Can you tell that the teaching week is well & truly under way? It’s been a busy few days (they weren’t all like Monday, but each day had its own share).

Today’s after class therapy; mowing the lawn….

Free Labour

Funny story: This week will have seen us do a few routine maintenance things to the car, the first of which (Tuesday) was the battery replacement.

When the dealership sent me the estimate, they made a point of indicating that it would be their pleasure to waive any labour costs for that job.

Wow, I was impressed. There had been a few delays in getting the estimates, so I assumed it was a small good will gesture.

Tuesday I arrived and the whole job was done in about 8 minutes (rather uniquely, our battery is located in the trunk, so no digging around under the hood). They didn’t even have me bring the car into the shop, they did what they needed to right in the parking lot.

Uh-huh… free labour eh? Thank you! 🙂

No Restaurants ’til January

Not that it’s a big thing for us, we don’t frequently eat out, but for the French this is a real ‘Scandale’.

Also, we still have to fill out government forms each time we need to go out (even to walk the dog, within a km of our house), oh yes, and now we’re supposed to be masked – even if out walking the dog in our ‘on the city’s edge / borderline countryside’ part of town.

One thing is for sure… this whole Covid thing has really turned the world on it’s head.

Green Grass

As I mentioned above, part of today’s post-class therapy was to mow the grass which, yes, is still growing green in the latter part of November. I must admit, it was also an easy way to collect the leaves under the apple and birch trees. Extra mulch for the gardens.

With all that’s going on in the world – from disease, to political instability (mixed with an inexplicably bountiful supply of willful ignorance) and human nature seamingly unleashed – mowing the grass and mulching the garden beds at home, in the security of our own little hedged & fenced in part of the world is about the best place I can think to be.

There’s an old Jim Reeve’s song that comes to mind:
(my grandmother’d be proud)

This world is not my home
I’m just passing through
My treasures are laid up
Somewhere beyond the blue

chorus:
The Angels beckon me
From Heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore

Oh Lord, you know
I have no friend like you
If Heaven’s not my home
Then Lord what will I do

chorus
The Angels beckon me
From Heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home
In this world anymore

The song goes on, but you catch my drift. This world is increasingly ugly. The need for God is ever greater.

They say the grass is always greener on the other side. I daresay that’s probably true… but not in an earthly sense… It’s ‘over yonder’ that the greenest grass can be found, and I’m increasingly anxious to be there.

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Thank you & God bless you today!