Sunday Sermon and Some Other Stuff

“Don’t let a little mud in your eyes prevent you from seeing. Sometimes it’s a good thing. Miracles do happen.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

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An amazing beautiful perfect Sunday. The weather was just perfect. A perfect day to head over to church and celebrate the Mass and celebrate life.

Today’s Gospel was the story of Jesus curing the blind man…

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Jesus healing the Blind Man, 2008 © Brian Jekel

Gospel of 22nd March 2020 – John 9:1,6-9,13-17,34-38

As Jesus went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. He spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man, and said to him, ‘Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam’ (a name that means ‘sent’). So the blind man went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored.

His neighbours and people who earlier had seen him begging said, ‘Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some said, ‘Yes, it is the same one.’ Others said, ‘No, he only looks like him.’ The man himself said, ‘I am the man.’

They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. It had been a sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man’s eyes, so when the Pharisees asked him how he had come to see, he said, ‘He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see.’ Then some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man cannot be from God: he does not keep the sabbath.’ Others said, ‘How could a sinner produce signs like this?’ And there was disagreement among them. So they spoke to the blind man again, ‘What have you to say about him yourself, now that he has opened your eyes?’ ‘He is a prophet’ replied the man.

‘Are you trying to teach us,’ they replied ‘and you a sinner through and through, since you were born!’ And they drove him away.

Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied ‘tell me who he is so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said, ‘You are looking at him; he is speaking to you.’ The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.

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My take on it… Wow! Even though Jesus performed a miracle and gave sight to a blind man, the Pharisees were on His case about not keeping the Sabbath. So, I guess you can’t perform miracles on the Sabbath? Even though these negative people didn’t believe, the blind man said, “Lord, I believe.” Sometimes it just takes one person at a time to see the light. The nay sayers and negative people will never see because they don’t want to, even when the truth is right there in front of them. Such is life.

So, after Mass, Helene and I stopped at McD for coffee. Our other third musketeer, Jerry, was out of town. After that, I called my old friend Miss Zelda. We’ve been trying to get together for lunch for weeks. Today was a perfect day for outside dining at Palio’s.

Hi, Miss Zelda. Lookin’ good.

After lunch, Miss Zelda asked if I had time to go over to Callaways to check out the flowers and shrubs. Everything was so beautiful, but pretty pricey. Personally, I don’t buy many flowers or plants because I have a black thumb, it green. My standard line is, “I can paint a flower, I just can’t grow a flower.”

Very pretty flowers.

After I got home, I was exhausted for some reason. I took a two hour power nap and decided I better get out for a walk while it was still so lovely out. I’m not sure how many loops around the pond I made, but every time I checked my steps on my phone I thought, “I’ll just walk one more loop. I wanted to get at least 4K steps, then it was 5K, then I stopped checking and after a while, I walked a loop, sat to rest a minute, then walked another. I wanted to push myself. The sun was setting and was just too gorgeous to go back home. Maybe I could make it to 8K.

Who would want to go inside when this was the view?

Happy Sunday, my friends!

Tenacious Tuesday

“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure , the process is its own reward.”
Amelia Earhart
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Today was a very tenacious Tuesday. I was busier than a horsefly at a rodeo. Call Mom, straighten the house a little, Zumba at 8:30, scramble home, shower, cut up and package brownies, gather art supplies and paints for Tuesday tea time, and be out of the house by 11:45 am. (I’m tired already.)

Whenever I bake a double batch of brownies, I take a container over to Fire Station 5. They always appreciate a sweet little treat from a sweet little old lady. Paramedic Floyd looks pretty happy.

Then, off to McKinney’s Sweet Spot Bakery for tea time, treats and tunes. Miss Kay, Karen and I had our ukuleles, and we strummed a few tunes. Miss Kay played, Karen and I held down the C chord and pretended to play. During our intermission, we worked on painting daisy notecards and on glass votive candles. They did a great job.

Sherry always masters each project.

Miss Kay loves learning new things.

Karen can play a mean C chord and paint a mean candle. Mandy left before I could snap a picture.
I hung out until 5:30, then off too McKinney Creative Community pot luck at SPARC. That’s what the other batch of brownies was for. This is a great group of writers, artists, teachers and other creative people that meets the second Tuesday of each month. After chatting, socializing, and eating, we sit around in a big circle, taking turns introducing ourselves and sharing “what’s new and good.” It’s a great networking group, plus, there’s always good food and conversation.

It was a twelve hour tenacious Tuesday. Always crazy busy, always crazy fun.

Tenacious Tuesday

Patience and tenacity are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.
Thomas Huxley
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te·nac·i·ty
təˈnasitē/
noun
1.
the quality or fact of being able to grip something firmly; grip.
“the sheer tenacity of the limpet”
synonyms: persistence, determination, perseverance, doggedness, strength of purpose, tirelessness, indefatigability, resolution, resoluteness, resolve, firmness, patience, purposefulness, staunchness, steadfastness, staying power, endurance, stamina, stubbornness, intransigence, obstinacy, obduracy, pertinacity More
the quality or fact of being very determined; determination.
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It was a busy tenacious Tuesday. Zumba in the morning, was followed by participating in a couple ribbon cutting ceremonies on the Square. My friends Cathy and Elizabeth invited me to their ribbon cutting at Sweet Spot. The Chamber of Commerce is very active and supportive in McKinney. There were several other ribbon cuttings going on, so I popped across the street to Art on the Veranda, an art gallery/gift shop that recently opened on Louisiana. The Square is really hopping with new businesses. Cool!

Sweet Spot Bakery

Art on the Veranda

I stopped at the car wash on the way home. I usually rely on the rain to rinse my car, but very little of that happening lately. Later in the afternoon, the pup, Buck, walked past me, swiping at his nose with his paw. When I glanced over, his snout was all swollen and his eyes red and puffy. Within minutes, I could see huge bumps and welts forming on his head, then traveling all along his body right before my eyes. Did he swallow a scorpion, or was he bitten by a snake? Who knows? I called the vet and took him right over. It was a severe allergic reaction, but we’ll never know from what source. Poor little guy.(Well, 79lb little guy) A couple shots and some Benadryl helped a little. It may be a while before a complete recovery.

Buck was a swollen bumpy mess from head to toe.

While the dog rested, I made some pasta salad to take to the McKinney Creative Community meeting at 6. There was a nice turn out of folks…artists, and creative souls, sharing food and friendship, stories and good news. A great way to end a busy day. McKinney is a great, supportive place to live. My spaceship landed in a great little town!

Tenacious Tuesday

Patience and tenacity are worth more than twice their weight of cleverness.
Thomas Huxley

I like to think of myself as a tenacious person, but only in the positive, fun-lovin’ kinda way. The Webster definition is pretty accurate. I believe in a strong cohesive family. When I make a friend, we are not easily pulled apart. I tend to be a little clingy, quite persistent, and always seem to be in search of something valued. (I just haven’t found it yet.)

tenacious: te·na·cious\tə-ˈnā-shəs\
adjective
1 a : not easily pulled apart : cohesive
b : tending to adhere or cling especially to another substance
2 a : persistent in maintaining, adhering to, or seeking something valued or desired
b : retentive
synonyms see strong

My tenacity often gets me into trouble, but sometimes it’s a source of serendipitous good fortune. In other words, I tend to talk to strangers and have made some great friends as a result.

Today, I was meeting my Facebook friend Linda for coffee at Snug on the Square? She wanted to see some of my hand painted wine glasses and ornaments, so I brought a few examples and some photos to show her. A lady came in and sat alone at the table next to us. She noticed the glittery ornaments and leaned over and said, “Those are beautiful.” Linda turned around and said, “You should see these wine glasses and vases.”

We invited Jane to join us. We made our introductions and chatted a while. A few minutes later, Jane’s friend Sherry arrived and joined us. Linda left for an appointment, and Jane, Sherry, and I were immersed in conversation when another of her friends, Vicky walked in. To make a long story even longer, four complete strangers spent over an hour exchanging stories and becoming friends. Jane mentioned that she had always wanted to learn to paint, but was too afraid. I invited her to join our senior art group at Towne Creek on Fridays. She was thrilled. We exchanged emails and phone number, vowing to keep in touch, and Jane plans on coming to our art group.

Sometimes a tenacious hello and serendipitous meeting leads to meeting interesting people and making new friends. Just call me Tenacious Toni!