On Saturday, I tested positive for COVID.

My weekend is focusing on sleep, drinking lots of water, reading and binging on Netflix.

The week though was good.

On Monday, I continued to stir things up at choir. Like before, the keyboardist was struggling to play the notes. Although to his credit, he was trying to play the notes that were written for the basses, not everything on the page.

On one occasion, the notes clearly had a descending flow, sometimes with discordant half notes. But he wouldn’t play the half notes. So I simply asked if that was right, pointing to the notes on the page. He explained that the notes didn’t make sense so he made an executive decision not to play them. (Seriously!)

I said, “Okay, I’ll sing the notes as you play them, not as they’re written.” He continued to struggle to play the line until he actually played it correctly, and heard the discordant notes resolve. Suddenly, it made sense. He exclaimed, “Jim was right!”

The irony of all this is that I’m not a great singer and not a trained musician. I can tell when notes are going up or down, half steps or whole steps, whole notes or dotted quarter notes. I have a very basic understanding of music. I think I helped.

And I resisted the temptation to gloat.

Tuesday, Dima and I did not meet. So with a beautiful sunny afternoon and no plans, I packed my backpack and headed to the beach. It had been a beautiful sunny day, until I got on the bus. The skies darkened and it looked very threatening. After I got to the beach, it started to drizzle. I decided to wait it out.

I’m glad I did. The rain was light and brief. Soon, the sun came out and the skies turned bright blue.

There were very few people, it was relaxing, and the water was wonderful.

My Spanish classes continue to both delight me and frustrate me. I really like the teachers and my fellow students. But the barrage of information is simply overwhelming.

I was discussing this with Dima on Thursday afternoon. I wish we were doing more practice of the tenses and principles we have been learning.

It was like someone was listening. On Friday, we spent a lot of time practicing what we had done on Thursday. It helped.

I didn’t sleep well on Friday night. My throat felt sore and my nose was running. So Saturday after breakfast, I went to the pharmacy for some drugs. I noticed that I was feeling really exhausted and thought it might be smart to rule out COVID.

I got home, did the test and sure enough it was positive. So, I’m resting, blowing my nose, drinking lots of water, and canceling plans for the next few days. It will be a quiet week for me.

Meanwhile, European elections are winding up today. I can’t vote and I don’t know enough about the issues. But like I do for the upcoming US elections (where I will vote), I pray that the right candidates are elected and that peace and prosperity will follow for all of us.

…peace, prosperity, and health.