Discoveries

 I walked up the berm behind my house this afternoon to look at the large saucer-shaped blooms on the bush. Last night I searched the internet to see if these were hibiscus. Yes, it appears they are. They are so much bigger than the hibiscus that grew outside the kitchen window of my childhood. I should have photographed them 2 days ago as now many are shriveling up. The blooms last only a few days. 

Most of the flowers on the front corner of my house finished blooming weeks ago. Now what is left is rudbeckia. They have new buds coming on and should last a few more months probably.

We were asked to introduce ourselves to a new couple that moved into a condo down the street and serve as a "resource" for them. They are former missionaries with UFM that served in the region near Lyon, France. Today we drove them to the Robin Hood lunch in a nearby restaurant. My husband asked the wife if she had adopted French cooking/preparation styles. She said that she had and as a result most of their meals are made from scratch. I didn't think to ask what happens in the winter when fresh produce and herbs are unavailable. She did not make everything herself. She relied on bakeries and pastry shops and markets in the plazas, but the emphasis was on fresh.

This afternoon on Cafe Farine Sucre the blogger Chris finished her description of their two-weeks stay in a small village in the French alps near Chamonix. She told about the food they bought in the marketplace as well as trips to the mountain meadows. It gave me a case of wander-lust. 

I think it was on Ann Voskamp's blog that I read about Psalms of Lament by Ann Weems. I wasn't quite sure what I was ordering, but I found an inexpensive copy on Better World Books. These are poems written in the style of Biblical lament psalms. It is not the kind of book one would read straight through, but rather dip into slowly to read and reflect. I had assumed these poems were written in response to the loss of her husband; instead they flowed from grief on the occasion of the murder of her 21-year-old son. I shall start dipping over the next months. 

I am in a quandary about how to go about life now that our county has moved from high to very high risk COVID level. That risk is mostly relevant to unvaccinated people. We have a case of COVID in our Robin Hood neighborhood now. The woman was unvaccinated because her medical providers advised against getting the shot because of her existing conditions.

 I mostly do my grocery shopping online with pickup, but if I go into a store I might start wearing a mask again. It appears the delta variant causes break-through cases at times. If most of my county was protected, I would continue without a mask, but less than half of the residents have been vaccinated. Many of those are children who cannot yet receive a shot and with whom I have little contact. I don't know what to do about church attendance though. Attendees at churches in our area do not wear masks, yet I know they are not all vaccinated. I am still undecided about what steps to take as I interact with people in my community. My sense of protection has been eroded.