Sunday December 1 2019

09:00 Lois and I roll out of bed. Because of her ongoing back pain, Lois has decided not to attend her sect's two worship services in person today in Tewkesbury library - she will listen to them online instead.

09:30 Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia, calls us on whatsapp - so we settle down on the couch to talk to her. A video call this time, so it's lucky that Lois is fully dressed today, unlike last Sunday, when she had just emerged from the bathroom, dressed only in a towel, when Sarah called us from their car during a family outing. My goodness, what a madness this time difference is !!!!

Our daughter Sarah calls us from her home in Perth, Australia

Sarah's 6-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie, are very excited: they have been decorating the family's Christmas tree, partly with ornaments they made in the weekend art class they attended a few weeks ago. How cute they are though !!!!

Sarah's 6-year-old twins, Lily and Jessie are very excited, and both

have their Christmas hats on. They have been busy decorating the family Christmas tree.

How cute they are though !!!!

The whole family is very excited about the snapfish calendar Lois and I sent them, with pictures of ourselves, Sarah's family and also Sarah's sister Ali's family, who live in Haslemere, England.

The twins' reading and writing skills have made rapid progress since starting in the local elementary school last February, I have to say, and Sarah says it's also being a great learning experience for them to write birthdays and the like on the right square of the calendar, plus the date of Lois's and my arrival when we visit them next year, and the like. How cute they are (again) !!!!!

The twins write the name of Josie, one of their cousins in England,

on the calendar to mark her birthday in September.

11:45 I rush into the kitchen to make two servings of lunch: a scrambled eggs and tomato mixture - one of my signature dishes yum yum! Meanwhile, Lois gets ready to take part in her sect's worship service online: she has to gather all the "equipment" she will need - her "Sunday Hat”, her Bible and hymn-book, her piece of bread, and her little glass of red wine: it's so touching, I have to say.

12:00 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois sits down with the computer and takes part in the service.

15:00 I get up. Lois' service is over, and she's in the kitchen now assembling ingredients for our dinner, including dessert - which is a trifle yum yum!

I head out into the back yard to collect up the tons of dead leaves that have fallen off our many trees onto our lawns and garden paths. My goodness, what a madness this whole idea of ​​deciduous trees is !!! Pure insanity !!!!!

Later, Lois comes out into the front yard to collect the dead leaves there. And we stuff as many as possible into our 2 brown garden waste bins. It is fortunate that a few weeks ago I ordered a second garden waste bin from the council. But will 2 be enough????

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching some television. To begin with, the 3rd episode of a BBC4 series on the history of American country and western music. This third part covers the period from 1945-1953. The programme's host is the charming Ken Burns.

An interesting programme, although Lois and I would rather hear entire songs, instead of 10-second excerpts, and sound bites and comments from hundreds of "talking heads", but I’m going to let that one slide.

It is a bit weird how religious all these singers were and how many religious songs they wrote, given their alcoholism and all the broken marriages that characterised their lives. Typically, they all went out on Saturday night to get drunk, and on Sunday morning, some woman, their mother or their wife or girlfriend, would pull them out of bed to go to church. What madness !!!!

Lois 100% agrees with them about their theology, but she doesn't like their lifestyle very much, I have to say. What a crazy world we live in !!!!

21:00 We continue to watch some television, an interesting documentary about the famous artist, Gaugin.

Gaugin had a Danish wife, whom he left back in Denmark, where she was forced to raise their 5 children alone.

He ended up settling in Polynesia, where he painted, and had sex with, a long string of very young native teenage girls, so he is not very popular nowadays, needless to say. But he got himself a huge bunch of descendants that are still to be found on the islands today, and they all seem to be proud of their lineage.

Lois and I are curious to know how Gaugin managed to get away with all that, but the programme gives us few clues in that direction, which is a bit of a shame.

He liked the Polynesian islands, where the culture was still "natural" and "pure," he thought. And he opposed the French colonial government's many attempts to Europeanise the people and convert them to Christianity.

Gaugin satirised the local Catholic bishop because the bishop was having an affair with two women at the same time. Gaugin created a statue of the bishop, with two statues of the women to stand at his side - the 3 statues were placed in front of Gaugin's house so that everyone would know he was trying to satirise the bishop - my goodness!

Gaugin and the bishop are now buried in the same cemetery, a few yards away from each other, which is nice. So with death comes a kind of reconciliation ha ha ha!

My god, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation: søndag den 1. december 2019

09:00 Lois og jeg vælter ud af sengen. På grund af sine igangværende rygsmerter har Lois besluttet ikke at deltage personligt i sin sekts to gudstjenester, der finder sted i dag i byen Tewkesburys bibliotek – hun vil lytte til dem på nettet i stedet for.

09:30 Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, ringer til os på whatsapp – så sætter vi os til rette i sofaen for at tale med hende. Et video-opkald denne gang, så det er heldigt, at Lois er fuldklædt i dag, ulig sidste søndag, da hun lige var dukket frem fra badeværelset, klædt bare i et håndklæde, da Sarah ringede til os fra deres bil under en familieudflugt. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid den her tidsforskel er !!!!

vores datter Sarah ringer til os fra sit hjem i Perth, Australien

Sarahs 6-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie, er meget begejstrede: de har været i gang med at pynte familiens juletræ, delvis med ornamenter som de selv har lavet i den weekendkunstklasse de deltog i for et par uger siden. Hvor er de dog søde!!!!

Sarahs 6-årige tvillinger, Lily og Jessie er meget begejstrede, og

har deres julehatter på. De har været i fuld gang med at pynte familiens juletræ.

Hvor er de dog søde!!!!

Hele familien er meget glade for den snapfish-kalender, Lois og jeg afsendte dem, med billeder af os selv, Sarahs familie og også Sarahs søster Alis familie, der bor i Haslemere, England.

Tvillingernes læse- og skrivefærdigheder har gjort hurtig fremskridt siden de startede i den lokale folkskole sidste februar, det må jeg nok sige, og Sarah siger, det har været en god læreoplevelse for dem at skrive fødselsdage og den slags på den rigtige firkant i kalenderen, også datoen til Lois’ og min ankomstdag, når vi besøger dem næste år, og den slags. Hvor er de dog søde (igen) !!!!!

 tvillingerne skriver deres kusine i England, Josies navn for at markere

hendes fødselsdag i september.

11:45 Jeg skynder mig ind i køkkenet for at lave to portioner frokost: røræg og tomat-blanding – én af mine signaturretter yum yum! I mellemtiden forbereder Lois sig på at deltage i sin sekts gudstjeneste på nettet: hun skal samle hele ”udstyret”, hun vil have brug for – sin ”søndagshat”, sin bibel og psalmebog, sit stykke brød og sin glas rødvin: det er så rørende, det må jeg nok sige.

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden sætter Lois sig med computeren og deltager i gudstjenesten.

15:00 Jeg står op. Lois’ gudstjeneste er sluttet, og hun er nu  i køkkenet, i gang med at samle ingredienter til vores aftensmad, også desserten – en trifle yum yum!

Jeg går ud i baghave for at samle de tonsvis af døde blade, der er faldt  af vores mange træer på vores græsplæner og havestier. Du godeste, sikke et vanvid denne hele idé om løvfældende træer er!!! Ren vanvittighed!!!!!

Senere kommer Lois ud i forhaven for at samle de døde blade der. Og vi propper så mange som muligt i vores 2 brune haveaffaldsbeholdere. Det er heldigt at jeg for et par uger siden bestilte en 2. haveaffaldsbeholder fra kommunen, det må jeg nok sige. Sikke et vanvid!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. For det første, det 3. afsnit i en BBC4 serie om historien af amerikansk country og western-musik. Dette 3. afsnit dækker perioden fra 1945-1953. Programmets vært er den charmerende Ken Burns.

En interessant program, selvom Lois og jeg hellere vil høre hele sange, i stedet for 10-sekunders uddrag, og lydbites og kommentarer fra hundredvis af ”talende hoveder”, men det springer jeg over.

Det er lidt bemærkeligt, hvor religiøse alle disse sangere var, og hvor mange religiøse sange de skrev, i betragtning af deres alkoholisme og alle de brudte ægteskaber, der prægede deres liv. Typisk gik de alle ud om lørdag aften for at gå på druk, og søndag morgen ville en eller anden kvinde, deres mor eller deres kone eller kæreste, trækker dem ud af sengen for at gå i kirke. Sikke et vanvid!!!!

Lois er 100% enig med dem om deres teologi, men hun bryder ikke ret meget om deres livstil, det må jeg nok sige. Sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om den berømte kunstner, Gaugin.

Gaugin havde en dansk kone, som han forlod tilbage i Danmark, hvor hun blev tvunget til at opdrage deres 5 børn alene. Han endte med at bosatte sig i Polynesien, hvor han malede, og havde sex med, en række indfødte teenagepiger, så er han ikke særlig populær nu til dags. Men han fik sig en stor flok af efterkommere, der kan stadig findes på øerne i dag – sikke et vanvid!

Lois og jeg er nysgerrige efter at vide, hvordan han nåede at slippe af sted med alt det der, men programmet giver os få spor i denne retning, hvilket er lidt af en skam.

Han kunne godt lide de polynesiske øer, hvor kulturen var ”naturlig” og ”ren”, syntes han. Og han modsatte sig den franske kolonielle regerings mange forsøg på at europæisere befolkningen og konvertere dem til kristendom.

Gaugin satiriserede den lokale katolske biskop, fordi biskoppen havde en affære med to kvinder på samme tid. Gaugin skabte en statue af biskoppen, med to statuer af kvinderne – de 3 statuer stod foran Gaugins hus, så alle ville vide, han forsøgte at satirisere biskoppen – du godeste!

Gaugin og biskoppen ligger nu begravede i samme kirkegården, nogle meter væk fra hinanden, hvilket er rart. Så med død kommer en slags forsoning  ha ha ha !

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzz!!!!!