dual personalities

I had a pleasant, quiet week, and we even made a little progress in the kitchen. The stove is now in the right place and we can use the dishwasher! Counters are finally on (re)order and should be here in a couple of weeks. My do-it-yourself job was to paint the breadbox that son #2 made for me some years ago. Voilà!

As you can see, I painted it to match the sideboard and all the blue and white china.

Now I’ve put my paint brushes away for the time-being and plan to concentrate on getting the house back in order. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to be at home without workmen or the prospect of their imminent arrival.  I am fortunate indeed.

Aside from puttering around, I finished reading the second book in a series by former MI5 director Stella Rimington. They’re quite enjoyable books that seem very plausible, have good characters, and neither whitewash nor demonize our enemies. While certainly not deep, these books are refreshingly candid. Best of all, the heroine is intelligent and likeable without being unrealistically superhuman. Though she’s now 82, Dame Rimington is still writing.

Clearly, her brain remains as agile as ever. I wish I could say the same about my own!

Yesterday I was sad to see that Albert Finney passed away.

He sure was cute and full of life when he started out. Booze and hard living eventually stole his looks but he was always a great actor.  Let’s consider watching Tom Jones tonight.  Without doubt it is his very best movie.

If you’re in the mood for something contemporary, try The Big Sick (2017), a story about an aspiring Pakistani comedian, his developing relationship with a white graduate student, and their families.

Basically, it’s a sweet, funny story about two people falling in love and dealing with a clash of cultures. It has a good script and relatable characters and it doesn’t rely on vulgarity for its laughs. How refreshing.

Here’s to octogenarian writers, the dearly departed, and winging it for another week!

*The Big Sick

It was a funny week — for the most part, frigid weather left me muffled up at home puttering around the house,  reading, and thinking. I even skipped a department meeting! Yet all has not been blissful coziness. I am on the board of a local church-affiliated charity organization (comprised of several member churches) that runs a thrift shop and food pantry and gives emergency aid to those in need. We are bursting at the seams at our present location, and we  need to find a bigger place. Yesterday a sub-group of us met with a realtor to look at a huge, 8000 square foot property. Some board members want to start a capital campaign to raise money for the purchase. They have ambitious plans to expand our services and they want to run the organization on a business model.

Their enthusiasm is laudable, but I cannot help feeling that we are getting away from our mission, which is to help people in our small catchment area. In my view we should be closer to the widow’s mite than the money lenders. In other words, our operation should concentrate on the human aspect, rather than fiscal growth.

William Teulon Blandford Fletcher’s The Widow’s Mite

Why do we need to act as if we are in a fund-raising competition? And isn’t it true that the bigger we get, the more overhead cost we’ll have? Won’t the money simply go to support the charity and not the people who need help?  Bigger is not necessarily better, right? Perhaps I should remind my colleagues to “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it” (Matthew 7:13) — they mean well, but good intentions without clear thought just get everyone into trouble.

The moral of the story? Easy charity isn’t charity at all. We should always examine our motives and think deeply about the consequences of our actions before we act.

Just in case you are interested in feeding your stomach as well as your soul, I’m going to share the easy and delicious dinner I made last night. Gnocchi with beef and zucchini. Here’s the sauce,

and here’s the gnocchi.

I recommend frying them for crispness but you can also follow the recipe and boil them if you prefer your food soft and mushy. I did not have the chili paste called for in the recipe, so I just added a few red pepper flakes. The mascarpone adds a subtle sweetness, and while the sauce would probably turn out fine with another cheese, try it first with the mascarpone!

Have a great weekend, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).