Two more Weekends

Two more weekends!  We are on the marathon to finish a summer full of events such as weddings, wedding anniversaries, birthdays and family reunions.  To make it busier, I have been engaged to play piano and organ at some of these.

Overlaid over all this celebrating was all the world-wide political turmoil, and this reminds me of Jesus' saying, that he will come like a thief in the night while people are busy doing their business, getting married... Even Luther said, in any case, if he knew ahead of time, he would still plant that apple tree, do what he loved.

Nevertheless, as we know, man is like the grass, here today, fresh and green, and gone tomorrow.  I did feel very mortal this summer.  I did lose some sleep worrying over Korea and the new missiles. Fall will come and after seasons or weddings and anniversaries come seasons of funerals and losses.  But please not such a horror as we can imagine.

We've been reading Romans, at home, and it helped me.  One, if Abraham is the father of faith believing that from death can come new life, so can we.  And also, if Christ died for all of us, we can die, too.  We shall, by God's grace, follow in their footsteps, dying and rising.

Summer cont.

The summer is lovely.  We have had a lot of rain showers, now, and all the world looks like a paradise of green with flowers, leaves and growing vegetables, in my town.  In nearby areas, however, the harvest is already declared a disaster because of the delay of the rains...

We cycle and walk and check over our plants.  The zucchini has begun delivering the expected oversupply.

The grandbaby is in the third trimester.  God bless it, and its mom and dad. So things about his or her arrival are getting serious.  I finished the blanket I was working on and have decided the next blanket will be of a more simple design.  I am favoring the Old Shale stitch, for next time where counting is needed in only one of the four repeating rows.  It should knit up more quickly with a similar scalloping effect.

I finished several books and watched a few videos, mostly on Gnosticism and related heresies of old.  This really clears up some things but also confuses others.  The deeper you dig, the more into a hole you get.  Time to climb out of it, almost.  I feel  like first I want to write about what Luther has to say about the "devil" and what we meet in the marketplace of ideas, these days.

Yesterday, CBC news informed us that the Satanic statue was finally unveiled in an industrial area of Detroit.  --What an ugly thing it is.  It makes you wonder what would drive someone to go to this sort of imagery.  And the poor little children are worshiping this beast.  In any case, I can't see how this would increase Satanism's appeal.  The "Friendly Atheist" wrote about the poor Satanists and how they had to defend themselves against Christians to stage their event.  Everyone had to sign over their soul to the devil.  Seriously.  On paper.   At least, that kept the protesters away, was the reasoning.  OK.  Obviously, we will blame whom ever we will.  You might have thought that the Friendly Atheists is equally opposed to the statue.  But consistency is no longer considered logical or a virtue.  What a world we have come to live in.  These are the "reasonable" people.

I am finding that knitting is a great antidote to all this stress.  More people should get into it.  It could solve a lot of problems.  Knitting and singing.

See the Old Shale:  Knit a row, purl a row, counting row, knit a row.  /  The counting row is:  knit two together three times, yarn over, knit one, six times, knit two together three times.  (In the flat not round.)

Isn't it the perfect blanket stitch for a baby blanket?  I met a little baby boy who had one, the other day.  His name is Axel.  His blanket was in blue tones.

Summer Days: Hot and Lots of Fires

We are having a really hot summer, and I can't say that I like it overly much.  It does make me wilt as we refuse to get air conditioning for the few hot days of the year.  Canada also seems to be on fire, literally.  There has hardly been any rain, so that forest fires have become a huge issue.  Makes you want to stay at home.  Actually, getting to a lake would be wonderful, but no such luck...

I read today that Putin met Modi and told him that he would like to try Yoga some day.  This comes on the heels of the international Yoga day, on which we could see picture of the Prime Minister of India performing his Yoga poses.  They said that Yoga was India's gift to the world.

Too funny, though about Modi and Putin talking about it.  Personally, I have blogged about Yoga several times.  It is a border issue.  For some Christians there is a strong association with yogis and gurus and Hindu doctrine, reincarnation, works-righteousness and what all not else.  This could be very valid for some.  For me, as I live in a suburb type situation with no real yogis and gurus around and the local yoga teacher being a committed Roman Catholic, I don't worry about that Hinduism aspect much, as no one has pushed it.  Generally, I feel Christians could benefit from more physical exercise, as the whole society is sliding into obesity, no longer living on the farm, but always commuting by car and sitting in front of computers.

Lately, we have started walking much more with the help of the Fitbit and a Fitbit friend I have.  My husband has been walking with me, and we realized that we have been biking because it is easier than walking.  With walking you get hot and your feet hurt, and so on.  But walking utilizes different kinds of muscles and maybe it really must be the foundational exercise.  Walk lots, do your stretches and then add in the rest.  Anybody want to be my Fitbit friend, let me know.

About Yoga, also, it is a good poor person's exercise, as you don't have to get to the gymn or need any equipment.  As such, it is very frugal and portable.  In addition, it is good for hot weather, as you don't have to bounce around all over the place.  Some people even insist on doing "hot yoga", performing the exercise in a hot room.  I think I'll skip that particular version.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/917426/putin-tells-indias-modi-will-try-yoga/