The afterlife

 

I tidied up my mother and dad's tombstone and Aunty Maureen's. It didn't look like any family had visited let alone prayed for them recently.

There are lots of souls in purgatory we can pray for when we visit a cemetery.

A moment when heaven touched earth.

Paganini had a reputation for devilish violin playing. The link is to a 2013 film I'd love to watch. Truth was he was a brilliant musician and composer who happened to have a rare disorder with his hands that made it possible for him to easily extend his fingers. But many can still play his music, maybe without the same flourish but well enough.

I'm inching forward with his witches dance. As with some of his compositions they are built on variations on another composer's theme. 

Still they are jolly good practise material. 

Later....

 Peter is still "banging on" about there being no supreme creator. I don't see what he has to gain. If there is no god he will disappear in an instant maybe; though even the creators of  RBB's God acknowledge an afterlife. Be it dreary and boring. The Romans updated Zeus to Jupiter and at least a tiny percentage of the wealthy get a pleasant afterlife. Christianity gives a marvellous afterlife full of love for all those that want it. That's the one I'd be pursuing if I were TC.

I spent the day tidying up and catching up with the washing. The lawns are cut, the rest is deweeded. I've practised the violin. Hamburger, okra, peas, onion and baked garlic spuds for dinner.

Sleep well knowing your guardian angel is watching over you.

Saturday

 It's Saturday morning and I'm snuggled into my lazy boy sipping a cup of tea with honey. The heat pump makes a heat pump sound in the background. Outside the stars are visible. At least those in the visible universe. Many are how they were millions of years ago. Many aren't stars at all but clusters of billions in a single galaxy.

I've been watching a few videos warning of the dangers of AI and the possibility it will decide to annihilate us. That possibility is ranked higher than the possibility that we will annihilate ourselves in a nuclear war. But if AI is so intelligent why hasn't it deducted that God exists. It's confusing. Some commentators say that AI is really just predictive speech. At least the ones we are familiar with, Meta and Chatgp. I suspect there are more sophisticated versions that are not open sourced. If AI decided God exists there would really be little point in it telling us. It would even be anti God because what would that knowledge do for it without a soul or any hope of an afterlife! Could AI interact with God? The same applies to many things that maybe it decides not to share. How would we know if it is not telling us everything. I think we could finish up getting very paranoid and pulling the plug for reasons that possibly aren't valid concerns. 

I've some salmon in the fridge so will make some poached egg to go with it for breakfast. 

Trust in divine timing, the universe is conspiring in your favour.

Friday of bows and gas.

 The Hot Water Cylinder Guy installed my Infinity A26 as promised. There does seem to have been a problem with the electrical connection. He left a chord lying on the deck for me to plug it inside. Not a biggy. Obviously need an electrician to wire it into the outside switch. I poked his chord through the window and into a socket in the kitchen. Works good as gold blasting methane and CO2 into the atmosphere at an enormous rate. Hey, me and Kylie have infinite hot water at mains pressure. Poor TC has gone cheap with a candle in his closet arrangement! I'm sure his misses will love him nevertheless.

I drove into Wellington and talked to Alistair and his lady friend about rehairing my violin bow.  They seemed incredulous. "It has to be sent to Auckland, the postage..." only people with top notch carbon fiber bows do that evidently. I took my bow out and showed him. "Hmmm Brazilian wood...the nut isn't silver....it is bent.....hang on...". He went out back and brought back a box of bows. Two looked identical to mine, one was $125 and the other $180. I said that I think the cheaper one would do fine. I paid and put it into my case. The conversation then went to what to do with the old bow. Alistair was adamant that it would make a fine tomato stake as he applied rosin to the new one for a considerable time. I asked him if I should take that long normally. He replied in the negative. He just wanted to saturate the hairs for me.  His lady friend recounted that she knew someone who could turn it into a letter opener. She seemed to like talking to me, she was very nice, about my age. I left and drove home thinking that I'd done my duty. RBB said to fix it and I had. It wasn't until I tried playing with it that I thought "wow, what a difference". RBB was  right. I needed a new bow! $125 well spent. Later I looked it up ...

"Reviewers and string specialists highlight that its stronger, straighter wood density makes it much more responsive to advanced student techniques, such as bouncing or spiccato bow strokes, compared to lower-grade hardwood student bows. It yields a warm, defined, and full tone across the strings. Because of its solid craftsmanship, the stick is durable enough to be rehaired down the line, giving it a longer playing lifespan."

A good buy.

Thursday...hot water cylinder update.

 I've been using "The Cylinder Guy" to fix my old kaput Infinity Gas water heater. 

It's a franchise but the guy servicing my area, Craig Stevens, has been really good. He gave a full explanation of my options and has been prompt in arranging the replacement. A plumber came around the same day to 'skope' the existing unit.

021 02937702

It's costing me $3,106.75 gst inclusive.

Estimates I had online suggested up to $5000.

It will be installed tomorrow morning.

Of course there is an option of heat pump water heaters for several thousand more. If you have a mortgage you can get a 1% loan over three years at ANZ. Craig pointed out that since I am paying line charges anyway for my gas stove top; changing to electric would make sense to buy an electric range for cooking too and cancel the gas. More dollars. More hassle. I decided to stick with gas. Power savings take a long time to recuperate the installment cost and at my age ....

I'll report back tomorrow after the installation. 

Martes

 

Magandang hapon. Today is Martes (Tuesday) in Filipino. I do find the Phillipines quite fascinating. I watch a lot of Youtube videos about it. I'm trying to add a new word every few days. "Magandang hapon" is my phrase for today. "Good afternoon". Just think of a harpoon! 

Two big events today. I GOT A WOF! Ok so it cost $690. Who cares. I HAVE A WOF FOR ANOTHER YEAR. No small feat for a 2007 vehicle. Of course it is a Toyota! If the body doesn't rust their engines run forever. Of course (too) the future will be electric. The internal combustion engine is incredibly inefficient. Only a small amount of the potential energy actually gets to move the wheels. Is it as low as 25%? Anyway it is small, but on the plus side there is a century of refinement. The electric vehicle? I've heard some horror stories.  Whole editions of cars being unsaleable in two years. 

Charging them seems a bit number 8 wire, and weird, poke a chord out the window? I think there needs to be some legislation on properly installed outdoor electrical docks. 

My hot water infinity heater finally gave up the ghost and stopped. I've been talking to Mr Hot Water Cylinder or some such. One of his boys is going to come around and 'skope' my setup. It sounds affordable at just under $5k. The new big thing is heat pump hot water cylinders; but they are another $2k or so. Mr Hot Water Cylinder suggested that since I already have gas online for my cooking it is probably better to stick with gas. I agreed. Did you know that only the North Island has piped natural gas? Down south they have to use bottles!

That's all. Pie, spuds, onion and peas with okra (not the whales).

Oh yes I did some practise. No new strings attached. I think my E needs to be replaced with one of RBB's throwaways.

Lunes

 Magandang Umaga.

After doing some gardening on Sabado I drove up to Feilding and attended Mass at St Brigid's with my darling. We went for lunch at the Orlando Country estate afterwards. There were no tables available inside so we sat out near the golfing range. Some of the youngins were jolly good. It's a tricky range as the 'basket' they aim at is  on an island in the middle of a lake. I presume they drain the lake after hours to recover the multitude of balls that go into it.

My drive was uneventful apart from observing a police checkpoint on the Haywards Road where they seem to be pulling over SUV 4 wheel drives. You know, those big things whose drivers think that the outside passing lane is an unlimited speed zone.

Better run...speaking of which a group of New Zealand's best athletes couldn't pass more often through a group of South African's best, and so were deemed to be losers. I don't agree. The criteria is not representative of reality. Or maybe it is. The object in war is to dispatch the enemy commander by breaking through their defences!

Paalam.