Sunday Salon ~ booked up

REAL LIFE

VISITORS

Tillie and Donna represent all the people who have cheered me on as I recuperate from falling and shattering my shoulder on December 6th.

• My roommate Donna has been my biggest helper:  making meals, doing my laundry, helping me dress, waking from a sound sleep when I call for help, getting me to appointments, shopping for things I need, bringing home library books.
  

  One-handed (left hand, at that), I cannot cut a piece of meat, peel a banana, open a can, tear open a microwave box, stir food cooking on the stove, slice an apple, open a plastic bag, tear open a granola bar, or pop the top of a little can of V-8.  I have managed to cut open a small packet using scissors, but only when I can keep it from sliding away from me.

• My daughter Sandra, who saw the ambulance pull away from the restaurant where I fell, came to the ER as soon as she was notified and has spent lots of time with me, taking me to doctors, running errands for me, and makimg my apartment more accessible for me in my newly handicapped condition.
• Jane, Larry and Betty, June, Jeannine, Irby and Sara, Ginnie, Phil, Linda and Gene, Elsa and Bob, Martha, Sandra, Tillie, Charlotte, Bill and Diane, and many others from my church and Sunday school have brought food.  (Jane also brought a "reacher" and an expandable back-scratcher.)
• Ginnie, Emily, Sandra, and Jane each stayed with me when Donna was at work or volunteering at the Community Kitchen for the homeless or at her own medical appointments.
• Some, like my neighbor Anthony and Phil (who sent this email), were willing to help in other ways.
  

  "Bonnie, glad to know that your mind and left arm are both functioning enough to send an e-mail.  I have been following your condition through Jane's notes.  I do not cook, but will be glad to pick up items you need from the grocery.  I do drive and will be glad to take you to the doctors or other places needed.  I am in town for next several weeks except for week-end of December 14, 15 and 16.  Give me a call any time."

• Many others sent cards by snail mail or left messages here on my posts or emailed me.
• Home health care folks take care of sponge baths and — just yesterday — shampooing my hair.

Yes, it takes a village, and I am so grateful to every single one of you.  I feel blessed.

This is my 2-year-old great-grandson Jaxon, showing us that he knows how a cane is to be used.  It's a tad large for him though, don't you think?

WHITE-TAILED DEER

Every Saturday morning, beginning precisely at 7:30 a.m., we hear rifle shots nearby.  Every Saturday, including yesterday morning.  I wonder how many of these white-tailed deer have been killed since I wrote about them a month ago.  (Click the photo once or even twice to enlarge it and see the nine deer running away when I appeared.)

PLAYING CATCH UP

I started studying several books this year that, for one reason or another, I never completed.  If I have a New Year's resolution, it's to finish working my way through these books.

Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church Is Transforming the Faith ~ by Diana Butler Bass, 2006

Living Buddha, Living Christ ~ by Thích Nhất Hạnh, introduction by Elaine Pagels, Foreward by Brother David Steindl-Rast, 1995, religion

Naked Spirituality ~ by Brian D. McLaren, 2011

JUST ARRIVED

Donna's pastor handed her his copy of this book, saying he thought she would like it.  She did, telling me one of us ought to buy a copy so she could read it again someday.  So I ordered it and have now started reading my copy.  I've read more than 50 pages of it and agree totally that this is a book Donna and I will want to discuss.

Jim and Casper Go to Church ~ by Jim Henderson and Matt Casper, 2007, religion

Jim Henderson pays people to go to church.  In fact, he made national news when he “rented” a soul for $504 on E-Bay after its owner offered an “open mind” to the highest bidder.  In this book, Hendrson hires another atheist — Matt Casper — to visit ten leading churches with him and give the “first impression” perspective of a non-believer.  What follows is a startling dialogue between an atheist and a believer seeing church anew through the eyes of a skeptic — and the development of an amazing relationship between two men with diametrically opposing views of the world who agree to respect each others' space.

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