Each Wednesday (or thereabouts) I’ve been recording a Curiosity Journal to recap the previous week using these tag words: reading, playing, learning, reacting and writing.
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Reading
Sitting around the house are stacks of books I want to read, but lately I’ve had to process a lot of student papers.
Playing
Today, God gave us another spectacular summer-in-springtime day to relish. I did two loads of laundry and hung them up to dry. As the wind lifted the sheets, they billowed and snapped and furled. I grabbed my camera, hoping to catch that mesmerizing motion and the light casting shadows on the fabric: back-lit tree branches…silhouettes against scrim.
Learning
That recent study about red meat? Makes me glad I’m moving toward a vegetarian diet.Eventually, I may go vegan.
Reacting
Throughout winter I pull the down-filled comforter to my chin and curl into a ball to stay warm at night. I slip on warm socks and layer my clothes to make it through the days, which are often gray and dreary from November or December through March, even into April. I slowly fade as the season progresses, struggling to drag myself outside. Slowly, as the calendar inches toward spring, I thaw. The days grow longer, occasional sun peeks through, and I can head out for a walk without first pulling on long underwear and piling on a parka.Then, yesterday afternoon, a surprise.The 70s.Temperatures in the 70s? That’s, well…summer!And it’s not even spring yet!Giddy and energized, we threw off the jeans and jackets we donned at 7:00 in the morning when we left the house and slipped into tank tops and shorts. The kids ran around the yard barefoot; I went jogging and came home sweaty.As I showered off, I realized I was smiling.Warmth + sunshine = bliss.
That evening we ate on the screened-in porch. The chatter of birds tucking away for the evening prompted my son to shush us all.”Can we all just sit here and eat without talking for a moment,” he requested, “so we can just listen to the birds? They sound so relaxing and beautiful, I just want to enjoy it.”Most of us were too busy passing the potatoes and biscuits to stay quiet for long, but I heard him. I listened. I heard the chirps and churras, a swirl of sound overlapping and dancing in the air all around.We finished our meal and started to stack plates as the sunlight faded. The birds quieted, and temperatures cooled. I grabbed a sweater and came back out to linger just a few minutes, though, before heading inside.
Writing
Though I’m keeping a journal, I’ve mostly been in editorial mode lately.
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Images by Ann Kroeker. All rights reserved. You may “pin” in a way that links back to this post.
It all sounds so nice Ann. And the pictures are great. I can almost smell that fresh air smell.
I have to smile though, because in our neck of the woods the 70’s are still a tad on the cool side. Isn’t it funny the way all things are relative?
It’s good to read your words. I can hear your voice in my head and see your sweet smile. Miss talking to you.
Today it got up to 80 degrees. Is that summer-hot?
Ann – so much beautiful going on in this almost-Spring day for you. Love the laundry. I was worried, at first, when you said you did laundry. And that study about meat . . . I know!
Breezy laundry in the air that was warrrrrmmmmm.
If 70s meant summer, then I would love summer. Enjoy your birds.
Upper 70s. Today it was 80. In the deep summer, like July and August, it can be almost 100.
I apologize for taking this so head on, but never accept a Scientific study at face value.
From the article: “[D]uring the study period, adding an extra portion of unprocessed red meat to someone’s daily diet would increase the risk of death by 13%.”
The risk of death is already 100%, so what’s 113%? All dead versus mostly dead? What should matter is not what you eat, for what goes into the body does not soil a man, but what comes out. With the time we have on Earth, are we exemplifying God’s love and glorying him with our actions? Or, are we micromanaging our diet in hopes of squeaking out a few more months? Our days are numbered by God before we are born.
From the Study: “Men and women with higher intake of red meat were less likely to be physically active and were more likely to be current smokers, to drink alcohol, and to have a higher body mass index…”
So, the study is saying that those who ate more red meat were more lazy, fat and engaged in harmful behaviors that those who weren’t. And the cause was red meat? It sounds more like these individuals were given to excess and that tendency is what got them. In the study I saw no comparison between those who consumed “normal” amounts and “an extra portion” who did not exhibit the other behaviors. It sounds to me that the study should be urging moderation.
The data was taken from the US population and analyzed in the UK…nothing is said of where that data came from. A friend’s wife does clinical research for NIH. She and her coworkers openly mock the China Study for its bad research and findings. (Forget that it was funded by PETA.) Nothing says the UK study does not use the same underlying data…
Be wary of those who seek to manipulate you to behave a certain way. Controlling others is not what Christ came for us to do. Our culture uses scientific findings, even pseudo-scientific, to tell us that things are true that are not. A report like this is little more than another attempt to manage your behavior.
From reading this, I remain in my commitment to eat in moderation, play in moderation, but enjoy life to the full.
Appreciate your thoughtful response. Thanks for stopping by.