Visit to the dentist

 Generally I only go to a dentist every nine months unless I need a tooth repaired. A lot can change I discovered as my last time there was nine months ago. When I arrived the welcome person was missing. I saw that the indoor slippers were back but could not see where to put my shoes if I took them off.  Just at that moment one of the people who works at the dentist's office came in  to the welcome area so I asked but she said not a problem to keep them on. During and after COVID I always brought a bag for my shoes so that they were sorted but I didn't have a bag. I settled for keeping them. There weren't any outdoor shoes sitting around and all the rooms were busy. As I waited for my turn (I was about five minutes early), I again contemplated how as a child I thought my grandmother was so lucky to have false teeth and hoped I would soon as well as I hate going to the dentist. But I still have 27 of the 28 (4 wisdom teeth removed) so must do the dentist thing every nine months. Checkup went well, cleaning went well. One tiny cavity on one of the capped teeth (just below the cap).  I do not mind freezing as I have neuralgia in my jaws and the process sometimes sets that off. But all in all it went well although took one hour instead of half of an hour as they were short one person. The dogs were impatient when I arrived back an hour and a bit later; wondered where I was. The trials and tribulations of being 81 I guess. I will bring my shoe bag next time. Maybe my teeth will all fall out and I can have false teeth!

No work on the matches but maybe today. Dogs kept me very busy yesterday and it was clean the basement day. All completed.  

Reading 2 Chronicles and again a recitation of the history of the Kings of Israel/Judah. Mind seems busy and only read four chapters. 

Today cleaning the top floor and my daughter has done half of it which is great. The dogs are still asleep. 

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

 

 

Dogs and how they relate

 The dogs did make friends with the dog two doors up last time but with the dogs going out singly they haven't played as they did before with races up and down the yard.  do not see the dog out in the yard that often these days but then I am not out there very often either. 

Off to Church yesterday and an interesting sermon that picked up on one of the readings talking about dogs of all things. This individual is a religious scholar and brings in quite interesting comments using the readings. 

Continuing to read 2 Chronicles and the history of the people of Israel continues as a review of the past. 

More work on the matches and I have twelve left to do. Probably it will take these three cleaning days to complete that project. Today is cleaning the top floor and should be interesting. 

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

Lovely pictures of the birds at the feeder with our window camera.  

2 Chronicles and Solomon

 The recitation of the history continues and Solomon is now King and he builds the temple to the Lord God. The flow is very much of a story line keeping people interested as they listen or read but primarily this is probably being read to the people of Israel to remind them of their history. It is the grandchildren or great grandchildren of the Israelis who were carried off to Assyria or Babylon and life has not been easy for them in captivity.

Yesterday was a busy day with the dogs going in and out. They love the yard but I do not let the younger one stay out if she barks. There is a sort of normal setting here with dogs in various yards and having newcomers in is always upsetting for this sort of standard neighbourhood give and take where the dogs are concerned so I try to fit into it as fast as possible. The older dog does not bark which is handy but she is a really big dog and if seen can over excite some of the dogs. But she does her careful walks around the yard to strengthen her leg before surgery. She is doing a great job but sometimes forgets and runs a little. But I can see that the leg is strengthening even daily. She will be ready for her surgery in a couple of weeks with lots of muscle tissue well exercised to help her get back up on her feet quickly. 

Continued with the matches and there are now  sixteen left to enter into the databases. Filling in those tiny little nitches that needed just a supporting match or a match where there was some portion not covered earlier. Amazing really DNA and how it fits one into the picture of Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens is the most successful  of the Homo genus thus far. One wonders if we are starting to undergo a new phase of Homo sapiens not a distinct species but rather a change in the modern human. Have we yet reached the limits from this species as the length of life declines; not really recovering from the effects of COVID-19 on human life span. What sorts of development could we see that we could conclude is an update on Homo sapiens or an emerging species? 

Church today and online in just under two hours. The services in July were quite lovely; it was nice to see the Dean back (retired Bishop of Ontario after being our Dean). He has a special edge with sermons that I always appreciated when he was Dean. They are very didactic and well done. You find your interest never wavers from beginning to end. He preached in a way that I find very informative without being patronizing. His tone of speaking is soothing rather than jarring. He remains one of my favourite people giving sermons. It is nice to see him well in his retirement. 

The priest who helped me with setting up my husband's funeral is the main priest for the month of August. I find his sermons to be most informative as well although I still prefer strictly religious sermons without reference to the present times but rather reminding us of the history of the Church which goes so far back in the time of Homo sapiens. The Bible reveals so much to us it is writings. Now part way into 2 Chronicles one can feel the rhythm of the passage of time from ancient ancient happenings namely the formation of the earth to the time of Solomon where I am now reading the recitation of the history of his reign as King of Israel. 

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

Something I missed as a young child right through adulthood and now I am seeing it

1 Chronicles is describing in the last chapters the perfect society in King David's kingdom where individuals are placed in their skill slot sort of and create all that is needed for a beautiful life; a Utopia. I do not know a great deal about a  kibbutz but it strikes me that this is the perfect life where everyone works together and creates the world that God wanted us to have at this time. He was first trying to show us how to live in a way that benefited everyone in the world. But first and primarily we needed to love only God the Creator not all these strange gods that people created mostly because of their greedy desires. Interesting that I would see this in my old age; I never did as a child. It is the perfect life. A Utopia on earth was the idea but moving away from all those rules of the Torah to meld with modern technology and industry. Perhaps one of these days I will see an explanation of all of that written up. Myself I prefer modern technology and all that industry can produce but living within the laws that God sent to us when He sent Jesus, His only Son to be with us for that short time over two thousand years ago (the Christian faith is born from that happening). It is all a mystery and I do believe that some happenings are God's work. God the Creator is part of so many societal stories particularly in the Western Hemisphere where I live but also in the Eastern Hemisphere. We always think of the Eastern Hemisphere as the ancient world but gradually we are discovering that the Western Hemisphere also has an ancient past not yet fully opened to us through archaeological digs. The time moves on though and more and more discoveries are revealed to us. At 81 my time on earth ahead of me is short compared to the time I have already spent. Thank you God for all these memories of Your goodness giving me strength during the times that were not so very pleasant. Doing God's work is always good and the requirements so tiny - love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself. 

 

 

 

The luxury of time on your own

I do love the huge luxury of time on my own because I did not have it for such a very huge part of my life. As a child I was the middle child of seven children although moving to the attic gave me a certain amount of quiet and time on my own. Then I married at 20 (I was going to take a job in criminology with the RCMP in Regina but Edward persuaded me to marry him instead). No regrets on marrying; we had fantastic times together especially in the Northern woods of Ontario. It was beautiful. Then raising our children together was wonderful. But Edward was a people person and I definitely not but somehow we managed to compromise all of that and I would go places that he wanted to be at as a member of this and that and that worked; I just didn't get involved in all the projects except when he needed my help or volunteered me. Now I love being with my children but then I can not get any work done so the compromise works well. I work a lot and then have breaks and that is fun. It is the change between having everyone and not having anyone that I adjust to in between but it doesn't take long actually although I love their company. But at 81 I no longer want to spend time with people that I am not related to; that is just it.  

Continuing to read 1 Chronicles and I am into the last set of chapters of the book this morning. I find myself running over in my mind my father's thoughts on tribalism. Tribalism and what is it; it gives many people a sense of belonging of which perhaps they feel a need. It gives people a purpose but what is tribalism really; a thought that everyone in a group is related and shares common ancestry for a long time. In reality there are not that many people so intertwined these days; most countries have experienced the ebb and flow of populations around the world and few are of the exact same groups of people who once dominated the areas now occupied. Being European isn't really tribalism and especially not purely Caucasian as Europe is a mixture (a huge group of all kinds of different people; over 743,630,003 of them); even being from England/British Isles as I am ancestrally speaking (my father was born in England and my mother in Canada) and probably 95% of my ancestry or more way back in time since I must reach back into the 1500s for my Huguenot (French) ancestry (Question/Cuestion, Millet) and the 1400s for my Scot (British Isles) ancestry (Routledge (many lines), Tweddle, Storye, Armstrong,  Robson, Bushby) doesn't make me 100% from even the British Isles. The population of the world is constantly moving from one place to another seeking a better life for their family. The world is indeed a stronger place for being able to manage this ebb and flow of people. Why do people flee their country of birth; weather change I think is the biggest driver - their lands are dried up and they cannot grow food. I think it comes down to that or the other driver is war. Why do we have war? People are greedy and want what someone else has. That is what we have to move past more than anything. I am thinking now on my father's thoughts about tribalism being the biggest problem in the world. I think it is greed really. 

When the United Nations was formed in 1945 it had an aim; to bring peace to the world and to let people be heard. We must give more power to the General Assembly to control actions that cause war but first the realization of the source of the problem needs to be understood; the action that caused the reaction - Russia invading a country they called Nazi and then the threat of nuclear war if anyone interferes is just such an ignorant action, Iran creating and backing armed militants like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis to try to destroy Israel is another such ignorant action; it is a coercive manipulative tactic trying to take over something that does not belong to them. You just have to  pile on the sanctions until they stop. There is  enough nuclear power to blow the world into pieces and there is no return from that. That is called Armageddon and it is in the Bible. The Bible is a fascinating book with its history of time and predictions of time to come. The word of God was given to us - Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbour as yourself. That is how we survived what looked like Armageddon during the Second World War.  

Down to twenty two matches to enter into my databases. I did not think I would accomplish this much with all the coming and going in my household. The dogs keep me very busy. The one is a barker so I am constantly on alert when she is outside but the other doesn't normally bark. She is older now though and needs to not run whilst her leg continues to heal.  

Solitaire games to do. Another research day and it is a beautiful day. Out several times already with the dogs, singly most times although Zoey was too fast for me first thing. I am getting old.