WHAT A DAY

November 11, 2020

Well, it certainly was a good day for mail yesterday!

Eight pen pal letters, including a letter from the only man I exchange letters with, a minister from Wisconsin.  From the very beginning, I didn't want to write to any men at all, but he sounded interesting and I found a few of the services from his tiny church on You Tube.  He and his wife have been together some 35 years and we are exchanging stories of experiences with the Catholic church.  I even attended a Mass in our town one Sunday morning to experience it for myself and introduce myself to the priest as a fellow pastor in hopes that we might work together to minister to our community.  I was met with less than open arms and my offer for us to work together was refused.

It's difficult to explain how the tone of his letters is different from those from women. 

There are a couple of letters from women with whom I am feeling more of a friendship and a few letters from people to whom I will write, but I don't see a deepening friendship.

Anyway, it was a great day for mail.

I spent a good part of the afternoon reading my Sandi Toksvig book, which I am almost finished.  What a fun book this is.  I read that when writer Thomas Hardy died in 1928, his wife didn't want "him" buried in Westminster Abby, so she gave them his body, but had the guy who did his autopsy remove his heart.  I'm not sure what she was going to do with it, but in the night, the cat found it and ate it.

I learned that gummikylling is Danish for “rubber chicken” and that absquatulate means to leave somewhere abruptly.  I also learned why Toksvig carried dog poo into the Supreme Court at Parliament.

I learned about "famine soup" which Alexis Soyer, the first celebrity chef (in the early 19th century) served to thousands for free during the Great Famine in Ireland and that Beau Brummel was said to have his boots polished with champagne.

I learned why the Earl of Harrington invented the pavement in the 1760s and learned the definition of "Devil's doorbell," supposedly an Australian expression, which I will leave to you to discover for yourself.

After a fairly good night of sleep, waking up to find out how #45 is trying to take the election away from Biden and end Obamacare, Ned put out a squash someone had given us that he cut in half and the four baby squirrels had a great time eating it.

Watching all four babies chasing each other around the yard and eating sunflower seeds and squash was such fun I didn't need TV zoo videos to watch.