We braved the cold to bury my grandmother's ashes this afternoon at 2 pm. Breezy out at Crest Lawn Cemetery. We only lingered outside for about 20 minutes.
My cousin Betsy organized the day. She drove down from Elijay. Her sister Becca was snowed in near Dahlonega. Her brother Drew brought his two teenage daughters from Sandy Springs. He works for a company that supplies butter to Whole Foods and other places. Ceil often buys his brand. Both his daughters row crew out on the Chattahoochee.
My sister and brother in law drove up from Macon, bringing her friend along for the trip. My brother had only planned on joining us afterward at the restaurant, but must've changed his mind when he learned his wife had planned on joining us at the gravesite. Then for some reason he went straight home from the cemetery. He missed a sweet time of fellowship.
Afterward we warmed up at Maggianos at Cumberland Mall. Lots of flurries on the short drive over, we worried if the weather was getting worse.
Lots of discussion at lunch about my grandmother and family history. Since she passed away in 1996, her obituary isn't online. Wish I'd made time to write up a tribute.
The lasagna was delicious, baked in a sweet tomato sauce. Ceil loved her salmon and mashed potatoes. By the time we finished, the sun was shining off the Galleria office buildings.
Ceil picked up dessert at Whole Foods. When we returned home there was a light layer of snow on our front yard, and on my car. Later I took a nice nap.
The Braves had canceled Saturday morning's open house, so at least I didn't have to weather the cold for that. Instead I joined Ceil on a 2 hour Zoom call with our missionary support team.
That didn't leave us much time to bundle up for the afternoon. I layered up: knee high Stance socks, Nike longjohns over my underwear, my heaviest pants, Nike belt, long sleeve undershirt, turtleneck, heavy quarter zip, my warmest high top Puma sneakers, wool overcoat, fingerless gloves, golf gloves, and winter cap.
We attended the 10 am service, and stood around afterwards visiting with the Eartharts and Halls, whom we hadn't seen for several weeks. Lee, Reid, and I finally found a place to sit. Being out in the cold had tightened up my back, and is really hurting something bad. Leftover spaghetti for lunch.
Anna hinted that they needed help painting, so of course C couldn't say no. Usually we rest on Sunday afternoons, but I have complicated emails to write and bills to pay. We have a bunch of decluttering to do in the two bedrooms upstairs and the downstairs office. The kitchen and TV area is a mess. Winnie wants to be walked. Monday I'm going to have to spend several hours fixing this phone mess that I'd put off the past two weeks, and maybe it'll be warm enough this week to get the oil changed in both cars - something I've been putting off for too long.
M was in Athens for the afternoon minor league hockey game: the Athens Rock Lobsters.
Pancakes for supper.
Monday: my back is hurting pretty bad. I think it tightened up being out in the cold this weekend after being in the sauna all week. Slightly better this morning than last night. Gonna try and make it to the gym for the sauna, and maybe the treadmill. Got a couple of other errands to run as well.
1950 AL Walt Dropo.........Whitey Ford
1951 AL Gil McDougald...Minnie Minoso
1952 NL Joe Black..........Hoyt Wilhelm, Eddie Mathews
1954 NL Wally Moon........Ernie Banks, Hank Aaron
1954 AL Bob Grim...........Al Kaline
1960 NL Frank Howard...Ron Santo
Young Dr Alex Gallimore knows Don Head and the Cheathams. He's a fan of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, and the new senior pastor at SPdL.
DENISON: I have long appreciated the work of New York Times columnist David Brooks. I do not agree with all he writes, but I appreciate the reasoned way he seeks to advance his vision of American flourishing. He diagnoses our cultural condition:
"Four decades of hyperindividualism expanded individual choice, but weakened the bonds between people. . . . As a result of technological progress and humanistic decay, life has become objectively better but subjectively worse. We have widened personal freedom but failed to help people answer the question of what that freedom is for. "
"The most grievous cultural wound has been the loss of a shared moral order. . . . Without shared standards of right and wrong, it's impossible to settle disputes; it's impossible to maintain social cohesion and trust. Every healthy society rests on some shared concept of the sacred—sacred heroes, sacred texts, sacred ideals—and when that goes away, anxiety and a slow descent toward barbarism are the natural results."
We want the benefits of consensual governance without the necessity of a consensual morality. But human laws cannot change human nature. At best, they can restrain some of us from harming others some of the time. They cannot produce the "shared moral order" that leads to the flourishing our Founders envisioned for us.
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