Putting a price on it

[Prices used to be written on by hand.]

How much did I pay for that tin of pineapple in the cupboard? I don't know. I'd have to hunt through a pile of old dockets or something to find out. Not so in the long lost old days.

Many years ago I filled in occasionally as a check-out chick (when I was more of a chick than an old boiler) at my local supermarket - a small family owned business - so that the family could go to the footy. It was fun serving customers as they came through the checkout and wondering what they were cooking for tea with that lot or why they were buying luxury items etc etc.
When things were quiet, one job was to mark new items with the price. It was a modern shop so we had a price gun with labels. Every item in the store had a price except for when they didn't!
At the checkout there was not scanner. The price of each item had to be keyed in. Heaven help you if the finger slipped and you ended up with a total in the hundreds or thousand of dollars.
It was quite a dilemma if the item had no price. There was a huge catalogue of items printed out on large computer generated sheets (the old tractor feed type printouts) As customers queued up I'd search for the item. Eventually I gave up and simply keyed in a figure I thought was fair. Apologies to the owners and to the customers but it seemed to work. Now of course, we have bar codes and scanners. Somehow it takes the fun out of it all.

[Spot the Eudunda's price tag on this packet.]

Just be kind

How to change the world??

One kind act at a time. Most people have probably heard of the idea of paying it forward. There's the whole system of making coffee available to someone who needs it and other ways to offer acts of kindness.
Just recently I came across two incidents that set me thinking.
I was reading one man's account of his experience of sitting with a friend at a pizza place. Both of them were in Christian ministry. They'd had a rough day but sat and chatted and ate pizza. At the end of the time the waitress asked what their plans were and they said they were there for an event. She asked if it was about God. They were surprised as they weren't wearing crosses or clerical garb, nor did they piously bow their head to say grace before eating or sing hymns or rattle tambourines.
They admitted it was going to be an event about God but asked how she knew. Her reply was, 'It's simple. Your were nice to me. I figured it had something to do with God.' Phew!

Some time back I went to the local clinic to have a blood test. No appointments. Just turn up. My heart sank as I saw the number of people in front of me. But I had a book with me and waited my turn. Eventually  I headed in to find a new blood taker filling in while the regular  one is away. We chatted as she did the necessary paper work and prep stuff. Then she looked at the book I had put down with my other stuff. 'Is that a Christian book?' she asked.  'Yes,' I told her,' but how did you know?' (It didn't have a cross on it or a religious type picture. 'Oh,' she said, 'because you are so kind.' She assured me that others are impatient and  get annoyed about the waiting and so on.

Well, I know things can be tough and frustrating and annoying and I am sure Christians don't have the  monopoly on being kind although our founder told us to love one another, but  maybe something as simple as being kind can change the world. I have a feeling I've written about this before, but maybe I just need to be reminded on a daily basis.
Just be kind.

Invocation

My dictionary (Okay, it was actually Google) tells me that an invocation is the action of invoking someone or something, which isn't very helpful. It goes on to add that it is about invoking (whatever that means) someone or something.
A further entry suggests an invocation is a from of prayer requesting (invoking?) the presence of God, especially at the beginning of a religious service. With synonyms: prayer, request, entreaty. Behold the wonders of Google!
So why this discussion? It's not just that I love words and their meaning and the way they are used and change although that is partly it.

I was intrigued recently when the MC of a presentation dinner told us that since it was really a Rotary meeting we would start the meal with the invocation. It wasn't a traditional 'grace' as said before a email by many Christians but it was certainly a statement of thanks. I think ti ended by saying, 'We give thanks.' It's a wonderful thing to be grateful and to acknowledge the good things - friends and food - that we were sharing. But it made me wonder. Who were we giving thanks to? Or was it just a warm feeling of gratitude? Perhaps deep down we really  hunger to have a connection with something beyond ourselves, something bigger. Maybe it's a bit like headlines in times of crisis where people are implored to 'pray for...' What does this mean? Who to? How? Again is it a deep desire for something more, something beyond?

So let's go on doing invocations, seeking what we long for - connection with the divine. And we will find.....

Is two enough??

I was brought up in a strict teetotal family (although I think Mum did once have a go at Barossa Pearl once - discreetly hidden in the kitchen cupboard. We knew about the dangers of drink and were not quite signed up to the Temperance Union but close. I've never missed it nor been ridiculed for not having a few drinks.
So the other night I fronted up to a presentation dinner where pre-dinner drinks were complementary. I groaned inwardly as I saw the choice of non-alcoholic stuff. Orange juice or ...orange juice. Sometimes it's lemonade. Really? There are so many non-alcoholic alternatives that are pretty in the bottle and not bad to drink and even a bit special. Orange juice? That's for breakfast.
So I saw something bubbly and thought I'd give it a go. I see friends posting on social media about the joy of bubbles (and usually think of a bath with bubbles, coffee and a good book) and as I approach the end of seven decades decided it was time for a new experience.
Oh wait a minute! I did have a glass of champagne once - in my hand, at least. I'd made friends with a fellow teaching trainee, newly arrived from overseas. She invited me to her wedding and what's more asked me to propose a toast at the reception.  I remember standing there in her friend's house and making the requisite speech while holding a shallow glass of champagne. I raised my glass, took a sip and promptly parked the glass and its contents on the  mantel piece nearby.
But back to the bubbles in a slender flute. It was drinkable and I sipped at it during the pleasant meal and the building excitement of the impending winner announcements.
It got me to thinking. I don't sleep well most nights. I nod off over my book and then am awake in the wee small hours. Perhaps another glass of the said bubbles would help. A friendly waitress cruised by and I said I'd like another one. Mind you I wasn't at all sure what it was I'd had, as it had just been on a tray poked in my direction on arrival. She seemed to know and came back later with a glass that was fuller this time, presumably because I was paying for it - only a bit more than I pay for a cup of coffee. I sipped some more as I watched a lovely friend being announced as the winner of the award. [Congrats, Margot!]
And so home to bed. Late enough to read a bit and nod off. Two glasses of bubbles under my belt or something. Did I feel happier, more mellow, sleep better. Nup. Nup. Nup. Nice try. I guess I'll just stick with the orange juice next time.

PS My blood pressure was good this morning. Should I continue the experiment??

Gallery

Some sweet person admired a colouring in picture I used with a blog recently. Thank you.
I enjoy colouring in as I described, as a way to slow down and think, and lose myself in another world. Here are some you  might like to see. I didn't' manage to set them up just as I would have liked but you'll get the idea.
Sometimes I print copies of my colouring and  make cards which I use for notes to friends and those who just need something personal in the letter box.
If you'd like to use any of these pictures, feel free. I'd be honoured. You might just like to mention where they came from. Or even just the initials GHB and date will do. No copyright, no royalties...
Enjoy!

This is one of the first colourings I did. From a free book in a newspaper. I use it to make sympathy cards. It speaks to me of new life from old.

You may notice a certain butterfly theme. I love colouring birds and butterflies and flowers. I was trying out the Inktense pencils  mentioned in another blog.

Just do it and look what happens.

This one with a background of red paper makes a super Christmas card

Roses are red or pink or shaded....

I doubted I'd want to do this one but once I decided on colours it was mindless all the way - and I liked the result. It surprised me even though it looked like wrapping paper.

Don't like colouring those fantasy animals except....

Just fun with colour - any colour that comes to hand.

Three things...

I have been reading some of the ancient wisdom writings lately. This time it is a section [Sirach in the Apocrypha] that doesn't appear in my standard version of the Bible and yet sounds a lot like the more familiar Proverbs, which many people, Bible readers or not, are familiar with. In this sort of writing one device is to make lists of three - either good things or bad. Here's an example. 'I take pleasure in three things and they are beautiful in the sight of God and human beings. Agreement among brothers and sisters, friendship among neighbours and a wife and husband who live in harmony.'

And so it occurred to me that I have a list of three thing in the last twenty four hours I have laughed out loud at three very different things.

1. I listen regularly to Chat10 Looks 3, a podcast in which Annabel Crabb and Leigh Sales chat about their lives and all sorts of things.  https://www.chat10looks3.com/  I was sorting out a bit of ironing and listening as Leigh - a competent, confident modern woman described her wrestle with setting up a  new TV and speaker and then Annabel described her experience of overload and teeth problems and how if people want her to speak at something it's not fair if they say 'any time that suits you' because they need to name a date so she can come up with a reason to say no. You might just have to listen...

2. I have a stack of library books to read and the top one is now Richard Glover's 'A Land Before Avocado' in which he describes Australian society between about 1965 and 1975 when coffee was International Roast and his Dad's cooking involved a lot of tins - as per the recipes. If you remember Apricot Chicken, you'll get the drift.

3. I'm also reading [one book at at time is never enough] a book by Adrian Plass and Jeff Lucas, Christian authors, speakers and, dare I say, comedians. They are not at all sanctimonious and are very real about doubts and fears. One of them describes the practice in some circles of shouting loudly for evil personified to be gone as if  shouting, and using Renaissance language ['Be gone' rather than 'Go away,'] would do the trick. With apologies to both the religious and non-religious amongst my three readers.

One of those Proverbs says 'A merry heart maketh good like a  medicine' or in not Renaissance language, 'Being cheerful keeps you healthy' or the GHB [that's me!] version 'A good laugh is good for the soul.' I hope you get your share of good laughs today.

PS The picture has nothing to do with the text. Just that some of you (well, at least one) liked my colouring pic last time so I thought I'd add one this time. Maybe a whole gallery next time...
Oh, and  if my colouring  makes you laugh, that's fine: just don't tell me.

So much more than coloured pencils and gel pens

I had an ah-ha moment today!
Some years ago I joined in the craze for colouring in. I never did much of it as a child and so was intrigued by the move to 'adult' or 'mindful' colouring. My involvement was aided and abetted by my beautiful daughter.People say to me, 'I met your beautiful daughter today,' to which I respond, 'Which one? I have two beautiful daughters.' Invariably it's the local one. But I digress.
The younger beautiful daughter gave me a colouring book and some wondrous Derwent pencils such as I hankered after as a child but never had. Mind you I think I really like Faber Castells these days but then of course there are the Jasart and the cheap shop tins and the gel pens and the Derwent Inktense (Said daughter gave me those as well.)
So  tentatively I started colouring. For three years or so I enjoyed a colouring group meeting in The Lakes coffee shop (this is not an ad but I do recommend it) on the shores of beautiful Lake Bonney. The two friends who started it taught me that there are no rights or wrongs about colouring and not to be afraid to make mistakes. Smudges can be part of the whole piece.
And so every day I sit and colour. Sometimes it's fairly automatic colouring of patterns or mandalas. Other times it's half way artistic. But it slows me down and gives me time to think, to dream, to connect with something more than me. Sometimes it's mindless and sometimes mindful, whatever the day needs.
And then this morning in amongst my colouring I was reading from Joan Chistitter's book The Monastery of the Heart and found this.

So the colouring fad may be past its peak - not so many pencils and books in the cheap shops now, but what it does for me is the thing. I'd include it in the list here amongst sacred images, music etc. It helps me to be still and aware of the very presence of God. Phew!! And to be mindful of the needs of those around me.

NOTE: big thanks to those two who showed me the way in colouring. You know who you are. Both names start with C.

and to my daughter who maybe realised just what I needed. Her name starts with B...