At church, a seminarian named Danielle Kim gave an interesting take on the 23rd Psalm. The 23rd Psalm is rarely covered in sermons, I find, though it is probably the most familiar psalm.
In the early afternoon, my wife and I went to downtown McKinney. That town, an exurb thirty miles north of Dallas which long predates Dallas,has one of those old-fashioned downtowns. Many towns in the DFW Metroplex have them--a courthouse or community building, and a set of storefronts, all arranged more or less in a square.
Many towns have a hard time knowing how to attract people and businesses to these areas. But McKinney is one of a few towns that seems to do a good job. Sunday they blocked off the streets and had booths for a Christmas market. A man dressed in a nutcracker uniform walked on stilts covered up by impossibly long trousers. We shopped in the fair trade store, looking at nativity scenes from many countries. We liked the felt one from Vietnam, but we got a friend a small Peruvian one. As we were about to leave, a woman bought the Vietnamese one. The woman who assisted her told her that it was the last one they had.
I took Beatrice for a walk around the block. In the late afternoon, I took the short bicycle ride over to Green Park. It is a half an hour trip round trip. I walked around that small park, taking pictures of the House Finches.
Monday I walked a bit in Schell Park on my way to work. The days now are breezy and a bit chilly, but then they subside into too-warm-for-November afternoons. At lunch, I walked in Bradfield Park. I realized that I had forgotten to pack my dock kit with the things I need to get ready in the morning on my trip. Fortunately, a Dollar Tree was nearby, and I was able to buy shaving, anti-perspirant and tooth care items very inexpensively.
In the early afternoon, I drove to the Dallas Doubletree hotel out by Love Field. I caught the 3:00 p.m. bus to Houston on the Vonlane bus system. I found the bus very pleasant. I was able to get some things done.
I dislike driving to Houston, as it is a bit of a slog, and then Houston traffic is not much fun. Even flying on Southwest Airlines to Houston, a fairly pleasant experience, has that wait-to-board-wait-to-deplane-rent-a-car bother about it. On the bus, by contrast, I can log into the internet, use a tray table to have space to get work done on my computer, and have plenty of leg room.
The bus had two televisions playing. One was on CNN. One was on Fox News. Both had the volume turned down and captioning. The Fox News broadcast focused on alleged wrongs of the losing Democratic candidate for president. The CNN broadcast focused on alleged wrongs of the current elected Republican president.
I sent tweets to my elected senators to oppose the Senate tax bill, on the grounds that it will swell the national debt.
The bus ride ended at a downtown Houston Hyatt hotel. I caught a cab from there for a 10-minute ride to my hotel. I ate at the Denny's next door to my hotel. My waitress questioned why I ordered turkey bacon strips but also ordered a slice of ham. She declared that she had given up ham. I told her that I understood, though whether I did understand is not entirely clear.
This morning I got up early and had breakfast. I returned to my room. A fire alarm went off. I walked downstairs. Fortunately, the alarm ceased, and the desk said it was probably over. So I returned to my room to finish getting ready. I am probably walking distance from my meeting, but I am trying to decide whether I can walk or should call a cab.
Sunday:
cereal and skim milk
3 soft chicken tacos
turkey, dressing, sweet potato, squash casserole
Monday:
cereal and skim milk
broccoli, carrots, 2 slices pepperoni buffet pizza
scrambled egg whites, fruit, ham slice, turkey bacon
from Dreamwidth, because two posts of the same text are twice as nice