Blog – Page 4 – Jennifer Grashel

Normalish

Okay, who else has been waking up to a June bug apocalypse?

It’s not unusual around these parts for June bugs to start showing up in May. I suppose weather can affect their season. This year’s onset was actually June, more like late June. Maybe the din of the cicadas kept them at bay for a while.

At least they’re harmless to humans (but not plant life per my Googling). Having to clean up the carcasses scattered across the floor is a minor annoyance.

For a smattering of pop culture references, check out this Wikipedia page. Interestingly “June Bug” was “a pre-production codename for the Commodore Amiga 600 home computer, named after the B52’s song, and released in March 1992.” I mean, it’s not the Commodore 64, but hey, we can’t all be legendary.

July this year is seeming almost normalish. Independence Day celebrations, vacations, gatherings.

Hillbilly Fireworks 2021 (at an undisclosed location) had extra flair this year.

Salad … macaroni salad … macaroni & cheese …

Maybe that’s the goal. Normalish.

After a year-and-a-half of anything but.

While the din of variants and how long do antibodies last and what’s going to happen in the fall is still audible in the distance.

While we try to move on from or with those intent on cancelling others over politics or theology. Or over scientific beliefs held onto like they’re religion.

Normalish.

Enjoy the summer and try to be normalish.

Hopefully the new fridge arrives before then?

Peace

“I just don’t have enough energy to let anyone steal my peace.”

I don’t quite recall what I said that about. I feel like I’m taking this approach frequently. Not sure if it’s a sign of maturity or just exhaustion.

Some days (or perhaps many days) it’s easier said than done.

Some days it seems like everyone wants a piece of me.

Some days my phone blows up while I’m in the middle of a thing.

(I said I wasn’t available today. I need to turn this thing off.)

(Why are the spam risk calls so out of control.)

Some days I just have a lot on the schedule and to do list.

Some days I commit to a thing and it grows way more complicated than I ever thought it could.

Turn on the television (especially news) and everyone seems angry.

Turn on the internet and everyone seems angry.

Get drawn into a conversation and you might find out what people are angry about.

Sure, there are things worth some righteous anger in this world. But over how many circuses and monkeys are we appointing ourselves caretakers when they aren’t our responsibility? When they don’t affect our daily lives to any measurable extent?

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. ~John 14:27

We’re not putting this in our kitchen remodel, but this backlit bar at the countertop showroom was stunning.

Does this shrubbery look fairly animated to anyone else? Maybe like the Grinch?

Winning

“Our phones haven’t been ringing. I guess we didn’t win the Vax-a-Million.

I feel like being able to travel like this is winning, though.”

We were both vaxxed against Covid prior to the lottery being announced, but it was a nice perk to dream of winning a pile of cash, and it seems to have driven up vaccination numbers as intended. If you are not yet vaccinated and want to be, check for incentives out there. Some state and local governments are still running lotteries or offering straight up cash in smaller amounts. Some pharmacies are at least offering coupons / store credit.

I’ve spoken with a variety of folks who have shared their vaccine views in recent weeks. Some have medical conditions that, per their doctor, preclude them from receiving the vaccine now (or perhaps at all). Others because of health conditions have self-diagnosed themselves as being ineligible, but upon discussing with their doctor were told their health condition was why they should take the shot. When in doubt, discuss with your doctor. And be kind to everyone regardless of their status, and regardless of whether you know their status – it’s not a straightforward decision for everyone.

But anyway.

Over the course of two weeks we road tripped in Betty the White Car over 3,600 miles through six states and three national parks, visiting family and listening to music and three audiobooks along the way.

New music included Andrew Greer’s follow-up to the (Dove-nominated) album that made my pandemic bearable, Tune My Heart 2 … Songs of Goodness & Love. Late in our adventure I got hold of Mitch McVicker’s A Shrugging of the Shoulders. You need both of these.

Books we listened to on the road:

Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters by Abigail Shrier. The title may sound like this is a fundamentalist Christian conservative perspective on the subject (it was the target of attempts by activists to ban its sale), but it’s actually a fairly straight-shooting treatment by an investigative journalist. If, like me, you’ve wondered whether there is an epidemic of teens identifying as transgender who maybe aren’t really (and therefore we’re doing them a disservice by allowing /encouraging transition) … or we’re just hearing about it more in the information age / it’s become more socially acceptable to come out … this is definitely food for thought worth a read. A complex and nuanced subject for sure.

Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society by Judy Christie & Lisa Wingate. This is a follow-up to Before We Were Yours, which I haven’t read yet but have on my list. For decades a lady in Memphis profited from selling babies to adoptive parents, and many if not most of those babies were acquired dishonestly and often illegally. A fascinating true crime story.

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett. An engaging novel notably narrated by Tom Hanks.

Since returning from vacay I’ve been to a wedding and a funeral and I’ve binged three audiobooks:

Get Your Life Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone Mad by John Eldredge. Yet another always-needed reminder to ban busyness from our lives and unplug from the interwebs on a regular basis.

Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Codebreakers of World War II by Liza Mundy. I think I saw this in the gift shop of the National WASP Museum in Sweetwater, Texas. So many Rosie the Riveters and women military pilots and indeed codebreakers met a cultural expectation post-war to jump back into domestic 1950s American housewife perfection. Much of these women’s experiences were, for national security reasons, classified for decades. No one knew because no one was allowed to talk about it.

Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life by Eric Metaxas. This is Eric’s memoir of his early years and coming to faith in Christ, but he does it with such skill that the book consists mostly of hilarious anecdote after hilarious anecdote. It’s a bit of a lengthy tome – I recommend listening at 1.25 speed. I found myself getting so lost in Eric’s crazy stories as the son of two immigrants (Greek and German) it was easy to forget this is more than just an autobiography of an intellectual writer’s writer. Trust me, stay for the end.

And with that, happy summer. Travel if you can. Enjoy post(ish)-pandemic life wherever you find yourself.

The Pursuit of Beauty

I listened to a podcast this week in which author John Eldredge acknowledges the entire world has been through a trauma with the Covid pandemic. He goes on (at about the 20:00 mark) to discuss the pursuit of beauty, saying beauty “is so important to healing trauma”.

I’m a big fan of beauty and the pursuit of it. Now we’re not talking about making ourselves all look like supermodels. It’s about finding beauty in art of all kinds, nature, situations, everyday ordinary life.

Sometimes we’re appreciating God’s creation, sometimes our own, sometimes that of other humans.

There can be beauty in chaos and disorder. Maybe in the form of a silver lining, maybe just in the scattered pattern of things.

Peter noted there is beauty in “a gentle and quiet spirit”.

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. ~1 Peter 3:3-4

There is beauty in Godincidences or Godwinks, as some people call them. Those little signs and reminders that seem to come from the almighty. Seriously, there’s a trilogy of Godwink movies on the Hallmark channel.

Even Madonna noted, “Beauty’s where you find it.”

I hadn’t thought of beauty as a way of healing trauma, but it makes sense. Going for a walk and spending time in nature are hugely therapeutic. (Or staring through the window at it during pollen season.)

Perhaps counting your blessings is a way of pursuing beauty. We could all benefit from more of that, I suppose.

Until next time, think about where there is beauty in your life. And if you’re not seeing it, look harder.

I’ll be on hiatus for a bit, pursuing some beauty to appreciate. See you sometime in June.

Throwback pic of a pool goat. If you don’t have a pool goat, you’re missing out. It’s a beautiful thing.

Books and Masks and Such

According to my fitness tracker, my breathing was kind of meh overnight. Which may help explain why I’m a complete and total space cadet today. Stupid pollen. But slog through the springtime I must.

I’m not good for much else at the moment, so I’ve been binging an audiobook – The Book of Lost Friends. The story jumps between post-Civil War and 1987 Louisiana and Texas. Given I haunted those locations just a few years after 1987 and given my long fascination with learning all I can about slavery in America, this one is totally up my alley. I’m the kid who read every book in the fifth-grade school library on the subject. Even more than a century after the war, there is still a cultural vibe in the deep, deep, deep South that echoes the times of slavery, sharecropping, and Jim Crow. Don’t get me wrong, we have come a long way. But you still get the sense that people sort of “know their place” based on race, economic status, etc.

Sometimes in the North, where we’re proud to have had stops on the Underground Railroad, we want to think we’re better than that and have always been better than that. Changes in geography and changes in time bring different norms and beliefs, though. The Klan was quite active here in Ohio. Again, we’ve come a long way, but those beliefs haven’t been one hundred percent eradicated. Hopefully we challenge them when they come up in conversation.

Those who seek power – most media, many politicians, you name it – seek to divide us however they can. Then they can swoop in as our saviors with their “solutions”. Let’s try not to fall for it.

In the latest Covid news, the new mask guidance from the CDC seems destined to divide people. We’ve been told vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks, but non-vaccinated people should continue to do so. Individual businesses can continue to require masks, in which case everyone should wear them. But then … do we really think everyone will follow the guidelines … and … we’re violating medical privacy laws if we ask for documentation of vaccination status before admitting someone to an establishment maskless … but, if we stop people to ask without requiring documentation, do we trust them to tell the truth … and … wouldn’t it be pretty easy to fake a vaccination card? Sigh. This Washington Post article discussed the issue pretty well.

I suppose the risk to the vaccinated is low enough (not zero, but quite small as far as we know) that who cares about the non-vaccinated? They had their chance? Indeed, it’s now fairly easy to find an appointment for a free shot. And many public health departments are changing strategy to try to reach everyone – offering evening hours, mobile clinics in areas where transportation issues may abound, etc. One wonders if just a few more weeks to carry out those efforts would have been a good idea, though.

I don’t have all the answers. I’m glad I don’t have to. Now I’m going to get back to my audiobook …

This Too Shall Pass

Just when I think my spring allergies can’t be any worse … eh, they’re kinda bad. This too shall pass. If we can fast forward to the sweet spot between grass and ragweed season, that’d be great. And then let’s skip ahead to fall.

If only life worked that way.

I heard today about a woman who had “this too shall pass” engraved in a ring. I’m reminded of the meme that follows with, “It may pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass.” It might take something larger than a ring to contain the entire sentiment.

Mask mandates are starting to lift in more states, including here in Ohio soon. Individual businesses can still require them in many places. If you think back to just before state governments mandated mask wearing, a number of businesses required or requested masks.

I’ve lost my faith in humanity’s ability to be kind and honor such requests, however. Those invoking political and religious justifications for refusing to keep their virus breath to themselves continue to confound me.

Those refusing to be vaccinated don’t bother me too much, though. Not everyone is going to have the same comfort level at the same time. I might not want to hang out super close to someone yelling and screaming about shots and masks – or like we experienced recently in our idyllic village, protesting in the face of a mild-mannered grocer who has in fact offered accommodations. Ninety-five percent isn’t one hundred percent, after all. I’d put it in the “pretty darned good” category.

I’ll just continue to keep my ear to the ground on emerging data like case numbers and whether a booster shot will be warranted and act accordingly.

Personally I’m excited about returning to live musical theater … hanging out with more extended family and friends … and traveling.

Oh and you know what else about fall?

Football. Here’s a fun, short video of how to draw Brutus Buckeye.

Pandemic peace and love to you all.

Found this poster at the Dollar Spot, and I’m wondering if you can find sweaters like this anywhere.

Agendas and Calendars, Oh My

Do you have and agenda or do you have an agenda?

Some people refer to the paper calendars they use to schedule their lives as agendas. Agendae? Whatever. Having gone through the age of the 5”x8”-ish Franklin Planner, which weighed approximately five tons … and Palm Pilots, which famously would get out of sync and wipe out all your calendar and contacts … to the last however many years of smartphones … I keep a small paper calendar, and I like it that way.

If I can’t keep track of in my head, or note in a one-inch space, an average day’s schedule … my life is too busy and I need to reexamine my priorities.

As we are starting to emerge (I hope) from a pandemic, I find things landing on my calendar again. Actual social engagements. Actual travel to look forward to. Last week I dined inside a restaurant for the first time in over a year. Well, I drank a Diet Coke, as I ended up there somewhat inadvertently while waiting for the phone store next door to do a thing with my phone.

The other day I met with a couple people not in my “pandemic bubble” without masks. After starting masked – because be kind to people – we determined all were vaxxed and comfortable going without.

If you haven’t found your routine, schedule, calendar, and/or agenda changed significantly over the last year plus … well … you might be a super important part of the activities we needed to keep running … you might have been a hermit for some time prior … or maybe you’ve been part of the problem.

I finished listening to A Burning in My Bones, a new biography of Eugene Peterson, author of The Message translation of the bible. I give it many thumbs up. I didn’t know much about Peterson prior to the book, just that he wrote “the groovy translation” of the bible and I saw a video of him with Bono a few years ago. There were a number of inspirational lessons we can take from his life, which I won’t go into here, but saying we need to “become uncomfortable with uncertainty” was a line I was amening vigorously.

Having three audiobooks checked out of the library at once, I’ve moved on to The Myth of a Christian Nation: How the Quest for Political Power is Destroying the Church. It’s a little older title, but still quite relevant. I’m not sure how many thumbs up I’ll give it … it’s not narrated by the author, and the narrator sounds arrogant. I agree with much of what the author says, but it’s not really news to me. And I’m kind of super duper over people bashing the church. Maybe it’s more appropriate for those who haven’t maintained an appropriate separation of church and state in their own minds and lives. There are plenty of those who have come to light in both the Pharisee and Sadducee camps.

Until next week, friends. I have an actual social engagement to get to.

Not sure I need an entire s’mores kit, but I’m trying to decide who in my life does.

Blissful Ignorance

Where did April go?

Like seriously, today is the 29^th and I feel like this month has vanished.

Pollenpalooza plus tax season is sufficient to put me in a fog, so there’s that.

What does this mean? It means Jenn is not okay and is sheltering in place.

Pro tip: Avoid living on a street named after a tree you’re super allergic to.

As I duck and cover from springtime, I find myself ducking and covering even more than usual from social media. The sanctimony game has been strong in my newsfeed.

So I’ve been practicing blissful ignorance. It’s quite blissful.

I feel like I should channel my inner Quasimodo and yell, “Sanctimony! Sanctimony! They gave me sanctimony!”

I realize I’m garbling and mashing up Hunchback quotes, but I thought it sounded good.

As a youth while practicing piano I’d sometimes flip through songbooks for fun, playing whatever looked good. Occasionally I’d announce, “I am now going to play my brother’s theme song,” and launch into this tune.

I might need to repurpose it as a theme song for the news media. Or maybe this one is a better choice.

I’ll just be over here, smiling like the Cheshire Cat and attempting to practice peace.

A friend shared this video of Watchman Nee quotes set to some lovely, peaceful music. I probably need to watch it a few times.

Peace out, scouts.

Magnolia update, holy torrential rain, Batman, edition.

Peace, Love, and Tree Hugging

Trees experiencing global warming this week. 🙂

Happy Earth Day. Everyone go hug a tree.

It’ll be a far better use of your time than any of the violence inciting, race baiting, whatabouting, half-truth reporting that seems to dominate the culture anytime we turn on a screen.

“I’m not sure what’s true anymore,” said my friend the other day, referring to a particular news event.

“Exactly,” I replied, “Every time I read a news story, even if it seems to be mostly facts reporting, I’m left asking the question, ‘What are they not telling me? What is the rest of the story? What happened that led up to this?’”

Every. Single. Time.

Another friend chimed in, “I try to remember there’s not a single person in that situation who Jesus does not love.”

There it is.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” ~Matthew 5:43-45

You think you know who is good and evil. You think you know who is right and who is wrong. You think you know who is smart and who is stupid.

Are you sure?

Are you really really sure?

Are you really really really sure?

Really.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. ~Hebrews 13:8

You should probably shriek about it then.

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ~James 1:19-20

As for me, I think I’ll go hug a tree. Or at least photograph some. And maybe sip some tea.

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” ~Matthew 5:21-22

P.S. Speaking of h-e-double toothpicks, this book was a super awesome (and quick) read/listen on the subject.

Mamma Mia

I hopped into the car thinking I’d fire up a podcast, sleep deprived and not yet caffeinated.

Much to my delight the music was already on shuffle and featuring a tune from the Mamma Mia soundtrack.

Shuffle knows. Trust the shuffle.

Discussion topic:

The theological implications of songs from the Mamma Mia soundtrack. It is all music from Abba, after all. Abba being the double entendre of the Swedish pop group (although technically capitalized with one backwards B) and the Aramaic word for “daddy” that appears in the bible. For extra credit include the sequel, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Ready, set, go.

Extra extra bonus points if you know why I’m thinking about spanakopita and French pastry.

Extra extra extra bonus points if you bring me some.

(Hint: If you haven’t watched these movies, please remedy that situation.)

Until next time. I’ll be over here practicing my dancing queen moves.