Southern Living - Musings from The Manor

Today I wanted to follow up on the health of Queen Elizabeth.  Maybe it is because she has a physical resemblance to my late Grandmother Gross who lived to age 96.  You can be the judge.   In the news article about the real Queen, the reporter noted the doctors advised Her Majesty to "cut back on alcohol consumption."  I found this amusing for two reasons: 1) just how much alcohol is the Queen drinking that she needs medical advice to cut back, and 2) at her age, what does it matter? Along the same parallel, in her late 80s, my Grandmother Gross became concerned about cutting down on cholesterol.  In her case, 2) above seemed to apply at the time. My immediate family were staunch Methodists and thus alcoholic beverages were not part of our menu.  My mother told stories of how my Great-Grandfather Webb would hide his beer under the porch steps when they spent summers at Piney Point in southern Maryland. Our most adventuresome relative was "cousin" Eunic...

  “When through the woods and forest glades I wander, and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees…then sings my soul…how great thou art” Connie and I are camping at Trap Pond State Park. The park is 45 minutes from home, yet seems miles away from work, local traffic and the news. So far the biggest excitement is swatting away the yellow jackets.  We are camped on a site on a peninsula at the end of a loop. Last evening a blue heron joined us at dinner. We sat at our picnic table as the heron dined in the small inlet next to our site.  After almost two years of dealing with the effects of multiple Important Issues at work (a growing regional theatre), including city zoning politics for our proposed new building, Covid, and a series of HR issues this summer, I give God thanks for a few days in the woods and forest glade, comforted by the gentle breeze.  Wesley