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how terrible Christian pop actually is
Friday, September 5 2025
setting: rural Hurley Township, Ulster County, New York
Today at the Adirondack cabin, conditions were sunny and beautiful, if a little cool for this time of year. While Gretchen could eventually go down to the lake to spend much of the day at the dock, I of course had to work remotely. I'd been given the task of getting up to speed on Crystal Reports, an ugly old reporting system that won't even be helpful on a resume, and I had no ambition to dive into it. So I found various ways to procrastinate. At some point, for example, I removed all the rigging from the lumber lashed to the roof of the Subaru Forester and unloaded it. Then I got all the heavy bluestone I'd been hauling out of the back. At lunch I paid my customary brief visit to Gretchen down at the dock.
This afternoon at some point I realized that it was the perfect time to cut my own hair. It would be days before someone else would be seeing me, giving the back of my head (always the worst part!) a chance to grow out so I would look less like a mental patient. So I took off all my clothes and went outside and stood next to the Subaru Forester, using my reflection in its windows and rearview mirror to help me see what I was doing. As for the hair (which is now mostly grey), it all ended up on the ground for the birds and small mammals to use for their nests.
Near the end of my workday, Gretchen announced that she would be going for a swim despite the chill. So she ran down to the dock and immediately dove in. I wasn't far behind her, but of course instead of swimming, I went for a paddle in a kayak. I paddled out to the eastern lakeshore and found a few smallish rocks along the shore to carry back to contribute to the ice wall. Meanwhile Gretchen swam more than half way into the lake before turning around and coming back. When she got out, she announced that the water temperature hadn't been too bad.
I'd taken a recreational 150 mg dose of pseudoephedrine which hadn't provided much motivation to learn Crystal Reports. But it did eventually help me track down and fix a few issues with my ESP8266 Remote Control System.
Later it also got me to remove a hatch in the ceilng over the bulkhead steps entering the basement to see what the options were for adding a light in that space, which would really help with the ongoing project of tiling over the styrofoam walls in that space with old CDs and DVDs. Meanwhile, I was having trouble getting anything but religious music to play from the radio I keep down there. (I would've preferred WFNY. the quirky oldies station I normally listen to.) In an effort to venture outside my bubble, I do occasionally listen to Christian pop music. But, let's be real, it really is terrible. They play fewer songs at a much higher rotatation than even pop stations. And the lyrical content is squished into just a few themes that make no sense to anyone with critical thinking skills: God is great, I will worship God unthinkingly, God is having a great impact on my life, and Jesus died so that we might all be saved. A newer thing I am also hearing mentioned is that God is "unchanging." A lot of the lyrics strike me as the sort a hostage might sing about the person taking them hostage or a battered wife might sing about her husband. I suppose if you honestly believe that you are stuck with the one God we have, for better or worse, the songs you write might sound that way.
This evening Gretchen made rigatoni pasta with pesto sauce and a side dish involving big green beans cooked with fava beans and tomato. The pasta was strangely weak and broke into pieces, but the bean dish was amazing. We ate our dinner out on the deck, not even in the screened-in porch, as the cool weather kept most of the mosquitoes away.
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A lilypad flower near the beaver lodge at the entrance to the wetlands on Joel's parcel. Click to enlarge.
The sun to the west over the lake this afternoon. Click to enlarge.
The most impressive cairn along the Mossy Rock Trail today, looking westward. Also note the stone steps up the slope. That's part of the trail. Click to enlarge.
A big rock I tilted out of the Mossy Rock Trail today, looking westward. Click to enlarge.
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