My annual watching of A Charlie Brown Christmas is complete. I feel that whether one believes in the Christian message of Christmas, this short cartoon offers a reflective look at what Christmas has been turned into with all the accompanying consumerism. Charlie Brown: Isn’t there anyone, who knows what Christmas is all about?! Linus: Sure Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about. [Linus walks to center stage.
I think one of the most difficult things in life is seeing someone close to you going through difficulties and not being able to help them. My aspiration can be to help, to offer a perspective, to share some tools to try, but in this moment they do not want to talk (at least not about the struggles) - indeed any attempt at help might be counter productive. All I can do is sit, watch, and wait…however long that might be…
I spent about three hours preparing our Anniversary dinner last night. It was a Japanese vegan dinner from the cookery book, Vegan Japaneasy: Over 80 Delicious Plant-Based Japanese Recipes.
In the photograph below, on the left is a
Both have a Mushroom Dashi, and the Sukiyaki Bowl also has a rich Sweet Soy Sauce, recipes for both were also taken from the book.
Outside it was wet and wintery, and so I enjoyed being in a warm kitchen, creating. These were only the second and third dishes that I had taken from Vegan Japaneasy, and I was very pleased with how they turned out.
Prepping our Anniversary dinner. A Japanese vegan meal.
Married on the Winter Solstice 14 years ago today.
Finished reading: A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, a take that I now read annually. 📚
8:30pm. We have just got in after meeting friends for dinner on the south side. As we crossed back over the island, the sky lit up with lightening. The last 6 miles we crawled home at around 25 miles per hour as torrential rain lashed at the car. Thunder is rolling over us now.
Today I learned a new word, atavistic:
happening because of a very old habit from a long time ago in human history, not because of a conscious decision or because it is necessary now1
Thank you Craig Mod for that unexpected English lesson.
Finished reading: Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata (thank you @Munish for the recommendation) 📚
I sit here listening to Christmas Carols. I grew up singing Christmas Carols at school, went carol singing in my early teens back in the UK, collecting money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, and always have had them playing in the background in the lead up to Christmas. They set the mood of the Christmas holiday for me. I have my favourite pop music songs, good for the parties, but while I could live without those songs, Christmas does not feel like Christmas to me without the carols.
I have often wondered about this. I have never considered myself a Christian, though what I see as the Christian message of love, compassion, service, peace, has resonated deeply with me. I am not even clear where that understanding came from? It is just something that has slowly become apparent in me. As such, that for me is the essential message of Christmas. I could do away with the commercialization of the Christmas holiday today, and nothing would be missing.
When I think of Christmas I think of cold, wet weather, frosty mornings (I don’t get many of those here in Hawai’i), nights closing in, warm homes, family and friends gathered together, church services…and singing carols.
Well the COVID booster (Moderna) after effects thankfully only lasted one day. I not 100% this morning and my arm feels sore where I had the shot, but I feel so much better than yesterday morning. Right now I am just grateful for having had the shot. 💉
Well the COVID booster shot that I received yesterday has knocked me for six. I find it a hard feeling to describe. A friend who had a similar reaction to me explained it as, “I just feel like staring at the wall.” 💉
After interruptions over the last couple of days - storms, power outages, a migraine - I am just about to start exploring the recent addition to Micro.blog, newletters, and to see how it might inform my usage and workflow of my blogs.
Booster shot complete. Now to wait and see if I have a reaction. I’m pleased that that one is under my belt (or in my arm!). 💉
Well it appears that my post from Sunday night was published, three times no less (the extra two are now deleted), though I had no feedback that it had done so. A storm was blowing through the islands off and on through the weekend with steady and at times heavy rain. I have read of localized flooding, landslides and trees blown down. The power went off last night and was down for 8 hours, the internet for 18 and has only just come back on.
As I said here, we have poor cell reception where we live and a spot outside allows for scratchy connection to the internet with little going through.
Without the distraction of the online world, I disappeared deeper into journaling this morning. The time spent there was welcome.
Sitting outside in the dark listening to rain falling everywhere and trying to get a signal to contact Hawaiian Electric as the power has just gone off again…third time in ten days.
The second dose of rain for the weekend has just started. I’m expecting this to keep falling through the afternoon, night and into tomorrow.
I used the weather as an excuse to watch the second episode of Foundation on Apple TV+.
It is so still outside this morning. The calm before the storm?
Finished reading: Holloway by Robert Macfarlane 📚
Finished reading: Blessed Are the Weird by Jacob Nordby 📚