Grace Notes Choir

 I think I have written about our aptly named choir before but had a few thoughts to add to my previous blog.  There were very few men there today so Noel, our director, does his best to sing with the men and accompany us and direct us with his head movements.  That is no small feat.  

I don’t usually make suggestions to Jim but afterwards I mentioned that the men just need to sing out more—even if they are not singing perfectly.  I remember our church choir director in South Bend telling us to “sin boldly” when singing.  I guess if he could hear our errors, he could help us correct them.

Jim told me that today he had actually told himself to try to do so—to sing out.    Jim can read the music pretty well and can carry the parts but he does not have a strong voice.  I don’t either, but I do sing with some confidence.  Jim told me that a new choir member today thanked him for sitting next to him and said it was good to have someone there who could sing!  Yes!  Jim still has some stinging memories of our high school choir director who asked him if he “was kidding, of course” when he sang a scale.  That same gentleman was my first organ teacher and after practicing a piece all week, he asked me if I was “sight-reading.”  

I told Jim he looked like one of the younger fellas in the group.  He may be or not but we are not the oldest ones there.  I often don’t really feel like going but am always happy I have gone.  Noel once quoted another very aged choir member who said “I don’t sing because I am happy; I am happy because I sing.”  

It’s not just the singing but also the mental effort of concentrating on something for an hour. And maybe the physical effort of breathing and sustaining sound.   It’s good for both of us and I am thankful our church sponsors this group and pays a director to lead us.  And our director is a gem—a good teacher who asks for results but also is accepting of our limitations.  

Being Thankful

 A few days ago the text I picked out from the lectionary and saved for my contemplation was “In all circumstances, give thanks.”  Yesterday I had an opportunity to do so!

Monday night I started having muscle spasms in my back.  I looked it up in my 2024 weekly calendar and it was exactly the same pain in the same place as over a year ago—November 2024.  I put a message on my Penn Medicine portal asking Sylvia, the nurse practitioner that I saw then, if she could just call in a prescription for the same muscle relaxer.  I did not hear from her and the day was moving on.  I dreaded another night of pain with very little sleep. So I called our primary care—Montgomery Internal Medicine—and went through their endless phone chain twice, deciding on leaving a message for their “clinical staff.”  Someone called me back within 15 minutes and asked how far we were from their office.  Ten minutes!  They said to come right in and I was able to see Sylvia again.  And once again she was very kind and helpful.  We agreed that I didn’t need an x-ray this time.  She called in a prescription and we went to CVS to get it.  Jim was kind enough to wait the 15 minutes it took to get it filled—and we had six others to pick up between the two of us! (He was very pleased that his eye drops were not over $500 as predicted, but a more manageable $140)  Mine were mostly free—with generic and common medications.

I slept much better last night but the pain is not gone.  It took five days and five pills last time so I am trying to be optimistic about that relief.  I told the office receptionist, Stephanie (the aide) , and Sylvia how thankful I was to have a place to call when I was in pain and to have them get right back to me.  I think they said something like “That’s what we are here for.”  

This is one of the blessings of living in a place for six years.  We have people to call when there is pain or when a tooth breaks as has happened to Jim more than once.  I took my second muscle relaxer pill, deciding not to wait until bedtime.  If it makes me drowsy, I’ll take a nap!  I resisted the OxyContin left from my hip surgery which I never took but I was tempted this time. So for now it’s back to the heating pad and a quiet day at home.  We cancelled a dinner date with friends at a new for us Turkish restaurant on Nassau Street.  Jim had a Healthy Choice frozen meal and I found what I think was leftover zucchini stew in the freezer.  Easy enough and tasty enough.  And then a night of post-season baseball on TV.  No Mets and no Phillies, so I guess we are not really invested in any one team at this point. 

A Government Shutdown

Our friends, the Moorheads, at the No Kings Rally

Trump and Congress cannot agree on a budget so the government is shut down again.  In fact, Johnson won’t call the House of Representatives back to Washington to even vote—probably because they will ask for the infamous Epstein files to be released and Trump’s name may be in them.  The Democrats are holding out so that Obamacare premiums are not increased.  Meanwhile Trump is using this as an excuse to cut back more and more on government employees.  People who are close to us are affected.  One is an “essential employee” so he has to report for work but he is not getting paid.  How is he going to pay his bills?  I’m sure none of us would want to see him homeless.   This is a disaster for many.  

 A grandson who is a student in Washington DC says that Yes, he sees the National Guard on the streets, at the train station, and even walking through his college campus.  Trump is threatening military action on the cities where he says there is so much crime—and those mayors and governors are not welcoming their presence.  It’s costing a fortune to place them there and is not necessary—just his way of punishing Democratic office bearers. 

And then there is Trump’s calling for indictments on those who have publicly opposed him—Comey, Bolton, and the DA in NYC, Letitia James  He is searching for reasons to indict.  One hopes that the judges will see that these are not legitimate but are for retribution and revenge.  The irony is that he says Bolton held classified documents when Trump himself had all those documents at Mar a Lago.  But he got away with it because the Supreme Court said one cannot indict a sitting President.  

I am glad we are not applying for Social Security or looking for a tax refund.  Or hoping to visit a national park like we were trying to do years ago in Maine when everything shut down.  

At least Trump put pressure on Netanyahu and the hostages are being released from their captivity by Hamas in Gaza.  Now for aid to get back into Gaza and the rebuilding to start.  I pray for the return of Doctors Without Borders.  Things are really bad when they are forced to leave for their own safety because they go most everywhere.   The situation in Ukraine is still dire.

What can we do?  I give to ACLU which has won court cases fighting deportations.  I am giving to a Neighbor to neighbor fund through our church which pays for legal costs and living costs for refugees. I gave to Mickie Sherrill who is running for governor in NJ in a campaign called a “bell wether” for the national elections.  Her ads highlight her opposition to Trump and call her opponent the “Trump of Trenton.”  Some might think that will hurt her chances but I hope NJ citizens will know better. Jim and I have already voted for her and delivered our ballots to the Plainsboro box.  

———-October 21.  On Saturday millions of folks congregated for No Kings rallies across the USA.  They marched with signs protesting the Trump administration.  The protests were peaceful.  Trump’s response was an AI created visual with him as a king and was vulgar in a way I would rather not put on my blog.  It is embarrassing to have him as a leader.  

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.