more thanks and blessings, more commentary and a personal update.
Today is Sweetmorn, the 61st day of Chaos in the YOLD 3191
"With presents friends should please each other,
With a shield or a costly coat:
Mutual giving makes for friendship, "
—Håvamål proverbs
Thanks, again!
I have long known that gifts are a blessing to both parties. For my part, I love receiving gifts, and I know the joy in both giving gifts and getting the; the gift is also a blessing to the giver. with that in mind, huge thanks to Zephronias, whose generosity has enriched my life hugely. An instant pot has been something I have long needed and wanted, and she has provided. And the smallest gift is nonetheless important and valued. A set of espresso spoons; they will be used daily, a constant reminder that there is kindness in he world, and I feel valued with every stir!
I long for the day when I'm again blessed with enough to be equally generous; it's truly hard to not be able to share my blessings with those I love. Meanwhile I continue to rejoice in the knowledge that I am appreciated and loved by so many people, even those here whom I've never met but for reading their precious words and exchanging digital messages.
I wrote recently about one here who'd upset me and I'm pleased to tell that we've resolved the problem and hopefully returned to friendship. I hate argumentative disagreements with people, and I'm happy that they've apologised and we can return to normal discourse. Thank you, old friend! That too is a gift for which I'm very grateful.
Politics =\.
I quoted one of the Håvamål proverbs earlier, and I have to say that I appreciate its simple and pragmatic wisdom and the philosophy. One day I must write a factual on that, but not today. Today is cooking (tacos tonight, so meat and beans in my new Instant Pot). It's hard for me to cook these days; in the past, cooking for my family was a delight, and cooking for one has become a chore; it doesn't feel like a gift to myself. Hopefully he Instant Pot will change hat and I can scale the recipes I have for me and my housemate (cooking for two is slightly more pleasurable).
Meanwhile, like so many people, I've been shocked by he recent development involving Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. I watched the video on the news with some horror, and feel that both would have benefited from the wisdom of the Håvamål. The poem speaks of the duties of host and guest, and I consider Trmup (and Vance) were rude to the guest. A man Trump had invited into his home should not have been subject to insults and bullying tactics. Policy aside, common human decency dictates better behaviour. Truly we have a bully in the bully pulpit. He was rude, abusive and completely uncaring about the circumstances of his guest, and reached a new low, even by his own low standards. Apologies to any who support Trump and his policies and demeanour, but I saw nothing there befitting the "leader of the free world", a world which has almost universally criticised both the man, his policies and his boorish behaviour.
Some notes and advice for you, Mr Trump:
An ill tempered, unhappy man
Ridicules all he hears,
Makes fun of others, refusing always
To see the faults in himself
and
The fool who fancies he is full of wisdom
While he sits by his hearth at home.
Quickly finds when questioned by others.
That he knows nothing at all.
…finally…
Moderate at council should a man be,
Not brutal and over bearing:
Among the bold the bully will find
Others as bold as he.
Bu then it's easy for me, who would not desire to be president of anything; still in all, in my opinion this man and his crew remain a clear and present danger to the whole world, not just the US.
Many blessings.
Meanwhile I will try to carry on and retain what I can of my sanity, my health and my relationships. I continue to heal, my chest is almost fully healed and barring some pain on twisting, I am unfettered. I grow stronger, am regaining some of the energy of yore and am ready to return to work again; apart from regaining an income, it will feel good to be productive out in the real world.
One more (personal) thought from the proverbs:
These things are thought the best:
Fire, the sight of the sun,
Good health with the gift to keep it,
And a life that avoids vice.
I have added a copy of the
Håvamål proverbs to my wishlist so I can read and meditate on them more often. There's so much in there that is valuable; that Odin knew his stuff.
I continue to be thankful to E2 and you users, happy to read your thoughts always. Thanks again to Zephronias, who in addition to personal gifts, has blessed us all with more of her writing! Thanks also to those twelve who contributed to Brevity Quest 2025—37 new writeups are hardly going to change the world, but it's a start, and it was once again, fun to do it. I'll start on the judging in the next week, and give you all an update as soon as I can.
I decided to keep writing in th past week, cuNT because it was funny and topical, minge because it just needed to be explained why I used it in John Thomas Cholmondeley-Minge, and leopards ate my face to explain the origins of this (timely) phrase.
$ xclip -o | wc -w
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