Sylvia's Simple Shots

The fourth Sunday of Advent. 

When things start to mount, health issues, the economy, sick loved ones, the loss of one who will not be here for Christmas, traveling in less than ideal conditions, the grey days and the very cold nights.

Struggling and rejoicing are not chronological steps but concurrent movements, one fluid with the other.

Even now I will be joyful in the God of  my salvation. All far is but the notion that God ends. When does He ever end?

Fear not!

The very cold temperatures are back again.  I am wearing layers and I have ever been so cold in my place.  Not sure why but the heating system struggles to maintain the 72F I am used to. 

This level of coolness indoors has be hugging my wheat bag warmed in the microwave and hunkering down with cozy blankets.

I have not ventured outside in these crazy temperatures and I am grateful that I don't need to go to work.

I have groceries enough.

I spend time on the internet and reading books.  Thank goodness I have a few I can choose from.

Graceline O'Malley by Ann Moore is one of the books I finished recently.  I was lucky that this is the first book in a trilogy. 

Set in the mid 1800s when the potato blight destroyed crops and left tenant farmers with no income. Gracelin only fifteen, is married off to a land owner to keep her family in the cottage they lived in for years.  She has compassion on neighbors who have been evicted from their homes due to their inability to pay the rent due to the landowner. 

I found the famine in Ireland so described in this book very hard to read about. It was devastating. Gracelin does what she must to keep her family alive.  

As political unrest sweeps across the countryside, she harbors Irish rebels -- her own brilliant brother among them -- keeping hidden, as well, the deepest secret of her heart. 

This was a great book and I will look for the next 2 books.

It is so cold that I am again taking photos through the windows.  

The sun continues to shine which is a blessing.

The snow as well makes things tricky for those who have to venture out.

I enjoyed another Patrick Taylor novel this week - An Irish Country Courtship.  This one set in the 1960s in County Down in Northern Ireland. 

Nice to revisit the family medical practice with elder Dr. Fingal Flatherie O'Reilly and the young Dr. Barry Laverty.  Barry has 6 months to go to become a full partner. He is going out with Patricia Spence an architectural student.  Dr. Fingal, a widower has recently been reacquainted with Kitty O'Hallorhan a nurse he met while at medical school. 

The courtship in this case is between the senior partner and a nurse. Barry and Patricia are struggling to maintain a long distance relationship when she goes to Cambridge to study. Barry becomes acquainted with a local teacher, Sue Nolan during a ringworm outbreak at school. 

A delightful books and I enjoyed it immensely.