Golf for One; Grotto and Youtube for the Other

Jim has been playing golf once a week at the MIddlesex Meadows course. He signs up for a tee time and plays with others who have also signed up as singles or doubles. Usually this works out well for him. Sometimes he even plays with a previous partner. Today the weather is cold but it is not raining so he is out there again. He may not get in 18 holes this late in the fall because the sun sets at 4:30.

This is one of the rare times that we are apart in the week--the other is my hour of practice at the organ at the Kingston Presbyterian Church at noon on Thursdays. I have my own routine when Jim golfs. He drops me off at the entrance to Barclay Square and I walk to the grotto along the towpath. It is a good spot to meditate and pray. I usually use Sacredspace.ie on my phone. I observe the changing of the seasons--today noticing that there were no longer leaves floating in the canal because most of the trees are bare. There were not as many people walking on the towpath but there was still one kayaker on Lake Carnegie. I didn't hear as many birds today but could hear traffic noise and probably roadwork noise across the water.

 

I was feeling somewhat despondant when I left home. Covid is affecting so many lives. President Trump will not concede the election and thus President-elect Biden cannot get going on the transition in the way other winners have been able to do. He cannot even work with the Covid task force in order to facilitate the vaccine distribution. It makes me angry and sad but it is totally out of my control. And I have to avoid "doom-scrolling" because it only makes me feel worse.

So I am writing a blog and writing my thoughts is a way of processing them. I am thinking how thankful I am for my husband as a partner in my life. So many friends have lost their spouses due to divorce or death and I still have my loving husband. I try not to think about the fact that time will change this blessing. When that time comes, we will endure but for now we have each other.

Now, for the next item on my solo afternoon. I treat myself to an episode of Fake or Fortune, a BBC production that has elements of a mystery and a travelogue as the presenters try to determine if a particular work of art is really by a master or is a copy. It's an honest program--not all works turn out to be worth a fortune. I enjoy the British accents, the views of London and Paris and Venice and Amsterdam, and of course, the works themselves. And then I will be happy to welcome my husband home again.