It's moving day

 I haven't been wild about my "page a day" table calendar this year. I went from birds to horses. Hmm. Love horses, but birds are certainly a more colorful wake me up greeting for the day. Also, the quotes were sort of boring. But today's horse was back lit with a hazy sky and a showy canter in a corral (or so it seemed). Not a fabulous photo, but the quote for August 14 seemed appropriate. "Simply enjoy life and the great pleasures that come with it." Karolina Kurkovd

It's moving day for the Bruces.

Yesterday was our final day at Kenbook Hills, the prettiest place in Upper Arlington, Ohio, in our opinion. We first saw it during a rain storm in July 2001 with a decor that shocked and energized us--splashy faux everywhere--including the ceilings--brown/gold living room, orange dining room, red family room, some wild fuchsia trim wall paper in one of the bathrooms and black carpet in one bedroom. But it was the landscape that grabbed us. Turkey Run Creek, huge trees of many varieties, wild life (we're not gardeners so that didn't bother us) and a fabulous layout for the 30 condos in 5 styles, unlike other boring developments we'd seen. And windows. Oh my. So many condos have windows front and back and borrow the rest of the light. This unit had windows in every room, a deck in the trees, and as we were to find out later, wonderful, helpful neighbors.

Bob still had his own architectural firm in 2001 and the lower level famiily room became his office, studio and client space with north light and an outside entrance. The former owner had her OSU student living there with private bath and entrance. It was perfect. In the last 15 years it evolved into an art studio for his watercolor hobby with massive storage for bulky frames, mat board and finished paintings.

But time marches on and we're not as frisky as we once were for 3 floor living, so we're moving to a much smaller space in The Forum, just up the road a mile or two in our familiar neighborhood. It feels a bit like moving into my first college dorm, Oakwood, at Manchester College in Indiana. Close to my Illinois home, but not too close. My sister Carol was near-by at Goshen College where they locked up the Coke machine on Sunday (a joke, but true). I could hang out with old friends from childhood like Sylvia and JoElla, my roommate, but could enjoy new adventures and community meals. We'll have three meals a day at The Forum, and I hope I don't gain the weight I did my freshman year in college!

The Forum sits on 14 acres and we'll see the treetops from the 3d floor, just like we do in Kenbrook. Packing and sorting has made me too tired to prepare meals, so we've been stopping by and being served in the lovely dining room. We've met many new people but also some from our past, including the first neighbor we met in 1967 in our first apartment on Farleigh Rd. and one of the engineers Bob worked with.

And so we hope to meet the expectations of the calendar page, "Simply enjoy life and the great pleasures that come with it."

Thirteen minutes off

 We noticed out bedroom clock was 13 minutes fast. It has all sorts of buttons we've never used in its 20 years (although actually we don't know how old it is) like snooze and alarm.  We've never set the alarm.  However, we suspect the problem.  The cleaning ladies were here on Friday morning. and as they go through the house something is usually reset or unplugged or put back where we can't find it.  They also make little folded designs in the Kleenex and toilet paper.  I've tried resetting the clock and Bob did too to no avail.  I'll have to work on it after church, but for now it's 13 minutes fast and the minute button refuses to move. I still haven't found a clock to replace my office clock that died some months ago.

Time, ambition or will

 Although I often say I'm rarely busy, I do have a dilemma right now because I can't get done what I'm planning in my head. It's taking up a lot of space there between my ears and probably melting brain cells--particularly during my morning quiet time when I could be reading the Bible, reading something for book club, or researching.  I know the time is available--it would take about two-three days of intense research, writing or using the telephone (I hate that). Other than going to doctors' appointments, shopping for groceries and exercising at the gym (which is only about 2 miles away) I really am not a busy person.  The ambition for doing anything at all is flagging, and since I've always been highly distractable I don't finish a lot of projects (I suspect if I'd ever been tested for ADHD I could have scored high enough for the school system to have upset my mother).  So it's probably will.  I just don't have the will (determination, strength of character, self-discipline, backbone, tenacity) to sit down and do it.  Just do it.  Isn't that a slogan?

1. Prepare a well thought out argument about the wisdom of UALC's proposed capital campaign for remodeling both campuses. I know no one will listen--I've been through this a number of times since I was 11 years old.  For this I've gone all the way back to 1951 when the Mt. Morris Church of the Brethren (see below 1956, $321,000) began its campaign to "add a few classrooms" for $13,000 to its building on Seminary Avenue and I conclude (in my busy mind) with Covid lockdowns, inflation, use of space in our current huge buildings, needs of our mission partners, and our current bond issue to increase even more our real estate taxes (just had a huge bond issue 3 years ago).
2. Research the seven books of the Bible (Septuagint) removed by Luther and now called "Apocrypha"  by Protestants--Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, I and II Maccabees - plus sections of Esther and Daniel. It's the Bible Christians used for 1500 years.  Most of my personal library about the Bible is Reformed, Lutheran or Baptist, so it would take some effort to find balanced research. The public library is useless. Sometimes the internet is no help--either has too much or only the "approved" version. 
3. Find out why two words (without Christ) were added to the confession we use on Sunday. Even the 10 minutes I took to look at my old hymnals started me down a rabbit hole of thinking about how hymnals are revised and the copyright works.
4. Many art discussions and shows. Raphael tapestries (yesterday) being the most recent, but find many others, particularly in Magnificat. I have 2 magazines subscription, New Criterion and First things that have wonderful articles, but they sit on the living table for a month before the new issue arrives, then they are moved to my office.
5. Cull and take to resale, books and clothing. A never ending problem. Too much sentimental attachment.
6. My latest decorating mistake--new bedspreads for the guest room--didn't turn out well. Need to replace, and that means shopping and spending money.
7. Research advantages of a smaller car. Our Pacifica is too big and we're getting smaller.
8. Practice math. I need to start talking to myself, something like "I'm good at math," or "I can do this," or "Time to work through a few math problems."
9. Analyze the cost and advantage of new garage doors (most of the residents all ready have them, but since ours was less than 15 years old, we were exempt). It would replace one massive door with 2 smaller ones.
10. Find out how to get an approved Covid test for an upcoming colonoscopy.  I don't want to drive to the east side just because I'm part of a particular group and that's what COPC does.
11. Plan for our upcoming art show which will be hung on November 11, but the room for the reception is Sunday November 27.  Write my stories about the paintings, some of which go back to 1974, some using old photos, 1912, 1944, 1950, plus old Lakeside Rhein Center paintings in workshops. 
    
    
    
12. And my goodness.  So many things to relearn on the current computer (labels, database creation, scanning photos, pdf, etc.) that I knew for the old computer. So many things on the smart phone which I've had since February.
13. November book club. Will I read it?
14. Request several titles from UAPL, but will I read them?
15. Do something, or at least think about the musty smell in all the books and papers in the basement--I mean the "lower level" or the "man cave" aka office.  Had them all cleaned about 5 years ago.  Should I call Janet again--I can't get on a ladder anymore and she's just a few years younger; need to research the right solution to safely wipe down shelves and books. 
16. And did I mention going through all the "archives" of our art collection?  Two painters, plus all the paintings we've collected by other artists since the 1960s. We have frames, glass, acrylic, pieces of matt board, pieces of backing board, all standing up in a closet, or on shelves.
17. Should I buy more food for emergency storage?  Joe is talking Armageddon and nuclear war so we've got a crazy leader in Russia and a demented leader in the USA, and I don't even have extra batteries in the house, and I see a lot of pasta in my "emergency tornado" food box.  How would we cook pasta if Putin dropped a bomb on NYC or DC? Remember in the 1950s when the basement of our school building was lined with huge bundles of dried (I assume) food stuffs.  Must have been for the whole town. And we learned to duck under our school desks.  Sure, that will solve the problem our government doesn't know how to fix.
18. I'd better go do my hair.  Washed it this morning.

Confession of the non-busy

In January 2018, one of our pastors preached on a topic that included use of time.  After the service, I told him I was probably the only person he knew who says, "I'm never busy." I almost never have too much to do. So I offered to write him a note about it. Today I found the note, but I'm not sure I ever gave it to him, and I don't know if I ever entered it here as a blog. After 18 years and my sloppy way of adding tags/subject headings I often can't find what I wrote even a few months ago.

"Here it is; the confession of a non-busy church goer. My husband says that isn’t true, but let me explain.

I’m efficient and reasonably neat, I’m a modest cook, and I don’t obsess much over details. I keep up with laundry, but don’t do a lot of cleaning. The bed is made as soon as I get up, dishes can wait a bit. I’m careful with money, tithe my income, invest wisely, and have no debt. We’ve never had a credit card balance—ever. We paid off our home mortgage in our 40s, and never had a college loan. That’s not being so smart—it’s mainly because we were born in 1938 and 1939 to parents who had been through the Depression.

When we were younger, we (mostly my husband) did do home maintenance like painting and repairs, now we hire that, and it’s more efficient and safer. I did wallpaper a bedroom once, and I think in the 1960s-1970s I might have made curtains. When our children were at home 1967-1987 I did things I don’t do today—like sewing, driving car pools, Campfire Girls leader, choir mother, but usually pretty short term, like BVS, or volunteering at their school. I didn’t push the kids to be joiners, but that was a losing battle, because if I didn’t enroll them in sports or after school activities they had no one to play with because all their friends were doing something away from our neighborhood. Still I had limits—mainly because I didn’t want all my time tied up. Some mommy stuff I did to actually keep busy—to feel a part of things, which I think you addressed this morning.

The modern women’s movement really took off in the early 70s and there was a lot of pressure on women to bring in a second income. I crunched some numbers and figured out it didn’t pay, but did return to work part time (no summers) when the kids were about 3rd-4th grade. But keep in mind, our Upper Arlington middle class life style in the 70s would be poverty today—one TV, one car, no AC, rarely eating out, no phone contracts or cable bills (our cable bill is higher than our mortgage was when we had one—not adjusted for inflation), etc.

When I was working (as an academic librarian, veterinary medicine, Agriculture, Latin American studies, Russian language studies from 1966-2000 with time out from 1968-1978 for children, etc.) I avoided joining committees. However, it was required for my promotion and tenure to Associate Professor, so I didn’t volunteer much for task forces, or ad hoc stuff. Committees are time eaters and empire builders for the chair, whether at work, in organizations or at church. I was busy one year—the budget had been cut and I lost some employees and had to do their work, but it only lasted about 4 months. I was blessed with some great assistants. Before my annual review I would put a box under my desk and put everything from the top of the desk in it so the office would look good when my boss visited. 6 weeks later I’d go through it, and most stuff could be tossed. I still do that occasionally because my desk at home gets messy.

I believe people are busy to feel a need. God made us to be creative, be in relationship with Him, and after the Fall, to work. Our modern life is really pretty easy, but it’s sedentary. I think I read recently that because of our lifestyle and life span, the average adult American has about 40 years of leisure counting week-ends, holidays, and retirement.

But the key is pressure. I just hate feeling pressured, and it doesn’t matter if it’s internal or external. As I’ve aged and my memory isn’t what it once was, I’ve had to start making lists, something I resisted for years. I feel pressured with a list waiting for me. But. That energizes many people. They need something pushing, nagging, chastising them for not doing better, not doing more, not being more efficient. They thrill at making a line though something on the list. That just doesn’t work for me—makes me feel rebellious and anxious, like a failure. I try not to schedule more than one thing a day—can’t always avoid it—like maybe a medical appointment and lunch with friends may fall on the same day. I try to consciously schedule something social, because I know it’s good for me, like exercise.

I know people who say to me, “You blog? (or you paint? Or you have time to read?) I just don’t have time to do that.” And my response is, “I don’t have time to play tennis or golf.” (I hate competitive sports and am no good at it, never have been.) People are as busy as they want to be, and everyone uses time differently. I’m retired. If time is money, I’m a millionaire. Every verb we use with money we use with time. Spend it; invest it; use it; waste it; etc."

If I wrote more, I haven't found it.  If I've posted this before, I also haven't found it!

What is time?

Book XI of St. Augustine is devoted to an extraordinarily subtle analysis of the nature of time and the relation of time to creation.  “What then is time?  If no one asks me, I know what it is.  If I wish to explain it to him who asks me, I do not know.” His analysis of time arrives at the conclusion that time is an aspect of created being, and that, consequently, in the uncreated being of God time has no effective reality. In God and God’s consciousness there is no change, no before or after, but only an eternal present.  (Masterpieces of Christian literature in summary form, ed. Frank N. Magill, Harper & Row, 1963. p. 132-133.

“By the time of Augustine, the Church had settled down in Roman society.  The Christian’s worst enemies could no longer be placed outside him; they were inside, his sins and his doubts; and the climax of a man’s life would not be martyrdom, but conversion from the perils of his own past.”  Peter Brown, Augustine of Hippo; a biography. Faber & Faber, 1967. p. 159

Our pastor, Brodie Taphorn, preached this past Sunday on "You have too much to do" part of the sermon series "What to do when. . .insights from ordinary people of the Old Testament."  The scripture launch was Exodus 18:18-23,  but he supplied background from surrounding verses, and the second reading was from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Jethro gives advice to his son-in-law Moses on how to manage the huge load of responsibility--delegate as we say today.  Brodie addressed the busyness of the modern culture, how most Christians respond, and suggestions from the text.

After the sermon and during the "meet and greet" I told Brodie I was probably the only person he knew who says, "I'm never busy." I almost never have to much to do.  So I offered to write him a note about it, but I'm still working on it. And I think St. Augustine has some of the answers on how we use time.

For me, my non-theological take is that in the English language we use all the same verbs with time that we use with money; invest it, use it, spend it, save it, plan for it, waste it, hoard it, borrow it, lose it, and in the end, you "cash it in" because there is no use for it outside our created world.  As Augustine says time is also a creation of God.  Me?  I tend toward the hoard and save, so I usually have a lot in the bank, but I'm not so good at the spending part, particularly using my time for the Kingdom.

In 1883 we all got on board on November 18

 

On this day in 1883, 4 time zones simplified the country's railroad schedules and put cross-country friendships on track.

Here’s the story with some interesting links.
http://history1800s.about.com/od/railroadbuilding/fl/Why-We-Have-Time-Zones.htm

If you're a history buff, this is a very interesting site which will keep you wandering for a long time.

How do you find the time? Part 1

Isn't that the oddest question? When interviewers have a famous guest on the show, that's often the first question. This morning I heard it addressed to Liz Curtis Higgs, while I was driving to the coffee shop. She is a fabulous speaker, and our Women of the Word group did one of her video series a few years back. But you know what? Liz and I have the same 24 hours a day and 60 minute hours that the rest of you have. Oh Norma, you're retired. Yes, indeedy, and even when I wasn't, I was usually not busy. When I retired in 2000--something I did very deliberately--I didn't know very many retired people--especially librarians, but most of the OSUL group I knew in the 80s and 90s (some earlier) have now retired, plus many of the women in the reading club I joined in 2000 have now retired; I signed up for some art classes, and all of those people were retired. Women who were frantically busy and over scheduled when they were employed, are that way as retirees. People like me who always paced themselves and said "No, thank you" a lot, we are still pacing ourselves, taking naps, reading books, blogging and volunteering in meaningful activities. See my "Six reasons to be late to the party."

As I've opined many times in this blog, all the verbs you use with money, you use with time. Now, occasionally, I have "found" money--like a quarter in my winter coat the first time I put it on in the fall, or a stash of pennies in the drawer of the guest room. But money, like time, gets invested, spent, wasted, frittered, and saved.

In the United States, if we are employed we are protected from a lot of time decisions--our employer tells us what to do, when and where. Our employer may even decide we need more exercise or a different diet just because it pays for our insurance (doesn't really--that benefit comes from our labor). We may make our fashion decisions based on what our co-workers wear, or see the movies they recommend, or buy the computer they are raving about. There are so many regulations protecting us from decision making when we work, our brains possibly have become a bit flabby by retirement.

Here's my second opinion about time. You can have it all, but not all at the same time. In recent years, I've also learned you need to redefine the word "all" to suit your stage of life.

Most people my age, most retirees I know, stay very busy with grandchildren. One of my friends from high school has great-grandchildren. If our friends aren't driving half way across the country to help out with a new baby or to attend a dance recital, they are actively babysitting 2-3 days a week so their daughter (usually) can pursue her career or education. One of the biggest cultural beams I've had to remove from my eye is my amazement at women who worked full time and juggled parenting with a complicated schedule of babysitters, day-care, and private schools while I was staying home raising mine, and they are now virtually full time nannies for their own children's children. And not complaining at all! They love it. They can't wait to get that baby in their arms, or drive the carpool or volunteer at the school and attend all the games they missed 25 years ago. So now they can "have it all."

In my case, ALL will not include grandchildren--it's one of those concepts that rests on someone else's decision, and my two children have decided not to be parents. I'm OK with that now, but it took a long time--their advancing age and health problems encouraged acceptance of my new definition of ALL. And please, no cheap grace about the joys of volunteering with children as a "just as if" grandparent. We all have unique gifts--and that one isn't mine, plus I did that back in the 1970s.

Photo: My grandparents and their 9 children at their 50th in 1962. I don't know how many of us there are now but in 1993 it was around 100.

Part 2 will be tips on how to be a non-grandparent.

Monday Memories--When time ground to a halt

Last week my hairdresser, just making conversation while she made me presentable for another 7 weeks, said, "And what have you been doing lately," an easy question, but time whirls past so quickly I was just speechless (yes, it does happen). Then another friend asked the same question on Friday, and again I had the feeling I'd just stepped out of a hurricane--not because I'm busy (I'm never busy), but because time just seems to go by with storm speed. And when it doesn't, it's not a good sign.

You've probably all experienced a moment, minute, hour when time, instead of rushing by, seemed to slow down, or even move backwards. Maybe it was a fall from a ladder that seemed to last forever, as the ankle turns and the fingers slip and you go down, down, down; or you're in the hospital at mother's final illness, and every breath seemed an hour; or your husband / lover / boyfriend tells you over a cup of coffee in the kitchen that he has fallen in love with someone else and all you can process is the stain the cup makes on the placemat because you don't want to know the next minute and what he will say.

And that's all the further I got with this memory of my daughter's auto accident in 1988. I could feel that icky, sticky feeling in my throat and the beginnings of A-fib, and decided, it wasn't worth a blog. So, you can fill in the blanks here with your own time-slowing-down-story. Everybody has one.