1. I've been thinking a lot about the words "beliefs" and "believe" for a long time. I took a long and blissful shower this afternoon and thought about these words even more. In short, when the time comes in the liturgy at church to recite the Nicene Creed, within myself I replace the words "I believe" with "I experience". I don't believe in sunshine or gravity or the color green, I experience them. It's the same with the Trinity. When it comes to policy in the world of government, I don't really have beliefs either. I think of myself as supporting policies and positions, but I don't know that I have beliefs. For example, I don't say "I believe in small government" nor do I say "I believe in big government". In some matters, I support less government involvement. In others, I support government programs and agencies. I resist ideological purity -- except when I support it.
So, that's how my shower went today.
It was a meditation upon my inconsistencies. In the words of Walt Whitman and Bob Dylan, I contain multitudes. Whitman precedes this declaration by saying, "I am large." Hmm. "I am large. I contain multitudes."
In Shakespeare's Richard II, the king states: "Thus play I in one person many people." King Richard goes on to say, "And none contented." I see myself as containing many people. I'm not experiencing Richard's turmoil. Several of the many people in my one person are contented.
2. A few weeks ago, I went shopping at Yoke's for something I was cooking for family dinner. My purchases that day intrigued the checker and she asked me what I was cooking. I told her and now, any time I come through her line, she examines my purchases and asks me, "What wonderful thing are you cooking today?"
Today, she once again rang up my purchase, and she was excited that I was headed home to put together a dinner of cheese, salami, crackers, grapes, olives, and other cold finger foods with wine and told me how much she and her husband also often enjoy a dinner a cheese, bread, and wine, especially as the weather gets hot. We agreed it's a perfect way to dine on occasion.
3. Debbie purchased a table umbrella. She invited Christy over and the three of us sat under our newly umbrellaed back yard table and ate a couple kinds of crackers, a variety of Murray's cheeses and some Vermont white cheddar from Cracker Barrel, hot bread and butter pickles, pepperoncini peppers, Kalamata olives, celery sticks, baby carrots, blue cheese dressing, and a few other things. We shared a bottle of red wine and started a bottle of white.
It was relaxing, especially as evening descended and the air cooled down. Riley and Gibbs had the yard to themselves. They palled around some, but mostly relaxed at some distance from each other.
We had a lot to talk about. Subjects ranged from what happening in our family in July and what happened a year ago to how we help others with their writing to some (sometimes oddball) news around town. And more.
We had a fun time!
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