Summer is still in full force but...

By Elizabeth Prata

...it's winding down. I've got about 10 days left. Have I used it well? Yes and no, I think.

It took me a while to recover from pneumonia I'd had at the start of the summer, and to mourn the death of my 12 year old cat.

Meanwhile, I set myself the task of reading a bunch of books on my Annual Summer Reading Schedule. I've done OK reading them, though there's a few I haven't finished yet with one week to go. I think I could have done better. I did stall out for a week or so in July for an unknown reason. I just did. Notably, I finished the smaller books but I'm still going through the thicker ones. I'm only halfway through Paton's Letters, Story of Autism, and Selina Countess of Huntingdon. I'd begun reading Nathanial Philbrick's book to the mix (Mayflower), which was also a very long book, so that slowed me down a bit.

I bought the above books in hard copy as well as this one: a Kindle version of Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary White Rowlandson. It's just 55 pages. Review here.

The two Rome books were an answer to a frustrating trend I've experienced. I like reading about then writing on my blog about daily life of first century believers. It's hard to learn the context of what their lives were like with the books I have on hand here. My JI Packer Public Life In Bible Times is good but entries are short and scant. So I found these two and they were reviewed highly.

The Spurgeon Ploughman books were a gem to find. They are like a Christian Poor Richard's Almanack by Ben Franklin. They are full of Christian truths, especially wisdom about daily life, written for the man on the street in his language.

The 12 Rules book was a mistake. I accidentally bought the summary and not the actual book. I'm sending it back to Amazon (which in order to do for free I'll have to drive half an hour in the heat, deal with the UPS Store, and drive half an hour back. Not so free...) I don't believe I'll buy the hard copy after all, because...

I reorganized my book shelves to refresh to my memory what I have and also to fold into the mix my new books. Things are getting tight here at Casa Prata in the bookshelf department. I'm running out of room. Time to give away some or lend some. Hence the decision not to buy the 12 Rules after all.

All that said, I thought, hmmm, why not read some books I already have on hand? I plucked Lightman's Einstein's Dreams from the shelf where it's been languishing for 15 years or more, a little book about time I always meant to read. The time is now, lol, see what I did there. I am halfway through.

I had also bought these recently too:

I enjoy re-organizing the book shelves. I put the Puritan Paperback with my others, now I have 3 from the PP series. I put Moses with my other Moses book. Bunyan with Bunyan, etc. If I only have one author I shelve it by subject, Theology, Commentary, Christian Life, or Puritans.

As for streaming entertainment, this summer I got involved watching The Royal, a UK medical drama set in the 1960s. (Amazon Prime). It's a good show. Also Blown Away, a competitive show about glass blowing. (Netflix). Also good. The Waltons, Harrow: A Very British School, (Amazon Prime) Educating Yorkshire, (Youtube), and Monk (Amazon Prime).

Live entertainment or trips? None. No restaurant outings with friends, no concerts, lunches, road trips, or parties. Just church, Kroger, and home. Heaven!!

My friend Kelly managed to snap this real quick of a dragonfly that had briefly landed on a stalk, which she and the tow kids were at the Botanical Garden. Nice job Kelly, snapping a lightning quick insect while managing two lightning quick toddlers! Note the wing pattern, so delicate. God made all the insects in one day, so amazing. Creation beauty!

Photo by Kelly M

Why I will never watch ABC's The Good Doctor again

By Elizabeth Prata


I had been enjoying ABC's The Good Doctor from the first episode. The show features a main character of an autistic adult, a resident doctor at a teaching hospital, who, because of his autistic brain, happens to be a medical savant.

The first season especially, showed the character Shaun adapting to expectations of being an autistic employee in the real world. The character grew into relationships that abound in the employment sphere, such as mentor, boss, and colleague, and friend. The show did a good job of showing how Shaun's perspective also changed the expectations and attitudes of those around him. The writers struck a good balance in depicting the reactions and attitudes of the neuro-typical people in Shaun's sphere while also showing how Shaun sees the world through autistic eyes.

Season two began with Shaun in a romantic relationship. As with his professional employment aspects, the show delved into the issues of an autistic man relating to a woman in romance. Though the two maintain separate bedrooms, their moving in together represented a huge step for Shaun in dealing with someone in his personal space all the time, and the difficulties of relinquishing control and routine in deference to another person. And the same with the girlfriend regarding give and take with an autistic man.

I was pleased to see that the show dealt with the give and take in relationships in a manner similar to a romantic relationship between neurotypical people. There are just different amounts and types of the give and take expected.

Along the way, because it's secular liberal television, the 'medical drama of the week' often reflects the cultural concerns of the day. Issues such as female genital mutilation, image in homosexual relationships, Islam, sexual harassment, feminism/being female in medical world, and so on, have been covered. Some watchers note that the liberal agenda promoted by the show seems to be speeding up, with the introduction of ever more heavy topics handled in an ever more emotionally manipulative way.

I'd concur with that observation, I've noticed it too.

Which brings me to the last episode I didn't see.

I hadn't watched the show on November 26 and when I was ready to watch, I searched for reviews and recaps first. I usually do, to give myself advance notice of topics I would decide not to watch. I'm glad I did, because when I read the reviews and recaps, I was shocked. The episode was called "Empathy".

Apparently a man who has constant thoughts and sexual desires for children was featured. He hated his own desires and sought to rid himself of them, via medicines, mutilations, and therapies. He prided himself on never having acted on his desires, because he knew they were depraved. The build-up in the show, apparently, was to develop empathy for the 'in thoughts only' pedophile because of the extreme lengths he went to in order for him to make sure his desires remain unfulfilled.

This is called the "virtuous pedophile." The title is an actual title, based on a growing internet support group of people who acknowledge their depraved desires but do not act on them. Their restraint is supposed to be virtuous.

First, if you notice the language, over time, sodomite changed to homosexual changed to gay. Child molester changed to pedophile to virtuous pedophile. The liberal agenda will always try to attach noble language or at least neutral language to immoral acts in order to soften perceptions of its immoral qualities.

There is nothing virtuous about child molestation, acted upon or not. Jesus said,

But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5:28).

If I were to paraphrase, 'a man looks upon a child with lustful intent, he has already committed adultery with that child in his heart.'

Genesis 6:5 says,

The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

We are depraved through and through. There is no distinction between those who have depraved thoughts and desires and those who have acted on them. Jesus' standard of morality and righteousness applies to those with adulterous thoughts and desires, people with homosexual thoughts and desires, or pedophilac thoughts and desires. Even having the desire is wrong. It isn't virtuous in any form.

I resented that the television show attempted to soften its audience to this fact. If you think about how a show is written, someone had to come up with this idea. They had to research it, sit around and write it, discuss it, and re-write it. I spend a lot of time writing a blog essay, you can imagine how much thought and effort goes into writing an hour-long television show. The writers had to work hard to get this to where they wanted it.

That's depraved in itself.

Everyone has a line in the sand across which they will not go. I won't spend time watching a TV show that puts across any sort of message with the words empathy, virtuous, and pedophile in the same sentence. I won't be softened by the liberal mainstream agenda sending out messages like this. I won't be manipulated into anything treading close to this idea. Therefore, I say goodbye to the Good Doctor.

50 channels and nothing on

TV. What're you going to do?

I'm on vacation for the summer. After a morning of study, an afternoon of chores, and a late afternoon of crafting, cooking, bird watching, or napping, I like to watch TV.

I tried to watch many different shows.

L.A. Law, which was an excellent show that began in 1988 and at least the first two seasons do hold up, which is all I watched. But its all about sex, sex, sex, court, I win, billable hours, sex, sex, I lost, smooch, I love you, smack, I hate you. When it got up to Douglas having an affair with his step-mother 1 Corinthians 5:1 kicked in and I quit.

Murphy Brown was another 1988 series, this one was a comedy. I remember it as being cutting edge and funny. Watching it now, Murphy is just a selfish, complaining harridan. She is really annoying.

New Girl is a new show. I read the reviews and the reviews at Common Sense Media said it was sweet and quirky. It's about some upper 20 somethings of mixed gender inhabiting a loft. The premise is problematic enough, but where LA Law they actually did have copious amounts of sex, in New Girl, it's all talk of sex. Talk of sex, drunk sex, drunk texting, sexting, boobs, sex, talk, dates, hookups, passed out, hoping for sex, drunk again. I really have to stop relying on Common Sense Media.

Odd Mom Out, another new show but after a few episodes it just seemed juvenile & perverted to me. There was always something just a bit off color and I just got sick of it. Cross that one of the list.

No Offence. A British show about cops. I like cop shows but not gore. I'm also leery of any and all British cop shows because they are all slightly odd with sickening story lines. I've had a lot of bad esperiences with them. Not sickening like NCIS, Criminal Minds, or Bones, that's just juvenile immature. But an odd chord of weirdness goes through UK cop stories that are more like Hannibal Lecter kind of sick. And sure enough the very opening scene of No Offence was terrible. Hoping they just did it once for the shock value, I tried to press on, but in short order, another terrible scene and I quickly turned it off. No more UK cop shows for me. I'm done. (New Tricks was the only great UK cop show I've watched. Hilarious! Line of Duty was great, too, I should say, and Foyle's War was great too as was Death in Paradise, but that one wasn't set in London, but in the Caribbean which makes a huge difference!). Broadchurch, Midsomer Murders, Happy Valley, Prime Suspect, Inspector Morse, Wallander, George Gently, been there, done that. Ew.

Where are the genteel shows like BBC's The Detectorists or The Cafe? THOSE were some good shows! Speaking of genteel,

The Great British Bake Off. Another British show and I loved it. I watched the current series on Youtube and enjoyed he light town, the great editing, the educational aspect, all the way through the entire competition...until the finale. That episode was absent from youtube and apparently online anywhere. Wah! I can't tell you how disappointing it was to have committed to these contestants and gone through 11 episodes only to have the final moment denied.

I really love shows like GBBO as the Bake Off is called. It's educational nice, nothing perverted, and it's progressive. I like counting down, I like that it's always the same. I just like it. But quality shows like GBBO are few and far between, and today's comedies and dramas are too corrupted. Shows of old like Murphy Brown and LA Law might be a bit better but in some ways the presentation of the 1980s man as the doormat while the rise of the feminist woman took over is just as depressing to watch. The era of the "Wimpy Man" had begun then and boy did the TV shows reflect it.

I really wish there was something good to watch.

Birds on branches and death in paradise

This is an actual photo of a bird silhouetted against the sky, with Pixlr overlay pak Mermaid and Dreamscape added to the background, which was a very dull late afternoon misty gray.

This is the original

What I love about school break is:

-sleeping until after 5:30,
-not getting dressed until I want to,
-being able to wear leggings and a soft turtleneck all day,
-washing my dishes on the same day that I dirty them,
-spending time playing with pictures and reading my twitter stream and not worrying that I am wasting time,
-being quiet,
-discovering more about my Logos bible software, like you can select a passage to be read aloud to you,
-listening to sermons and Gospel music in the afternoon
-cooking (today will be granola, and roasted broccoli)
-having time to go through my Youtube subscriptions and culling the dead ones and uninteresting ones,
-organizing my photos on the laptop...

and so much more.

I found another tv show I like. It's British, which means there aren't a lot of them. Their seasons, or series as they call them, are only 6 or 8 shows long. I watched all 8 of the first season and it is a top-quality show: Death in Paradise. Despite the goth title, it is a 'blue skies' program, and a 'fish out of water show' and a 'police procedural' if you like categorizing shows by title. It is about a London police detective temporarily assigned to discover why the Chief of Police on a small Caribbean island (a UK protectorate) was killed. Of course, his temporary stay becomes lengthier through no will of his own, he hates the heat, the sand, the slower ways, and mostly everything about the place. He is a stiff, a British man through and through with a single minded head for solving crime and absolutely no social skills, quite an abrupt thing for his colleagues living a friendly island reggae life. Of course he is brilliant and successful at solving murders so his colleagues forgive his quirks, even as he has a harder time overlooking theirs. The characters are realistic, nice, well-played and distinct.

There is no profanity, no sex, no gore (well only a drip here and there, but it's minimal). The setting is glorious, actually being shot on Guadaloupe. It is well-written and acted (usually the case with BBC TV shows). I like it. I will be sorry when I finish season 2, because I learned that the main character is killed off in the first episode of the third series. He found that being away for six months at a time to shoot on Guadaloupe was too stressful on his family whether they stayed there or flew to the island. So he gave it up. Sigh. Anyway, it's lighthearted, sometimes funny, and good. On Netflix.

Well it's nearing noon so I will get dressed and then continue on the peaceful day set before me.

British police dramas

When I drive to work in the morning, even in the dead of winter, there is so much to look at that's pretty. I pass pastures still a-blush with a vestige of green. Frost adorns the hay bales. Colts run in the frosty air, curls of smoke circling out from their nostrils. Cows braze placidly, with no flies buzzing, tails are still and quiet. There are sheep and donkeys and bright setting moons and stunning sunrises. In case I haven't mentioned it lately, it is very pretty here.

I love Hulu and Netflix, new-ish inventions. I remember television before cable, before color, even. Before remote controls. Having on-demand entertainment I can shape specifically for my tastes is a stupendous achievement. Really. Think about it.

I enjoy British television. I don't want to come across as a snob, but the BBC puts out better acted, better-written, and better quality programming than the US does, in my opinion. Also, it's quieter. I'm so bothered by noise that when the week before last Friday's busy week ended, and I came home and had a snack of potato chips, the chips were too loud in my head and I had to stop eating them.

I have enjoyed the following British police series:

Collision
Broadchurch

New Tricks

Line of Duty
Foyle's War

David Tennant, Olivia Colman in Broadchurch

Collision (5 episodes) and Broadchurch (8 episodes) were similar in that they had one season each, focused on a single event, in an emotional and complicated and demanding story arc. Collision focused on the police working a crash, discovering the originator of a multi-car pileup on the highway, and along the way discovering some murders and other crimes that the crash hid. Broadchurch focused on one murder and the cadre of characters directly involved. Both shows are excellent. Broadchurch has the advantage of being cinematically filmed in a gorgeous setting.

New Tricks features three veteran British cops of a certain age who have retired from the Metropolitan Police, and their middle aged leader. A new squad had been formed, an Unsolved and Open Case division, and these retirees were brought back to help solve them. They are old dogs. Hence the title New Tricks. There are 11 seasons of this show. The same characters remained with it until season 8. At the first episode of season 9 a main character left, and the next season two more of the original four departed. In my opinion the show has bright joy and whimsy for the first three seasons, and was good for the next three.

It is never announced explicitly but Alun Armstrong's character is autistic. (Or as the series describes him, "eccentric, socially inept, with OCD"). He is my favorite character. "I must have continuity!!!" LOL.

Line of Duty and Foyle's War are on an even higher plane than the first three. Look at the Wikipedia write-up for Line of Duty:

Line of Duty is a British police drama, created by Jed Mercurio, which aired on BBC Two 26 June 2012. The first series was BBC Two's best-performing drama series in 10 years, with a consolidated audience of 4.1 million viewers. The drama was recommissioned for a second series, and the first episode was broadcast on 12 February 2014. The second series achieved widespread public and critical acclaim, and, on 8 April 2014, the BBC commissioned two further series. In April 2014, Line of Duty was included in a list of the Top 50 BBC Two shows of all-time.

It is really good, haunting, complicated,and will keep you guessing. This time, the crimes are perpetrated by a cop, and the squad investigating is the Anti-Corruption Unit, the US equivalent to Internal Affairs.

Netflix kept putting Foyle's War in my 'you'll probably like' page so I caved in and watched it. I did like it. Thanks, creepy side of Netflix. Christopher Foyle investigates crimes in the seaside town of Hastings in England while WWII begins, reaches its climax, and ends. The series continues after the war but I don't recommend those episodes. The "war" Foyle was fighting was for justice for victimized British citizens at home while everyone's attention was obviously placed elsewhere. Michael Kitchen plays Foyle. You might remember him as the befuddled and nearly blind musician in "Enchanted April" lo those many years ago.

The war episodes of the series are filled with Foyle-wisdom, ethics, justice, compassion, and the whimsically named Honeysuckle Weeks as Foyle's driver. Despite being about the seriousness of war and murder the series has a light tone and the interplay between the original three main characters (Foyle, Weeks, and Anthony Howell as Assistant Detective Paul Milner) is tremendous. It's exceptionally well written. Each episode also subtly teaches about the war, as we learn true things about rationing books and hunger, radar testing, the Blitz, displaced children, war injuries, approaches to treating burn victims, and more. A lot of research and detail goes into each hour-and-a-half episode and it looks it. Highly recommended.

Sadly, I'm done with Foyle and New Tricks, and Line of Duty hasn't come on for a third series yet.  Broadchurch and Collision were one-offs, they told one story and done. So I'm looking for another British show to adopt. I know I'll find one.

Turning off the tv

I decided I don't like TV anymore. Well, I kind of do but I don't, too. I hate commercials. I don't like wasting my evening watching crap. I dislike the noise, and tv is noisy, make no doubt about it. I don't like that tv is dumb. I mean, where are the smart, witty shows? I don't like having my evening subtly governed by tv, like feeling rushed to finish something by the top of the hour because a show is coming on. I don't like the emotional toll some shows take on me. Wait, I haven't put in any plusses yet, have I? Well there ya go.

Last night I turned off the tv and spent it writing, studying, listening to a sermon, and then reading on the couch. This was interspersed with playing with the cats and simply sitting, letting myself be. I enjoyed the soft hiss of the gas fire, the plop of raindrops on the metal awnings, the crinkle of pages turning, and the sounds of the cat snuffling in their sleep. It was relaxing.

I had resolved last weekend to absorb less media. Since I don't listen to secular music, and I've only been to one movie in the last four years, this means television. I am online a lot but I monitor myself and I visit only good or uplifting sites. I love the internet and I use it heavily for study. Television is another matter...

I don't know how long it will last, me grappling to get control of the evening and the remote control, but I am going to give it the old college try. It's not like it's because I want to be more productive at night after work. I already am. But I guess I want to relax amid a less polluted environment.

Amazingly warm

It is unseasonably warm here in North Georgia. After sunset tonight it is still 77 degrees. We are supposed to receive rain and thunderstorms and perhaps a tornado tonight, so I have that to look forward to. But the day itself was lovely and warm. Yesterday was warm, as well. I snapped this cotton candy cloud illuminated by sunset pink last night. It was over the pasture next door.

I love the little blue bell flowers on the lawn. I really like tiny flowers as much as I like the large ones. I put up a blog entry about large flowers the other day, here. The little flowers are so little there is no way to arrange them in a vase. Today I bought a glass salt shaker at the Dollar Store. This is the result:

I was going for a Martha Stewart/Simple Living, Casa Sugar/Repurposed kind of careless elegant chic. Don't know if I got it but I do know that by tomorrow the cats will probably have eaten them.

I am looking forward to "my tv night."Thursdays I enjoy watching Big Bang Theory and Person of Interest. I am so tired, though, I am not holding out hope for making it to 9 pm, never mind to the show's conclusion at 10. But last time I went to bed early, thinking that I could catch POI (that's what we cool espionage people call it, POI) on video through "full episodes" I was wrong. The show I'd missed never showed up on either the CBS or the Hulu websites. My life just hasn't been the same, lol.

Well I'm going over to the couch and lay down. My bones are aching and my head is ringing with all the kid-stuff today. I'm pooped!