Grab the Lapels

Sunday Lowdown #232

THIS WEEK IN REFLECTION

Last Sunday morning I got ready to go to church to fulfill the requirements of my first Fundamentals of Christian Faith paper. We had to attend a church service that is different from our own denomination. Well, that was easy. I was raised Catholic until around age twelve (I’m sure Biscuit remembers better). For being an atheist, I sure spend a lot of time in church institutions; I am up to attending or teaching at five of them. You just can’t avoid it in my city. I chose a Methodist church down the road from my house because A) it was close, and B) they have rainbow flags out front.

I drove there at 8:45AM, ready for mass, but when I arrived, there were zero cars. Hmmm. I checked on Facebook and saw that Methodist church downtown was tagging the church at which I was parked. Okay, so their mass is 10:00AM, and I think the bigger church ate the smaller church, so to speak. “Subsume,” the word might be.

10:00 AM downtown. I could do that. I drove back home, but had a funny feeling. I went to the Methodist pastor’s Facebook page and saw something about church in the park, and bring a lawn chair. Okay, I can do that. So far, getting to church is starting to feel like being a hobbit.

Finally, I arrived at a park near the large river that runs through the city, and I was happy to see we were in the shade. The lesson of the day was to “lean on” God when you realize you are struggling, because while humans can help you, they are also dealing with their own struggles. The reverend prayed for things like climate change, the war in Ukraine, for people to be welcoming of the valuable LGBTQ community, and that the parents whom the church who were connected to a local psychology center be guided by what they learned. If I were a person of faith, this is the kind of church I would go to, especially since the service ended with singing “Lean On Me,” that lovely earworm. Oh, and they were friendly and didn’t badger me for money.

Mostly, between Sunday and Wednesday I scrambled to complete homework for Fundamentals of Christian Faith and Introduction to Philosophy. All work must be completed before crafting a discussion post due on Wednesday at midnight. This is hard! Also, I realized that I need to internalize/memorize the philosophy stuff instead of relying on my notes, because I got several questions wrong on my first exam. I realized one big problem is I couldn’t tell the difference between a “valid” argument and a “sound” argument. Also, I need to start homework for the following week on Thursdays to be done by Wednesday, despite the school week technically going from Sunday to Saturday.

Obligatory Toadman photo. He’s super beefy. Unless he’s pregnant.

The other big news in the Page house is that we tore up at an estate sale four houses down. I went Thursday and got a couple of things. We returned Saturday when the women running the sale said everything was 50% off. Then, we returned Saturday at 1:00PM because the sale closed at 2:00 and the women said everything was going to be more than half off. Here is some of my swag (Nick’s is of the dusty tool bits and bobs kind — I didn’t take pictures):

Leatherbound book
Goes with my “girls in the garden” theme with my plants
I’ll buy slightly used candles if they’re cheap because in stores, they’re expensive!
Two braided rugs
A homemade ceramic Christmas decoration
Not sure what it is, but I have a colorful glass collection
Porcelain Lenox flowers that I got for a STEAL. I’d wanted them since Thursday, and they were still there at 1:00 on Saturday!
This plant was for sale; not sure what it is

Oh, that’s a lie. Nick bought a big shelf to put in the basement for his tools, and because I didn’t want him to carry that dirty thing home, I was generous and found a dolly at the sale and bought that, too, so he could wheel his prize home down the road.

A pattern I noticed this week — thanks to my friend Ashleigh getting into plant care, I’ve developed a small obsession with moving my plants and decorations around. Like, every other day. I used to just have plants and think, “Yep, those are my plants!” But now they’re on shuffle mode. I was worried the cacti were not happy, so I put them in better sun.

Dining table is now plant table.

Just kidding, everything has moved since I took these pictures.

#20BOOKSOFSUMMER

Since not all of my books are appropriate to review on Grab the Lapels (i.e., I have several authors who identify as men on my list), I’ll give you a couple of sentences of each that I read.

This week: nothing finished to report here! I’m still reading 6 textbooks, 1 book aloud to Nick, 1 audiobook, the volcano book, and 2 book club books. All at the same time.

THIS WEEK’S BLOG POST

Although it was one small part of the review, everyone focused on how horrible it would be to fall under the ice and die, which is what happened to a character in What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage — and that guy was only in the book for three paragraphs! Biscuit and I realized there is a second book, so we’ve got it scheduled for our book club.

NEXT WEEK’S BLOG POST

I’ve got a book coming at you from India, which is unusual for me. Mrs Sharma lives with her in-laws and her moody son in New Delhi while her husband works in Dubai to support them. One day she notices a man on the train who interests her. Is this an affair novel? No, so you better find out why on Wednesday when I review The Private Life of Mrs Sharma by Ratika Kapur.

BOOKS I BOUGHT

Books I paid for (that are not textbooks) since January 2023:

  • True-Biz by Sara Novic ($1) — READ
  • Rants from the Hill by Michael P. Branch ($1) — READ
  • The Mammoth Book of Haunted House Stories, edited by Peter Haining ($1.50)
  • What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage ($0.79) — READ
  • Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray ($0.79)
  • All of Me by Venise Berry ($0.99)
  • Planet Earth books from Time Life ($4.00 for 7 books) — READING
  • North American Wildlife by Susan J. Wernert ($0.50) — READING
  • Your Dog is in The Bar by Celia Rensch Day ($o.79) — READING
  • Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreiber ($0.50) — RECYCLED
  • Witches’ Brew, edited by Alfred Hitchcock ($0.50)
  • At Wit’s End by Erma Bombeck ($0.50)
  • To Be Honest by Maggie Anne Martin ($0.50)
  • The Summer of Jordi Perez (and the Best Burger in Los Angeles) by Amy Spalding ($0.50)
  • Young Matriarch by Karen Patterson ($10.69)
  • The Complete Tales of Mystery and Imagination/The Raven and Other Poems by Edgar Allan Poe ($6)

Running Cost: $30.55

BOOKS ADDED TO THE TBR PILE

Thanks to Biscuit, Sue @ Whispering Gums (comment on another post), Cathy @ 746 Books (comment on another post), and Bill @ Australian Legend for their recommendations!

32 comments

  1. In case Bill is curious, I picked up some chisels, a file, a couple of Jacobs chucks, a coping saw, an adjustable hole cutter, some v-belts and pulleys, and a 1/3 HP AC motor from 1960.

    Like

    Reply

    • When you have a farm and a shed how could you not? My brother has 40 acres which he farms using equipment from the 1950s which he buys at clearance auctions as often as his wife lets him (perhaps I shouldn’t have said that last bit where it might give Melanie ideas).

      Like

      Reply

      • You won’t believe the stuff Nick has gotten for free from Craigslist (do you guys have that in Australia? It’s like a classifieds in the newspaper but with lots of stranger danger) that someone said was broken but could be fixed with a $2 part. The biggest scores have been a pressure washer and a circular saw.

        Like

        Reply

  2. Glad you made it to church for class and that you found one that sounds like it is pretty inclusive.

    Toadman is looking rotund! Bulking up for winter maybe?

    Excellent garage sale finds! Those Christmas decorations look like real cookies!

    I see you added Barn 8 to your TBR. I have read it! It’s entertaining. 🙂

    Like

    Reply

    • Biscuit was telling me two days after I went to church that there is this big separation with the Methodists right now over their positions on LGBTQ acceptance.

      I’m honestly hoping Toadman is Toadwoman and we are inundated with toddlers (Toad-lers?) soon.

      I loved how real the cookie plate looked! There was one more, but the snowman on it had the creepiest smile that I just could not abide.

      Deb Olin Unferth’s books are all so different. She’s a funny lady, too. She came to talk to my MFA fiction cohort when I was at Notre Dame. Just a nice, laid back lady. She’s one of those folks who said she never had kids because she knew it would ruin her writing. Another writer in the future, Ben Marcus, confirmed it ruined his writing.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  4. You appear to be at the opposite end of the de-cluttering trend all the Australian bloggers are writing about. Love the leather bound Poe.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    • Oh, Bill, we went back to the estate sale TWICE today, as they are now giving everything leftover away for free. Some things I’m using to get organized, and other things fit in with an aesthetic that I’ve already got going on. For as much stuff as I find at sales, you’d be surprised by how little stuff we have altogether.

      Like

      Reply

  5. Oh you made me laugh when looking for the Methodist church Melanie because, unless I am so out of it that I am sorely mistaken, you don’t go to mass in a Methodist church. You can to a church service, and occasionally that service will be a communion service. I am not Methodist, but I grew up Presbyterian, and my understanding that our terminologies in things like this were very similar. Here, a few decades ago, but after I’d given up church, most Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational churches merged to become the Uniting Church of Australia. My parents were churchgoers until they died. When they moved to my city to live in 1997, they were choosing between two churches – the St Andrews Presbyterian Church and the Wesley Uniting Church. As I recollect one was particularly inclusive of LGBTQI etc people and one was actively pro women ministers. They chose Wesley in the end, and I think it was the pro women ministers one (though I think it is probably also a pretty inclusive church too.) See what you set off by talking about going to a Methodist mass!!

    I’m glad you have actively put H is for Hawk on your TBR, and I’m sorry I didn’t read last week’s post, I’ll try to do so in the next couple of days which really are, finally, starting to turn normal.

    Loved hearing about your garage sale purchases – and seeing the pics.

    Good luck with this week’s homework.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      • 🤣 Nick and I are in bed cackling at your Henry the VIII comment because we are both assuming it is hyperbole. The more I think about it, though, I realize you may not be hyperbolic, just very not Catholic in your lineage. What were your thoughts when Australia created this uniting church, or did you drive right by that moment in history in a road train?

        Like

        Reply

        • I remember the Uniting Church being formed about that time in the 60s when we were in a small country town and our church had a Methodist minister one year and a Presbyterian the next. Mum was Church of England and at the next town Dad was confirmed C of E and a year or so later so was I. And now I’m nothing, but it’s hard to throw off your upbringing. But I was serious about Henry VIII, though I did have one Irish catholic great great grandmother who I think must have converted to protestant when she married

          Like

          Reply

          • Oh! We thought you were being hyperbolic about Henry VIII, which was what made it funny. It IS hard to throw off your upbringing. If someone says, “May the force be with you” (a Star Wars reference), I’ll say, “And also with you” (a Catholic call-and-response).

            Like

            Reply

    • Ope, I forgot mass is the Catholics. Also, why do Methodists have priests addressed as reverend? Pick one! I guess maybe because I wouldn’t call this lady Father Vicki? My cousins were Pentecostal, so I went to a…well, what do you call it? A gathering? A meeting? A clowder would be most accurate for all the noise they made when they spoke in tongues. I got sucked into going to a youth church camp one weekend to get in required volunteering hours. That’s the extent of my experience.

      Like

      Reply

  6. Looking forward to hearing what you think of H is for Hawk when you get round to it – it was everywhere a few years ago, but I’ve never read it!

    Incidentally I’m fascinated as ever by the big differences between US and UK higher education. If I required my students to go to church to fulfil a class requirement (even if it was relevant) I would fully expect to be fired!

    Like

    Reply

    • In the U.S., the big difference is a private college, which can do whatever they want within limits, and a publicly-funded college, meaning apparently some of our tax dollars go to that college to keep it running as a public service. That doesn’t mean it’s not expensive, so the whole thing kind of blows my mind. And private colleges are expensive. For instance, my DEEPLY discounted summer tuition is the same price as a public university’s regular tuition. So, the whole “separation of church and state” applies to private (and in this case a private religious) college. I believe a public university could require religious attendance if they did not show favoritism to one religion, or had students go to many different religious services/events.

      Like

      Reply

  7. H is for Hawk is supposed to be amazing, everyone told me I had to read it, and I never did, so excited to see your review of it! That’s sort of funny that everyone really focused on the dying under the ice thing, weird how our minds zero in on things.

    Love those plants! And someone may have already mentioned this, but the blue glass thingy is for watering/spritzing things I believe…I think it may actually be like, a gardening tool of sorts

    Like

    Reply

  8. Yes, it’s a plant spritzer. And Anne Rivers Siddons in horror shock! I mean, her stuff is quite melodramatic and gothic in places, white skinned bony faces and all that but not that scary! Sorry I’m so behind, had a health worry and a colonoscopy this week (all clear) and it’s not been conducive to checking blogs. You made it through the purge, though (of blog posts, to be clear …!).

    Like

    Reply

Insert 2 Cents Here: