to be paid. I have all mine except the Cox bill. It may come today since Bob got his this morning.

More later....

I lay down with Missy in the afternoon and took a short nap.  Later...around 5:20, Bob came over to read the newspaper and watch the news..including Brooks and Shields.  He left at 7:00 and I took my bath and lay again with Missy on the sofa and watched TV until 8:15 when I just had to go to bed.

Thursday and Ministerial Alliance and a Car Wash

I woke up fairly early and that was fine. I went to bed early. I fed Missy and myself and got out to Walmart to do my shopping. Besides my groceries, I bought a notebook and some separators. I wanted to make Melvin, the president of Coffeyville Ministerial Alliance, a notebook to keep all his minutes and other important information in.

I went out to church and made some copies of some of our information. I got that finished and then put away my groceries. Then it was time to go to the alliance meeting. Melvin really seemed to appreciate my gift. I hope he can get some use out of it. In a little bit, the mail should be here. I don't know what I am expecting but I always look forward to the mail. Bob was on his own for lunch today. He probably met some friends at Sirloin Stockade for lunch. That's good for him.

I was going to look for a Furbie for Maia's birthday at Walmart this morning and I forgot all about it. Instead I went out to Woodshed and bought gas. I will need to get back out to Walmart but first I need to go pay my rent.  This is the 2nd. It is past due on the 5th.

The lunch at Ministerial Alliance was good. It was a good meeting. 

So, more later....

After lunch I went back out to Walmart to check for the Furbie...and it was $70. I sure couldn't afford a $70 toy so I bought her one similar to a Furbie and it was $25. Toys!

When I got home I took Missy out for a little while. It was nice and sunny and she really enjoyed it. It began to get windy so we came back inside before she was ready.

I notice the leaves have blown back into the yard from the ditch where Kenny blew them. I wanted him to mulch them but he blew the rest into the ditch. The first time we have a north wind, they were back in the flowerbed.  If there is no wind this afternoon, I may bag them up again and clean up my east yard and that flowerbed.

Bob came over at 5:15 and watched the news. He left sometime after 6:30 since there was nothing worth watching on TV. I turned on Forensic Files but that was reruns so at 8:00, Missy and I went to bed.

Wednesday and Exercises and Bunco Day

I slept very well last night...thank goodness!

I got up this morning before 5:00 and fed Missy and got myself ready for the day. I needed something to take for the Bunco day this afternoon so I baked peanut butter crisscross cookies. It's only 6:40 and I am ready for the day. I will check and see if any hail got under the carport and dented my car.  Jeannie's car is on the outside so if anyone's got dented, it would probably be hers.

Jeannie will be moving as soon as her sons finish redoing a house near Terry and his wife. Jeannie has a heart condition and Terry comes over to see her nearly every day. I don't know who will be living just behind me in the fourplex when Betty gets it rented.  I hope it's an elderly person. She has had poor luck renting to young people. The last two that lived in the one Bob had rented really left it filthy. She and her sister spent several days cleaning it and even had to replace the carpet.

I will go to exercise class this morning and then come home to make lunch before I leave for Bunco  at the senior center. It starts at 1:00 and goes until 3:00. Marilyn R. is in charge.

More later....

In a little while I will start lunch.  Exercises went well. Afterward we set up the tables for the Bunco games this afternoon. I took a couple of cookies to Bob since I don't know how many I will get home with.

Lunch worked out fine. Denise came and I tried to help her with her notebook but wasn't too successful.She was trying in install games but her notebook kept telling her the connection was too slow and the games wouldn't install. That was strange. I have installed games from the hard drive on all my computers and even Bob's. But it wouldn't install any on hers anyhow.

I went to Bunco and won the $5. for having the most losses. :)

I brought some cookies home but they ate a lot of them. I stopped on the way home and bought a half price small banana shake at Sonic. I didn't need all those calories but it sounded good.

Now I won't need anything this evening but maybe some hot apple cider.

More even later....

Bob came over at 5:15 and watched the news. He left at 6:00.  I took my bath and lay with Missy on the sofa and we watched Nature...her favorite program. After that at 8:00, she and I went to bed.

Tuesday and Hair Day and Juanita

I will go to Independence today to get my hair done and afterward go to Juanita's to balance her checkbook and Bob will go too to visit his sister Betty while I am doing that. After that we will have lunch at Great China. When I get home I will remake my bed and clean the bare floors. I may even get that done before I leave.

I slept pretty well last night considering I went to bed at 8:00. I did get up at 4:30 and stripped my bed and washed my sheets. I will put them in the dryer in a few minutes.

I got a deposit from my son, Scott. Some of it is for Leslie's Relay for Life. She does that every year for the memory of her dad.  She was definitely a daddy's girl. :)

I will get back to this later. I have to put the laundry in the dryer and also Missy is lying here patiently waiting for her breakfast. So...more later...

O.K. Missy and I have both had our breakfasts. I am dressed and ready for the day. Missy wants to go "out" but it's still dark out so we will not do that yet. I have the laundry of sheets in the dryer now.

Kenny, the property manager from next door who mowed for us last weekend was out last night trying to dig out a place for a small patio for the Russells in front of their front door. He must not be aware that at one time this part of the property was once a parking lot filled with gravel. He worked hard but got very little accomplished. I should probably tell him about the parking lot.

When I built my latest flowerbed, I had to buy a large bag of Miracle Grow and also garden dirt and simply line the area with garden blocks and dump in all that dirt and Miracle Grow. Then I could plant there.  The ground is filled with gravel and it is impossible to dig a flower bed.

 This photo was taken right after I initially did that flowerbed. Notice how small the lavender is here. It is over a foot tall now and I have taken the curve out of it last fall and enlarged it. I also moved that trash receptacle and the blocks under it over by the faucet just south of the back patio. That flowerbed has been mulched with red mulch to match the brick .

I went to V & S Variety yesterday to see if I could rent Hidden Figures. They handle rental DVDs here. I learned that it would not be out on DVD until late April. So I guess I will just have to wait to see it again. I saw it at the theater with Karan after I got back from Florida.

Speaking of Florida, I talked to Scott last week about going back down to see them again. Earlier when we talked about that I had suggested perhaps going back in May around Mother's Day. But Ginger suggested I come down when Ashley walks across the stage to receive her diploma for her bachelor's degree in December. I thought about that and decided to go then. I will get to watch her get her diploma. She is going for her Master's too (she actually graduates with her bachelor's in May but they don't get their diplomas until December) so she will be in school for awhile yet.

More even later....

I went over and helped Marilyn with her computer again in the afternoon. Had really just lay down again to rest when Bob came. He left at 7:00 and I turned on PBS and watched their newshour and after they did not have Nature. They had a program on the undergraound railroad...for Black History month since it was the last day of February.

At 8:00, I could not keep my eyes open any longer and Missy and I went to bed.

Monday, Exercises Again and the Oscar Flub

I slept very well after staying up so late to see which movie won the Oscar. I thought it was La La Land and went to bed. But there was a major mistake or two. La La Land recipients corrected the error. They said it was Moonlight that actually had won and not La La Land and there had been a major error.  The winning movie cards had been mixed up with the Best Actress card! What a mess! Also a woman who was very much alive had her photo shown commemorating those who had passed away this year. The name was correct but the photo was wrong.

I will go to exercise class this morning and also pick up Bob. He drove to church and to Cherryvale yesterday.  We will have the rest of the chili for lunch...with cheese and crackers and Fretos.

Afterward, Marilyn R. will come over to discuss her car insurance with me. I got mine out to compare with her coverage. I am torn. When I get my car paid off, I am considering dropping everything except liability and comprehensive. The insurance companies will only pay for the blue book value of the car in the event of a collision. My Honda Civic is 9 years old and even though it only has 69,000 miles on it and is clean as a whistle, it is only worth between $5,000 and $6,000 in the Kelley Blue Book and obviously I could not replace it without going into debt.  ( I had paid $12,500 for it four years ago) My Bob always said when you drive a car off the lot, you lose thousands. My insurance runs $292.26 a half with full coverage. That's almost $600 a year and I always have to take money out of my dwindling savings to pay it. I am almost ready to take the risk myself. I tried to talk to my daughter about it last evening since she used to be an insurance agent but she was busy and couldn't really take the time to discuss the options much.

That's all the plans I have for the day. If it would warm up, I would rake the leaves that have fallen since they had been mulched last weekend and bag them but I think the next few days are going to be cold. It was 27 degrees here when I got up at 5:45.

So..more later....

Lunch was fine. We ate our leftover chili and took the last bowl over to Marilyn R. for her lunch.

She came over after Bob left and we went over our car insurance to decide what to do about collision. It really wasn't that much compared to Comprehensive so she is just going to ask the agent why her insurance keeps going up each year while her car gets older and they would be paying less and less to pay her if she had a collision since that is based on Blue Book value. Mine goes down each year it as it gets older.  

Anyhow, I rested awhile after she left and then went to the post office to send Scott the church's Herald. I had read it.

After awhile Bob came over to watch the news. He left at 6:30 and I tried to stay awake but gave up at 8:00 and Missy and I went on to bed.

Sunday and Church and Eating Out at Just Us

I would have slept very well last night but a couple of hours after I had gone to bed and was sleeping soundly, Judy called to say they were still in New Mexico and would not be back in time to host the Living the Questions group on the 5th of March. She wanted to change their date until the 12th of March.  No one else could host it before they came home on the 5th because Howard had wanted to take the DVD home with him to be sure they could get it to play on their DVD player. He also took the book with the discussion questions in it. So the DVD and the discussion material is at their house and they are in New Mexico.

I had a terrible time getting back to sleep after that.  I finally got up at 3:20 or so and e-mailed the group about the change. Karan's date will be changed too to the 26th. We try to make these meetings no closer then two weeks apart.

While I was at it I also e-mailed my classmates to tell then about another of our friends who had passed away. The woman was in the class ahead of ours but everyone knew her and so I promised John, W., the class treasurer, I would pass that information on to the online classmates.  We have 68 online and 75 who have to have a hard copy of the newsletter at the end of the year.

I tried to go back to bed and back to sleep but it was impossible.

I got up about 4:45 and read the newspaper and made my coffeecake for the Church School class this morning. I just got it iced and I have done the crossword puzzle and am just killing time until 9:00 when Bob come to pick me up.

More later....

Church school was fine and they really ate that coffee cake. I had two small pieces left.

I got my newsletters finished  after lunch....which was also good, as usual...and then lay down for a rest.

I was still lying down when Bob came shortly after 5:00. He stayed until 7:00 and watched the news and 60 Minutes. He was not interested in the Oscars so he went home. I stayed up and watched them. I also saw the error just before Missy and I went to bed at 10:30.