Magi

Carving of the Magi from the Romanesque Cathedral of Saint Lazare/Autun

Yes, it is too early to really think of the Magi arriving, but let's just think about the fact that they had to be on the road for a while. So we may surely think of the angel inspiring them to get underway.

The Greatest Journey, part 3

I love to reread this each year, journeying through Advent, so I'm reposting it.

Continuing our examination of chapter five of Go to Joseph we now see Mary and Joseph set out on the trip to Bethlehem. Father Gilsdorf mentions things I never thought about in connection to this journey, such as how Joseph's skills may have come in handy or the concept of Mary as a living monstrance. Truly this is giving me something to contemplate as we grow closer to Christmas.

Saint Joseph, James Tissot

Then the day came for departure on the journey south to Bethlehem. Each day of this procession, Mary, like a living monstrance, rode astride the donkey, with Joseph walking along side holding the reins. Each night, he would have needed to have found shelter. Perhaps they stayed in roadside inns? The homes of friends and relatives? But surely, most often, the carpenter had to improvise, cutting and assembling branches to construct a lean-to. Nights in any desert are usually chilled, anyway, but given the time frame, this was also the traditional season of the cold winter rains.

On all sides were threats and terrors. Wild animals still ranged the wooded hilly areas.iii Other predators, equally cunning and merciless, were the notorious robber bands who scouted the trail for pilgrims to plunder. The courage, skills, and resourcefulness of Joseph are given wordless witness by the fact that this newly married couple not only made the journey but made it safely (undoubtedly with the protection of many angels).

In the daytime, there was the tedium of ascending hills and traversing valleys. As any woman who has endure the extreme discomfort of a late term will attest, this would have caused Mary extreme discomfort. This suffering must have struck a pained, compassionate response in her loving spouse. Bystanders probably observed them quickly and shrugged. Just a young man and his young, pregnant wife and nothing more. Who would have dreamed that before their eyes had just passed their Messiah, the Annointed longed for from the ages? Even less could they discern that the Messiah was truly "Emmanuel, God with us," the very Son of God. Scripture foretold that a virgin would conceive and bear a Son, and this was that very virgin!

Try as we might, the prayers and conversation of Mary and Joseph inevitably escape our powers of imagination. What did they share? How much did Joseph advance in holiness during this Advent?

iii Keep in mind that before the Romans denuded the Middle East and northern Africa of them for gladiatorial games, these areas were home to lions and bears.

In part 4 the journey continues.

Santa and The Print Collector

Santa and The Print Collector
by Santa Classics

Perusing my back files, I rediscovered Santa Classics ? Ed Wheeler, an artist and photographer, shows Santa entering into great artistic masterpieces. Somehow he pulls this off both with humor and reverence for the originals. Drop by and take a look around!

Collecting the Tree

Father and son with their dog collecting a tree in the forest,
painting by Franz Krüger (1797–1857)

Nativity on Japanese Christmas Card

Nativity on a Japanese Christmas Card via J.R.'s Art Place

The Nativity as depicted on a Japanese Christmas card, from the collections of the Marian Library at the University of Dayton, Ohio. Isn't this great? I especially love finding Christian art as depicted by different cultures.

Art: Miracle on 34th Street

Miracle on 34th Street. Valentine Davies.
via Books and Art

Now that's a gorgeous cover — the sort they don't make these days.

Fifth Avenue in Winter

Childe Hassam, Fifth Avenue in Winter

 

The Knitting Lesson

The Knitting Lesson by Ernest Biéler, 1939

I taught both of our girls to knit although I didn't begin when they were as young as the child in the painting. Enough of their friends wanted to learn that eventually I kept extra needles and yarn on hand as a matter of course. I'd get them knitting and purling and making a long scarf and turned them loose. I still use one of the scarves from those days on cold morning walks.

Recently my 4-year-old grandson asked to learn. He managed about 5 stitches before calling it a scarf. Small steps to begin with, right?

Cat and Bowl of Goldfish

Cat and Bowl of Goldfish by Ohara Koson

The Creation of the World

Antonio Canova, The Creation of the World (1821-22)

I'd never heard of Antonio Canova, though when I went looking for this image I saw that I have seen several of his works before. I was captivated when I originally saw this in 2014 in the Wall Street Journal which enchants me by having an article about art every week. I love the textures, the creative spirit surging forth energetically, the way the moon is watching God create the sun, the sun's gentle and loving look toward its creator. What a wonderful work of imagination and art this is.

Ginkgo Trees in Hyanggyo

 Ginkgo Trees in Hyanggyo

I recently discovered there is a tall and lovely Ginko tree one block over from us. I'd always admired the never-failing golden foliage in the fall but never stopped to examine the leaves. When I drove my mother by to see it, her attention to detail (especially where plants are involved) allowed her to identify it within a minute. I was astonished. I always thought of Ginko trees as being something exclusively Chinese, or more generally Asian. Perhaps they had a few in California? But now the sheer exotic nature of this tree makes it even lovelier to me.

Baking the Bread

Baking the Bread, Anders Zorn, 1889

See this? That's me today.

Ok, not literally. Thank goodness I've got an enclosed oven for one thing. But I'm cook, cook, cookin' the day away preparing the Thanksgiving feast. Pies, side dishes, rolls. So much cooking, with something new this year. My son-in-law is going to deep fry the turkey. I am extremely interested to see how it turns out.

Rose and I have done this together enough times that it is like a ballet as we skirt each other cooking, remembering timing and tips to each other, and listen to very American music — per Rose, this means bluegrass. I like bluegrass fine but I also like to put some jazz in there. And Aaron Copeland, George Gershwin, and (most lately) William Grant Still whose first symphony (titled "Afro American Symphony") combines the feel of both Copeland and Gershwin to be very all-American.

Talk about a fun way to get Thanksgiving dinner ready.

Marlene Dietrich in Glass Bugle Beads

Marlene Dietrich, dress by Irene
via Silver Screen Modes

No skin is showing but that hardly matters in this dramatic dress. Silver Screen Modes has fascinating commentary and wonderful photos. Here's a taste.

Indeed, the main advantage of a dress made of glass bugle beads is that their weight presses against the skin. You either see the skin left exposed, or you clearly see the contours of the wearer since the beads hug the figure with from the gravity of their weight. And the beads not only reflect light, but are themselves translucent, and sewn onto the sheerest of silk chiffons. They are made of cut glass, an can be colored or lined in silver or gold. Marlene Dietrich below knew how to pose in a gown made of bugle beads. This one was designed for her by the costume and fashion designer Irene. Little skin actually shows, yet you feel that all of her is showing.

Shichi - Go -San ( seven - five - three )

Shichi-Go-San, via Calligraphy in the View

Do click through to see more photos of these adorable children in traditional dress. 

Shichi-Go-San is a traditional rite of passage and festival day in Far east.

For three and seven year-old girls and three and five year-old boys, held annually on November 15.

Shichi-Go-San is said to have originated in the Heian Period (794-1185) amongst court nobles, who would celebrate the passage of their children into middle childhood.

Hello Kitty Shinkansen (Bullet Train)

Hello Kitty Shinkansen, Calligraphy in the View

I think we can agree this is the best of all bullet trains, especially if you happen to have any little girls around when you're on it.

A Gorgeous Bouquet

Anna Stanchi, Still Life with Flowers, c. 1643

Pug Dog in an Armchair

Alfred Dedreux, Pug Dog in an Armchair, 1857

Yes, I also like that painting of dogs playing poker. So sue me. It tickles me that this was painted in 1857.

The Shocking Behavior of a Speedy Star

The Shocking Behavior of a Speedy Star, NASA on the Commons

 I didn't know there really are such things as rogue stars. The red arc is what happens when it runs into things as it speeds through the Milky Way. More from NASA:

Roguish runaway stars can have a big impact on their surroundings as they plunge through the Milky Way galaxy. Their high-speed encounters shock the galaxy, creating arcs, as seen in this newly released image from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope.

In this case, the speedster star is known as Kappa Cassiopeiae, or HD 2905 to astronomers. It is a massive, hot supergiant. But what really makes the star stand out in this image is the surrounding, streaky red glow of material in its path. Such structures are called bow shocks, and they can often be seen in front of the fastest, most massive stars in the galaxy.

Bow shocks form where the magnetic fields and wind of particles flowing off a star collide with the diffuse, and usually invisible, gas and dust that fill the space between stars. How these shocks light up tells astronomers about the conditions around the star and in space. Slow-moving stars like our sun have bow shocks that are nearly invisible at all wavelengths of light, but fast stars like Kappa Cassiopeiae create shocks that can be seen by Spitzer’s infrared detectors.

Incredibly, this shock is created about 4 light-years ahead of Kappa Cassiopeiae, showing what a sizable impact this star has on its surroundings. (This is about the same distance that we are from Proxima Centauri, the nearest star beyond the sun.)

The Kappa Cassiopeiae bow shock shows up as a vividly red color. The faint green features in this image result from carbon molecules, called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in dust clouds along the line of sight that are illuminated by starlight.

Delicate red filaments run through this infrared nebula, crossing the bow shock. Some astronomers have suggested these filaments may be tracing out features of the magnetic field that runs throughout our galaxy. Since magnetic fields are completely invisible themselves, we rely on chance encounters like this to reveal a little of their structure as they interact with the surrounding dust and gas.

Kappa Cassiopeiae is visible to the naked eye in the Cassiopeia constellation (but its bow shock only shows up in infrared light.)

White Lilies

Anders Zorn, White Lilies
via Wikipedia

Just gorgeous. And that's enough reason to put it here to look at.

Portrait of Mlle Brissac

Portrait of Mlle Brissac (1863). William-Adolphe Bouguereau (French, 1825-1905)
via Books and Art

I love Bouguereau anyway but this really stands out for me. It's as good as photograph. Better, in fact! Look at it close up (click the portrait) to see just how realistic everything is.