Eileen left church early yesterday so that she could go to Chicken dinner with her Mom and some family members. I walked home and decided to improvise a wok curry.

It was as good as it looks. Then I settled down and finished reading The Round House by Louise Erdrich.

Eileen is reading this book as well. We both purchased a Kindle Daily Deal copy of it. On Saturday evening in the park as we were waiting for the concert to begin, we both were reading our copies. I was reading mine on my Kindle on stage and she on her Kindle Fire in the audience.

I enjoyed the book. It was a good summer read. It is told from the point of view of a young man on an Indian Reservation. His mom gets raped. His father is a judge. The ideas of Indian life and law in the 21st century are probably at the heart of the story. The plot is gripping in a murder mystery way.

This morning I got up and finished MacCulloch’s The Later Reformation in England, 1547-1603 while listening to a thunderstorm here in Holland Michigan.

It’s a good short study of what happens to England right after Cranmer’s execution. MacCulloch is interested in where the English church came from. So am I.

I  am planning to try and take today off. Even though I persist in having a self image of a bum, I find that being one takes up a lot of time and energy in activities that drain me. So four days of musical performances and rehearsals requires a bit of time to recuperate.

I like doing this on Mondays anyway if I can. I can’t neglect some organ and piano practice but that’s not really draining. I am planning to perform two Mendelssohn pieces next Sunday, one on piano and one on organ. I am learning both of them for the first time. Yesterday they both went smoothly when i rehearsed them. This is a good sign a week before when I plan to play them in public.

I received some nice comments this week both at the symphony and at church. After the symphony concert one of the string players complimented me on my keyboard playing. That was surprising to me. Yesterday before church a woman came up and gave me some gift cards she had made and told me she was giving them to me to thank me for my music. Also, Jodi the curate and Laura the person with a doctorate from ND simultaneously complimented me on hymn selections.

This is fun because yesterday we sang “Love lifted me.” Heh.

1. The Youngest Are Hungriest – NYTimes.com

In India, kids are smaller. Except for the first born boys.

2. Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain – NYTimes.com

Observations on the necessity of giving your brain some time to daydream.

3. Secular Climate-Change Activists Can Learn From Evangelical Christians – NYTimes

I like this guy’s attitude. Also I relate to him a bit.