One Of The Most Profound Insults
Another beautiful day in North Iowa presented itself, but unfortunately I could still see smoke from those Canadian fires in the air. Truth be told, I'd say my eyes have itched more since that smoke arrived, than they have in years, but at least we didn't get the brunt of it like our Eastern States. My heart goes out to all those who're struggling with those near-catastrophic heat waves many areas of our world have been having. As far as I'm concerned, it's pretty scary stuff, because everyone in the world is intricately connected to it all whether we want to admit it or not.
It was a semi-quiet morning at office, other than my making preparation of title instructions which would later accompany the abstracts on two properties which I later delivered to our local abstract company. Since their office is so close to mine, I walked them down, and as I was coming back, I noticed a bent can of vegetables and another bent can of ravioli which were lying in one of those curbside flower beds. The first thing that came to mind, was someone having taken them from those 'free' boxes they have at several of our downtown churches, and for whatever reason, they ended up at the curbside. It seems there isn't a day that goes by where I see or hear of something which had taken place during the night in our so-called 'historic' downtown. I'm sorry to say, it's getting worse year-over-year.
Since I hadn't talked to my dear friend for days, I placed a call to her, just to see how everything's been, and unfortunately she's been under the weather with cold symptoms. We did have a nice chat, but had to make it short because a client called and said he'd be at my office momentarily. I did try to call her back around mid-afternoon, but she must've been outdoors or running errands. Since she's a native, I didn't have time to tell her about another discovery I made yesterday when looking back at our real estate transfers. I'm sure she'll be more than interested in hearing about it.
I did receive my music schedule from St. Paul for the coming month, and when I looked it over, I noticed there were two hymns I'd not played before, so I headed over to the church to borrow their accompaniment book, and for whatever reason it was missing. Thank goodness my 'go to' person was there to do a double-check, just in case I missed it. I know they've had another person playing this summer, but I can't imagine anyone taking it home. Oh well, I'm sure they'll find out where it went, but I did remind them that I have to have access to one, just so I can play for them.
While there, one of their members came up to me and asked if I was going to continue singing for them during their Communion, and of course I said I would as long as their Pastor wanted me to. I was definitely humbled when she said, "The last time I heard you, I was actually having goosebumps while you were singing." Wow! That was quite the compliment. I had to admit that I'm still very much on the rusty side because I'd not sung on a regular basis for a good 25 years. I'm still in shock over my still having the ability to stay on pitch, along with reaching those higher notes without it turning into an annoying vibrato. I can't believe how many of our singers who're both professional and amateur, have developed dirty habits of singing vibrato. I guess it's mostly me because many years ago, it was highly frowned upon. When I used to help with voice development of a handful, I used to tell them, "Vibrato is like salt and pepper where a little bit, goes a long way." Yes, there've been times when I've caught myself doing it, for which I'd later chastise myself.
Late this afternoon, I received an email from First Congregational Church, and unbeknownst to me, I'm scheduled to play for them this Sunday, so if I have time early tomorrow morning, I'll have to run over there and grab the music I'll need, just so I can get them practiced. It looks like I'll have to have another chat with their Pastor regarding these short notices. Oh well, I'll be in 7th Heaven again while playing their beautiful pipe organ. Hopefully there'll be a day during the cold months where I can get in touch with someone who has really good recording equipment, just so I can have several of my favorite hymns recorded which I can later share with you all, just to see if you have similar thoughts about their organ's tone being of a higher quality.
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Later this afternoon, I had an extended conversation with a relative who's working on getting an estate prepped for sale. It's always interesting how some executors think a given homesite is nearly worthless, while others think they're prime properties. Today's caller is one who thinks the house isn't worth much. It sounds like they're going to have me look at it sometime soon, and I can almost bet, my valuation will become a delightful surprise.
I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon with another estate beneficiary who's needing a valuation for estate tax purposes, and since I'm familiar with that home, it shouldn't take me too long to come up with a valuation. It's been years since I've been in the home, so we'll see how well it has held up.
Speaking of valuations, I dare say since our new assessments came out, it's nearly a daily occurrence where someone out of the general public is complaining to me about those radical hikes in value. I'm getting to the point where I simply tell people it's not so much the rise in valuations, it's the millage rate in which our City government has insisted on having, and likely because of all the money they've been wasting on that 'bridge to nowhere', the 'ghost' hotel, that dead mall and that money pit arena which never should've been built. You can thank all those special interest groups for creating those money-burners which are serving absolutely no purpose for our general public. Enough said.
Tonight's One-liner is: To say 'we' and mean 'I', is one of the most profound insults.