|
OrthodoxBirdLady
|
read my profile
sign my guestbook
Country: United States
State: Minnesota
Birthday: 6/15/1959
Interests: parakeets, learning Russian and Church Slavonic, singing, embroidery. I love kids, especially my nieces and nephews.
Expertise: Trial and error.
Message: message me
Member Since:
7/4/2002
|
|
SubscriptionsSites I Read
|
|
|
|
| My little parakeets Cossack and Zandwaah are going to be on vacation from their mama for a few days this next week. Thank God Maryann can look after them and see to it that the little punkins are fed!
I found an akathist to St. Alexei and it is in Church Slavonic. I should either learn Slavonic or get a blessing to have it translated into English for me.
T. is leaving for San Francisco and a new position in an Orthodox Church School. He will be missed because he was a mover and shaker, even if sometimes he ran roughshod into things because of his zeal for serving God. We have all learned something from him during this difficult transition period as the demographics of our church family change.
Everything seems to happen at once. Work is shaky because the whole place is being reorganized. We have been told we won't lose our jobs but that our duties will change. It's not a comfortable feeling.
This may not be a good time to think of a move and a mortgage unless I knew I would have a job next year, but I would like to get a two bedroom condo -- the second room would be a chapel for sure. Then again, what about monasticism, repentance and the life of a penitent??? Which I want, because of the desire to flee from occasions of sin. Yet because out of the heart of man comes the things that defile him, I'd be struggling against my sinful nature even more in a place dedicated to God and hating it even more. I don't go to Confession enough because I feel I haven't prepared... laziness is one of my worst sins. Perhaps the struggle to know myself and do battle with that laziness is enough for now. Lord have mercy on me a sinner.
The beautiful new icon of St. Alexei comes from a Russian site, www.days.ru. | | |
| Well, I have been home with Zandwaah and the Cossack Baby all week, hoarse voice and all. Tomorrow I mustn't go to church and give everybody my germs. (Another reading of the First, Third, Sixth and Ninth Hours here at the Hermitage with what little voice I have.) I have to miss my Russian lesson, too.
I watch some public TV while I'm embroidering Riley's Christmas stocking. Everything from Prince Charles to purple martins is on PBS. And lots of the 2004 debates. Yawn. I'm voting for Metropolitan Laurus.
Just kidding. But apart from voting for whoever is running in the Constitution Party I don't know who I'd vote for at this point. The Antichrist is eventually going to seduce the unwary no matter who's in office. May God help us!
Kisses and fresh veggies for Cossack and Zandwaah. They are such inseparable companions, even when they get on each other's nerves. They sometimes chatter very softly to each other when they are both at work chewing on something or preening each other's feathers.
I've heard nothing from the Ukraine for a few weeks. That's ok. | | |
| I'm home with a bad cough, laryngitis and a sinus infection. Why do I allow myself to get run down like this? LACK OF BALANCE. Batiushka himself would tell me so if he were with me for a day.
1. Life is not supposed to be a breeze, a joyride or 'what's in it for me while I'm here'. Otherwise it's wasted and it 'disses' God.
2. The Lord Jesus Christ is always there to help with it. All the saints point that out in their life stories and urge us to remember that as they pray for us.
3. I tell myself this a lot lately, but here it is on record: I need to prioritize realizing my life is not my own and I must maintain Someone Else's property.
So there. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow if this doesn't clear up. It's an object lesson that I can't actually speak above a whisper.
***
A few weeks ago I rethought my icon wall so that just like in church, the Great Feasts are on the top row. I still need icons for the 'Presentation in the Temple' and 'The Meeting of the Lord' and a frame for the Ascension one - actually a print from the Holy Land showing the Ascension within the dimensions of the Footprint of the Lord.
***
With that I'll drink some blackberry tea while watching Cossack and Zandwaah and go back to bed. Maybe I should eat something -- yea, rah, rah. More of that imbalance. Shame on me. Faith in Christ to overflowing, common sense strong enough to ground me, moderation in all things. That's all... | | |
| Have mercy on me a sinner, o Lord. The back room is now empty of all but the warped chipboard furniture, the pieces turned over on their sides. I have to watch for mildew and all that nasty stuff, maybe, but certainly the caretaker needs to see this. That wall looks bad. Mom and Dad had a look at it and how it was situated. The windows may have flooded and spilled over, the gutter may not have been in place at the time the water leaked in. There is a little ridge just in front of that corner and all that nasty rain may have backed up...
I have a six month lease. I hope R. sends me the Akathist before I should ever move from here because of this. Anyway that room's going to be empty or Spartan from now on unless it's guaranteed rainproofed. Yeah, turn on OK Computer, Amnesiac or True Love Waits or something. I haven't orchestrated 'Morning Bell' yet, and that's what's going through my head without the words. I can do without the words.
H.M.Ts.A. pray to God for me a sinner. Sigh. I like it here, I like the neighborhood. I hope this can be fixed. But God's will be done. | | |
| Well, a challenge has arisen. There has been water damage to a room in my apartment because of poor drainage to the southeast corner of the building. It's time to move all the furniture. I may have to throw some things away.
I discovered it because my phone line had been out of order all weekend. Once I moved the furniture from the wall I saw how the water had gone all along my phone line behind the bookcase, a box and my desk -- only inches from an electrical outlet where the computer and a power strip was plugged in. It's a wonder I haven't been electrocuted.
Is God looking out for me? You bet He is.
So now I am probably going to take everything out of that room, and once the wall and the phone line are repaired and the carpet is cleaned, I will make it a lot airier in there. Maybe a futon couch in case guests come. But (with apologies to Radiohead) a computer will not be ok unless all I have is a lightweight computer table.
To think I once wanted to have all my icons in that room and along that corner!!!!
This will mean a new coat of paint and a carpet shampoo and restoring the veneer of the wood trim once the wall and the phone line are repaired. I may have to find a place for the birds once they start painting in there because of all the fumes. Lovely.
Rule #1. Trust in God, Who never fails to help in trials and temptations.
Rule #2. Remember why we remember the saints -- because they are good examples of how to cope with trials like this.
Today I have my work cut out for me. The first day of Autumn. They gotta do this before Winter sets in -- for the sake of Zandwaah and Cossack.
| | |
|
