Thank God for Small Miracles

I was just looking at my keyboard and I noticed that the places where my hands rest are smooth and mirror like instead of the pebbly, matt plastic like the rest of it. That tells me that I am either a dedicated writer who spends a lot of time spinning tales to entertain or a pathetic loser that doesn’t have a life outside of the internet. Either way, it is interesting.

How many hours did it take to polish the keyboard? It makes me think about how long it must have taken those master craftsmen in the seventeenth century to sand and polish the furniture that now stands in the hallways of mansions and museums. I read once that the patina for that furniture can’t be duplicated because the stain is part blood and sweat from the young apprentices who did the polishing.

 

If you look around yourself you can see the wear and tear on anything that you have had for any length of time. My wedding ring has a design on it but when it was new, the etching was much deeper and certainly clearer. I won’t even mention my body which has certainly taken a turn for the worse. Every few years I have to replace the tires on the car like everyone else that drives. Kind of makes you wonder why there aren’t large piles of powdered rubber at the sides of every highway doesn’t it? Where did the rubber go? I guess that will remain one of those mysteries of life.

Anyone that has held a hose on an ant hill knows the power of water. I guess you know the power of ants as well, because the little bastards are back that same day. We have all seen pictures of the Grand Canyon or seen it in person if you are lucky, which was carved by the actions of the Colorado River over 17 million years. That is on a scale that is just too immense for me to contemplate. The canyon is 277 miles long, up to 19 miles wide and reaches a depth of 6000 feet. WOW! I saw a show a few years ago which told of how youth in the old days would make marbles. They would place roundish stones in a pitted rock, and divert a small stream of water to flow into the pitted rock. Over a period of weeks and months the action of the water would form a perfectly round stone. I guess when you don’t have TV or video games; the kids get into all sorts of things.

 

We were lucky enough to be in England a few years ago and spent an afternoon at Lewes Castle. Parts of it date back to the 11^th century and there is a lot of wear and tear on pretty much everything. I was amazed that it is still standing. The stairs going up to the ramparts were made of stone of course and over hundreds of years and probably millions of footsteps they are worn down several inches. I don’t think that any of the buildings that are being constructed now will be around in a hundred years, let alone 1000.

 

I have noticed that parts of the house are wearing out and need to be replaced. Most notably, the shingles on the roof which should have been replaced two years ago. The enamel on the sinks has worn and the sinks themselves have rusted. The floor of the garage has cracked and sunk in the corner. That is in just over 25 years, not 1000 like Lewes castle or 17,000,000 like the Grand Canyon. Oh well, maybe a dash of spackle and a splash of paint will carry us another year or so.

I guess I have to be thankful there aren’t enemies trying to invade or a river running through the living room. Thank God for small miracles!