Worshipping in Church (not livestream!)

 It has been months since we entered our church’s sanctuary for worship.  Probably it was even a few weeks before my hip surgery on May 1.  We decided we would make the effort this morning even if there was a threatened road closure for a charity race.

But we had no problems taking our usual route.  Jim dropped me off and went to park in the municipal parking lot several blocks away.  We do miss a church parking lot!  I sat in a pew towards the back being aware of my feeling of agoraphobia and hoping that after several months away from large groups of people it would not bother me.  And it didn’t!

It was very good to be in church.  It is a joy to sing with a congregation and choir—not just Jim and me looking at a computer screen.  We confessed as a group.  We prayed as a group.  And this morning we communed with the world-wide Christian churches on World Communion Sunday.  

Every Sunday I pray that our children and grandchildren are able to worship too.  I know that some of them are participating in their churches.  I rejoice that the youngest grandchild has been signed up for his own church choir and thus will begin the habit of being in church.  

Too Many Mysteries

 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Philippians 4:8

As I finished Louise Penny’s The Brutal Telling yesterday, this text popped into my mind and convicted me.  Penny does not write a gory tale, but it is a tale of evil.  And when I finished reading—and I drop most everything else to finish—I felt sad.  Sometimes I wonder about an author’s vivid imagination and how he or she can imagine so much depravity. 

I don’t read mysteries that are about serial killers or sex crimes and I avoid those that relate to deep secrets in a family.  I don’t read fantasies or tales of explicit violence.  But I do read a lot of mysteries and even though they are good escape reading, I don’t feel like I have benefited in any real way.

So what have I read recently that made me feel better about my reading choices?  Jeff Chu’s Good Soil—about the farminary here in Princeton and his time at Princeton Seminary.  Douglas Brouwer’s The Traveler’s Path about his travels and the value of travel, and Joan Barthel’s The American Saint, a biography of Elizabeth Seton.  Call of the Camino by Suzanne Redfern, a story in two perspectives of the Camino pilgrimage, years apart. 19th Century Female Explorers by Caroline Roope.  Finding God at Harvard and The Late Starter’s Orchestra by Ari Goldman.

These books are mostly memoirs or biographies.  I don’t care for memoirs that blame family members for a lot of angst.  I do like those that have a spiritual component.

I have written to Brouwer and Goldman and received prompt replies soon after writing.  I have learned that authors are happy to hear from their readers and grateful if one takes the time to thank them.  This morning I thought I could write Barthel because her biography of Seton was so compelling and had to have taken a lot of research.  But sadly, she died in 2018.  Her other books were true crime genre, not one I care to read.  

Nevertheless, I am on the request list for Michael Connolly’s newest book and have even reread The Lincoln Lawyer recently.  Walter Mosely’s newest book is waiting for me at the library now.  I have reread some of the Maisie Dobbs series and will reread some others.  Sadly, Winspear has said she has written the last of that series although I think there is much more I would like to know about Maisie’s life as a married woman with an adopted child post WWII.  So I have not given up on all mysteries but know that I can do better about how I spend my plentiful time for reading. `                        

We Voted!

We don’t even have to request mail-in ballots in New Jersey.  They come in our mail long before the deadline.  Jim and I have both voted and tomorrow we will deliver them to the municipal drop-off box in Plainsboro.  

Mikie Sherrill is running for governor against Jack Ciaterelli.  I have read of this race as a “bell wether” for national politics and a referendum on Trump and his policies.  Sherrill is tying Ciaterelli to Trump in her TV ads so she must think this is a plus for her.  Others might think that would work against her. Both candidates are using negative ads.  It may be a long month of having to listen to them.  But maybe I added to the problem by giving a small amount to the Sherrill campaign—a first for me in New Jersey.   I have been happy to be represented by Democrats in Congress here and would be very happy to see a vote that goes against Trump.  

Neighbors

We have lived in Barclay Square Apartments for over six years.  Over those six years, we have had four downstairs neighbors.  We really did not get to know the first tenant, a young woman who moved out soon after we moved in.  Alonso, one of the maintenance men, has asked what Maria (me) is doing to chase out neighbors one after the other.  

The second family moved here from New York City and had a lively two year old that we enjoyed.  They were originally from Sri Lanka and her parents spent time here and then were stranded due to unrest there.  They brought another culture into our lives. There was one time when the father who worked in IT for Stitch Fix helped us out when we were having difficulties accessing Peacock for a ND game.  The mother told Eboni, the leasing agent, that among her regrets in leaving Barclay Square was leaving Jim and Mary.  

They moved into a larger apartment here in our complex and had another child so we still saw them in the neighborhood until they bought a house and moved away.

The next couple were partners and when they told us they were engaged and going to get married, I was happy for them but aware that this probably meant they would also find a larger apartment.  And so they did.  But we were invited to their wedding and have met them several times for happy hour.

And next, there was another young couple with a two year old that we enjoyed.  We got to know them too over a happy hour at our apartment and then they hosted us for a cookout before they bought a house and moved out.  Their background was Chinese and Korean and they told us of their meet up thanks to a dating app and it was a good story! We asked them to take the CSA produce that was too much for us and they were happy to take it off our hands and not get thrown away. Their Chinese mother who lived in a nearby town insisted on feeding us a couple of times with some very spicy and tasty chicken legs.  

We hear activity downstairs as maintenance is preparing for another tenant. But the place has been empty for a couple of weeks.  There are so many new apartment complexes in Princeton that the supply must outpace the demand.  One result is that our rent went up only $5 a month this year

I have some worries about new neighbors.  Will they be noisy?  Will our noise bother them?  But I find myself anticipating making new friends. And I hope that will be true! 

Daily News

 A senior foreign diplomat posted at the U.N. texts me,” Tharoor wrote, “‘This man is stark, raving mad. Do Americans not see how embarrassing this is?’”  Ishaan Tharoor is a writer for the Washington Post.

Heather Cox Richardson quoted this reporter in her daily post this morning.  The diplomat was referring to Trump’s one hour speech at the UN yesterday.  He bragged that he alone had solved seven wars and that the UN was worthless in its job.  He complained that the escalator stopped and his teleprompter didn’t work.  He said climate warming was not true and that the economy had improved so much more under him than his predecessor.  He said that Europe was being overrun by migrants unlike the US which had it under control with his programs.  He accused the mayor of London of promoting Sharia.  He said that “I’ve been right about everything,”

It is incredibly sad and dangerous to have this man in charge.  And embarrassing.  I heard a podcast with the Jesuit James Martin interviewing Pete Buttigieg yesterday and thought about how wonderful it would be to have an articulate, genuinely Christian man at the head of our country.  Sunday at Charley Kirk’s funeral, Trump blatantly said “I hate my opponent” and “I don’t want the best for them.”  What could be more clearly anti-Christian?  It is hard not to hate this man and those who are afraid to be anything but loyal to him.  I try to pray for his change of heart, a softening of his heart to get rid of his need for revenge and retribution, a kindness to the immigrant and refugee and not just ways of increasing wealth for those already at the top of our economy.  

September 25  It appears that a White House videographer set off the escalator alarm tha made it stop by walking backwards videotaping and the White House itself was responsible for the teleprompter.  The press secretary Leavitt and Trump himself blamed the UN.  I would love to see both of them apologize and say they were sorry for their errors.  But “I’m sorry” appears to be words that are not in Trump’s vocabulary nor that of the press secretary.  

Amazon Prime Bags at our Door

 

Monday evening an Amazon package arrived that I had ordered the previous week.  Sadly however there were four more bags labeled Prime and full of food that we had not ordered.  There were no clear addresses on the bags.  I tried to contact Amazon via their website but got no way to communicate with anyone.  I called Whole Foods and they said it was out of their hands.  Jim googled Amazon customer service phone number and came up with someone to call.  With a short wait, we talked to a real person who had no answers either except that someone else would get a refund.  

I put a notice on Next Door Digest and one person said she would check if an order was missing.  I heard no more from her and no one came by to pick up food.  Jim brought the food in lest animals get at it.  We refrigerated the perishables.  So there is nothing to do with all that food except to enjoy it I guess!

Last night Jim had the spaghetti and meat balls deli meal and we both enjoyed a half corn muffin.  Tonight we will have the expensive ($16.09) pork loin and more of the muffins.  I don’t know that we are eager to eat spicy dumplings or some of the frozen meals.  I emailed the pantry at our church (Arm in Arm)  and they will take the plantain snacks.  I will see if they will take refrigerated or frozen foods too. (They did and we dropped off several frozen meals, milk, cheese and half and half)

Eboni, our leasing manager here at Barclay Square, says this happens more often.  She didn’t know of anyone who was missing food.  I was hoping Amazon could track down the driver and send him or her back to correct the error.  I think someone was tired at 8:00 pm and didn’t want to find any more places in the dark so the food was just dumped with us.  The whole experience was frustrating and sad in that someone or maybe several families did not get the food they ordered.  

An Outing!

 

When I told Jim I needed to go to UPS to return an Amazon purchase, he said, “An outing!”  So this is what consists of an outing when one is retired.  While we were out, we made three stops and felt very efficient.

First stop, CVS for one of my prescriptions.  There will be more there later this week but at that point Jim will have some too.  Jim is so good to me.  Standing in line is hard for me so he goes in and has learned that doing so at 2 pm is a great time.  And it didn’t take long at all and he was back at the car, prescription in hand.

Second stop, Stults Farm Market for our CSA basket.  This week it was a cabbage, zucchini, apples, and a pepper.  There was also corn one could add to the haul.  We don’t eat cabbage and we used the last of last week’s zucchini last night when we had “squashy eggs.”  But we will enjoy the corn again tonight and I could make apple crisp one of these days.  I’ll grate the zucchini and freeze it for a time when I feel like making muffins.  I had been giving extra produce to the family downstairs but they moved out and we don’t have new neighbors yet.  And even if we did, I would hesitate to make my first encounter one of giving away food we can’t use.  

Third stop, UPS where there appeared to be a line and a woman at the head of it with issues.  One person ahead of us gave up and left. I was hoping my request would be easy as I showed the QR code on my phone.  And it was!  I have a receipt and my purchase is on its way to Amazon where I asked for store credit and will try a different size.  I was quite pleased with myself with handling the method of returning purchases through the Amazon site and the UPS.  

So…we are home again.  It’s almost time for happy hour and fixing supper.  Do we want to watch the Mets and Phillies again tonight?  We have cheered for both teams when they play others.  But our hearts seem to be with the Mets and they have not made us happy lately.  

So this is life in retirement.  In the past, we’d have to squeeze in all those errands after work or on the weekend and now it is what we consider “An Outing.” 

—————9:45 pm  While we go about such ordinary travels, there was another school shooting in Colorado and an assassination of a political activist, Charlie Kirk of Turning Points, in Utah.  Our world is full of violence and sadness.