Yesterday’s Psalm was #69: I didn’t discover the relevance until after I had closed the iPad and read the Psalm.
“Save me from the waters of the deep,
lest the waves overwhelm me.
Let not the deep engulf me,
nor the pit close its mouth on me.” (15-16)
That might have been Peter crying out to Jesus as he started to sink; or any of us whose faith was too weak to sustain us for another step on the way.
Upon looking out the dining room window, I saw a black-capped chickadee flitting around the feeder, trying to avoid the much larger turtle doves and blue jays, in order to grab a seed and fly off. So,
What is a black-capped chickadee?
A short little bird with a very long “e”,
Who flits about from feeder to tree,
And steals a seed that’s his for free.
That’s a black-capped chickadee!
Two days ago now, two lines in Psalm 71 struck me as immediately relevant, not that the entire Psalm wasn’t relevant, of course; but especially these:
”Do not reject me now that I am old;
when my strength fails do not forsake me.” (9)
Lately, the iPad has gotten a little too independent, and if I do not touch the screen for each word, the iPad often chooses for me, leading to sentences that do not say exactly what I intended them to say. I proofread the entries, several times before hitting “save and publish”, but sometimes errors slip past me, such as “relative” instead of “relevant” a moment ago. Sometimes, too, the cursor is in the wrong place and I wipe out a phrase that I would not have wanted to wipe out. Mostly though It and I work well together, unlike the cash register and Granville on “Still Open All Night,” a very funny BBC, KET half hour comedy. My favorite BBC, KET half hour ensemble comedy, however, is still “Last of the Summer Wine.” At this point, all the episodes are repeats though I may not have seen them on their first run. Most I just enjoy watching again; however, they are shown after 11pm, and I confess that I sometimes pass out—er—fall asleep. In any case, I love the old people: Truly, Billy (descended from Robin Hood, he says), Clegg, Alvin, Nora Batty; the two inept policemen who would rather rest than exert themselves; the oriental washing machine salesman, Entwistle, who always seems to show up in his red pickup truck at an opportune moment; then, of course, there is the philanderer, Howard, who is married to the termagant, Pearl, who tries to rule Howard’s life with a close eye, while he is always trying to find ways to outsmart her and sneak off on his bicycle to meet his girlfriend, Marina. Frequently, he enlists the help of his neighbor, Clegg, and their friends, Truly, Alvin, and Billy. The real problem is that the friends enjoy playing pranks on Howard, who never seems to learn anything, which is a staple of this kind of comedy, and which is one of the things that distinguishes a recurring comic character from a tragic hero. How many times must the coyote “tread” air at the top of the cliff, run into a wall-painted black like a tunnel entrance, or have the anvil dropped on his head? Always, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. Howard, I should add, is very gullible, witness the episode of the haunted woods. And his wife Pearl is not stupid. Just as there is a central group of men who are primarily instigators of the plots, so there is a central group of women, of which Nora Batty is one. [I even enjoy writing her name. Nora Batty!]. According to the opening credits, the “creator” of both shows is Roy Clarke. He does very well and the shows have or have had a long run. Tonight’s episode, for example, “Will the Nearest Alien Please Come In,” is listed as S28/Ep5 (2007).
Red hibiscus with a setting sun behind it; note 12 and 2 o’clock petals.
Same flower 5 minutes later.