Worth a Thousand Words

Red Door
2008 D L Ennis, All rights reserved. Visual Thoughts
Used by permission. Click through on the link for more fabulous photography.

27 min., 21 sec. !

That's what happens when you have the Set Game in a set of bookmarks, toward the back, and finally work your way around to that tab.

On the plus side, the second time through my time was much better ... 1 min., 53 sec. ... still shamefully slow considering I'd done it once already that day!

Now and Forever by Ray Bradbury

In some ways the most interesting part of the two novellas that make up this book are Ray Bradbury’s introductions. He explains that both “Somewhere the Band is Playing” and “Leviathan ‘99″ have their origins in his long ago days as a Hollywood screenwriter. These explanations hang on in the listener’s mind and provide insights and color for the stories that follow. ...

My review of the audio book is up at SFFaudio. Highly recommended for Ray Bradbury aficionados!

There Will Be Blood ... and Judgment

Blood and Judgment
by Lars Walker

After reading a great review for Wolf Time by Lars Walker I turned to the library to see what they might have by him. Turns out they had only one book ... Blood and Judgment.

A combination of Shakespeare, fantasy, time travel, and parallel universes, this is an action-filled book that manages to also examine relativism, political correctness, honesty in education, and many more issues of our time.

The story in a nutshell is that in the midst of putting on a local production of Hamlet, the entire cast is whisked off to the "universe" where Hamlet is real. It turns out that there really was a person upon who Hamlet's character was based. He and the actor playing Hamlet wake up having had their souls put in each others' bodies ... which are also in different dimensions from each other (so to speak).

If this sounds confusing, it accurately reflects my state of mind as I delved into the book. I really enjoyed the beginning when the author took enough time to introduce to some characters, allowed them to interact enough to examine ideas, and gave us background on motivations. However, once the dimensional "switch" took over, I felt as if just when I started enjoying a scene the author was grabbing me by the hand and telling me to "no more time for that; run over here and see this!" I am no expert but I believe that more time taken with the characters, as well as fewer characters and subplots would have been a plus. Or perhaps a much longer book in order to adequately allow Walker to discuss all the ideas therein. It did not need to be densely packed as Eifelheim but it simply was not fair to the author's concepts to handle them in a book this short. More importantly, this author has something to say about Christians and Christianity that needs more space and discussion so that it doesn't just "preach to the choir" but opens others' minds to the elemental concepts here.

I did enjoy this book. It just was not all that it could have been and the potential was clearly on display which became a frustration toward the end. I definitely will be on the lookout for others of Walker's books, hoping that they are not as rushed.

Worth a Thousand Words

Red-Backed Sandpiper, taken by Remo Savisaar.
Click through the link for more amazing photography.

Canadian Price Gouging

Quick background ... Schering-Plough is building a new factory that will open next year to provide that allergy-fighting wonder, Drixoral, to the yearning American masses. Many people besides us can testify that Drixoral works when most other products don't. In the meantime, Schering-Plough has shut down the only American plant that did manufacture Drixoral (the logic of this move escapes us), leaving us wandering blindly through pharmacy aisles buying whatever we can get our hands on that might work halfway well. Which is not much, let me tell you.

I turned to the internet and began buying Drixoral from Canadian providers because their Drixoral plant is working perfectly well and they are more than willing to exchange drugs for dollars (so to speak).

The average cost for a package of 20 Drixoral tablets - $11.99. Fairly comparable to the U.S. price of $9.99 that I was paying at Krogers.

Until last night.

Tom went cruising to make an order and found that those same 20 tablets are now $46.99.

Oy veh!

Assiduous searching can find a Canadian supplier here or there who is not making hay while the sun shines but they are few and far between. Far more are charging anywhere from $35 on up for 20 tablets.

Shameful.

How do you know when it's been too long since you've played the Set Game?

When it takes 5 minutes, 15 seconds to find all 6 sets.

Aargh!

I used to be in 2 minutes or less territory. Must play daily ... must play daily ...

Now This is Just What I've Been Looking For!

Introducing the new Bio-Optic Organized Knowledge device–trade-named: B.O.O.K.

BOOK is a revolutionary breakthrough in technology: no wires, no electric circuits, no batteries, nothing to be connected or switched on. It’s so easy to use, even a child can operate it.

Compact and portable, it can be used anywhere — even sitting in an armchair by the fire — yet it is powerful enough to hold as much information as a CD-ROM disc....

I. Love. This.

Read the rest at Coffee Klatch.

Worth a Thousand Words

57 Chevy Bel Air by James Neil Hollingsworth
Click through on the link above for more wonderful art.

Amazed by monsters ...

[...] Some remain unexplained. Some are laughable. Some are both. But they don't bother me at all. It's not that I believe in them. Or don't. But their existence would fit quite nicely into my view of things.

I just love the documentaries of monsters and mysterious beasts you see on the History Channel or A&E. I really do. You have the 50 year old pot bellied hunter standing in the woods recounting his tale of how he narrowly escaped death at the hands of a (insert monster here) and even though his camera was around his/her neck they just didn't think of it in time. If only, huh?

But then they cut to the man or woman in glasses and a sweater who, sitting in their air conditioned office at some local college, explain how this sighting could easily be explained away as the work of imagination (meaning a case of beer), or just fabrication entirely (meaning that ol' son of a gun is lyin' through his teeth.) Then they talk about how little chance there is that something exists which we don't know about yet.

I know it says something about me. Perhaps I have a strong anti-authoritarian streak in me but I almost always find myself siding with the beer swiller in the woods mainly because we agree on one underlying principle: We don't know nuthin'. We agree fundamentally that there's more to this world than we think we know. The beer swilling hunter can still be amazed. [...]

Plus they've had the fun of drinking the beer. Which any Catholic can understand!

Creative Minority Report uses Bigfoot et al as a springboard into the nature of faith. Nice. Check it out.

Worth a Thousand Words

The Cloisters (Vertorama), originally uploaded by Paul Cook Photography.
Found at Flickr Scotland.

We finally caught up on Lost

So it turns out that Hannah is taking one of our cars to college (we have managed to inherit a couple from Tom's mom as she gave up driving) and all her stuff fit into the car! And she drove herself so we effectively have an extra day at home. Woohoo!

Also, our email is down. Which is a pain to Tom who is dealing with our server, but nice for me as I am cut loose from a couple of obligations I need to send out to people.

SO, Lost ... only three months after the finale. Ha!

1. Long ago I thought the guy in the coffin had to be Locke. Then they faked me out enough so that I figured it had to be someone else from the slender group of possibilities. Dang! I was right the first time.
   
   
2. Ben. So why does he give a rip about The Island? He can't go back. Why does he care at all? Rose says it is about vengeance for Alex. Huh. His heart doesn't have those layers. There is something else going on.
   
   
3. It was nice to see Desmond and Penny get to have a happy ending. Though I will be very sad not to see Desmond anymore.
   
   
4. When they moved The Island they didn't mess around, did they? I don't know what I expected but for sure I didn't expect it to essentially sink below the surface of the water. Now, that was an interesting concept ...
   
   
5. I guess the fact that Locke had been visiting people was the reason Kate was telling Aaron that she was sorry while sobbing prettily. Because she must be planning on going back.
   
   
6. I liked Hurley and Mr. Eko playing chess. Even if I had to imagine Mr. Eko. And Sayid ... his "safe place" surely must be The Island, right? Because he's working for Ben now?
   

All Hail Your Cyborg Queen ...

... or so The Anchoress would have us believe as she chants vespers for us during the retreat.

Myself, perhaps I have been assimilated and am so cyborg-ish that I couldn't hear it. I think she sounds lovely and I love that she cared enough to do this for us.

And, yes, Anchoress, we can now put you in our iPods and carry you with us wherever we go.

Do go listen. It was a real treat for me.

Thank you, Anchoress.

Jeffrey Overstreet's Insight into Woody Allen's Newest Movie

As he broadens his geographical interests beyond Manhattan, Allen's understanding of love seems to be narrowing. His work should be taking him deeper into complex and revealing stories about the heart. Instead, he's becoming more and more preoccupied with the lurid and the lewd. In the end, like Cristina, he comes away knowing only what he doesn't want, never managing even a glimpse of what he, his characters, or his audience, really need."

Jeffrey Overstreet reviews Vicky Cristina Barcelona at Christianity Today. He does a great job, as always, in a comprehensive review.

However, the excerpt above really struck me as this is something I have been noticing as well. It is sad, really, as one would have hoped that Allen's horizons would have broadened over the years. Of course, Allen has always been bewitched by sex, oftentimes to the exclusion of broader visions. And there is that old saying ... there's no fool like an old fool.

Worth a Thousand Words

Amish Farm Stand
from Chez Pim who has been touring Amish country lately

Are We Remembering to Retreat?

The Anchoress is working her fingers to the bone, or so it would seem to me, to give us five or six daily helpings of good material for contemplation.

I would start you off with a favorite but I honestly have gotten something great from each of them. So go do a little leisurely wandering through the great writing over there.

Well, I do have a favorite but it is a personal thing ... The Anchoress used Rose's presentation intended as a starting point for prayer in this post. Scroll to the bottom for the link. I watch it every few months and always find it a good reminder about Jeremiah and the fire inside.

Worth a Thousand Words

Wang Meng, The Simple Retreat
Click through on the link to read more about the artist at Lines and Colors.

God's Labyrinthine Ways Or Finding Joy in Unexpected Places

One of the things that I possibly have mentioned but not really dwelt upon is that one of God's great gifts to Tom and me have been friends. Many, many friends. Not that we were unlikable or anything but in today's increasingly busy and isolated world it was difficult to find friendships beyond the superficial ones of fellow "school parents."

What makes this extremely obvious in my mind is that one year we held Sunday Soup Suppers for several months. It was an open invitation, which I sent several times to a large group of people. We would have open house from 5:00-8:00 with a kettle of soup and accompanying breads and cheeses for any families who felt like dropping in. We weren't looking to become best friends with people but merely to deepen the acquaintances we already had. It was surprising how very few people took advantage of the offer. Those who did seemed to enjoy themselves, as did we, but it was clear that this was a concept that just didn't fit into the lifestyle of the people we knew. We chalked it up to experience and moved on, wondering how anyone can find a community these days.

However, once I participated in the Christ Renews His Parish (CRHP) retreat all that began to change. Not only did I have my fellow "team" members of about 20 women who I got to know very well, but the people from the teams before and after mine were now among those "nodding acquaintances." Naturally, I became very close with a few of these people but went past the mere acquaintance stage with many others. The truly delightful part of this is that I likely never would have encountered most of these women outside the CRHP experience at that time. Many of them were young and single. Even the older ones (yes, around my age) were those I'd never even seen, which is not really surprising in a big parish like ours. Tom found the same thing when he went through CRHP in the session after mine, and then again, when he participated in the "road team" that helped the Ennis church begin the retreat in their parish. We didn't go into it for the "community," for the friends, but it was an unexpected side benefit that has enriched our lives immeasurably. God is so efficient in that way. What a multi-tasker!

It was friends from CRHP who asked if we had any interest in helping to bring the Beyond Cana marriage enrichment retreat to our parish. We jumped at that chance for our own reasons (What marriage is so good it doesn't need enrichment? Answer: none). However, we soon were reaping the unexpected benefits of "community" and new friends once again in meeting couples that we likely never would met otherwise. As well, again we also were making scores of new acquaintances.

Whew!

Still with me? Because that's all background ... not even the main story (yes, it's one of those posts!).

Last night I had one of the most delightful encounters ever and was thinking back this morning to trace just how it came about. If I hadn't stopped to do that, the title of this would be something about how giving of yourself brings greater rewards than you can imagine. Also very true, but not the whole story as we shall see.

The Beyond Cana retreat ends on Sunday with everyone attending the 11:00 Mass together. On the way there, for a variety of reasons, primary among them that I was reading in the car (I know better than that but did it stop me? No!) I suddenly felt so terrible that I had Tom drop me off at the house. Both girls ministered very lovingly to me and after one dashed to the Central Market for pomegranate soda and quesadilla supplies, I began to mend. I recovered by afternoon and then faced the dreadful fact that I was going to have to attend the 7:30 Mass. There's nothing wrong with that Mass at all. It was my sheer laziness at not wanting to leave the house in the evening. However, Hannah was already going and I had no excuse not to, so there we were. Outside, she ran into my friend, Grace, who later emailed me about their conversation ... and took that opportunity to ask Tom and me to be the "married couple" for a panel discussion with some Boy Scouts for their Piux XII medal which is about vocations.

Well, who better suited to answer those questions on the fly than a couple who has helped to put on five marriage enrichment retreats? We agreed, not dreading it but not looking forward to it either. It was a way to help out these boys so that was fine, one more thing to put on our schedule and dutifully take care of.

We showed up for the panel and it was an agreeable way to spend the evening. The boys were intelligent and had some good questions (for which our Beyond Cana training was quite helpful in articulating the vocation of marriage). The other panel members clearly also were intelligent and well spoken. They had considered their vocations in terms of how they were living their lives and their faith. Especially interesting for me was when Brother Anthony, who will take his first vows in a couple of weeks as a Cistercian monk, responded about the difficulties and blessings about his vocation. He was not necessarily saying anything I hadn't heard anywhere else, but he had an inner passion and clarity that was riveting. Equally interesting, although much more meandering, was the friar who is a hospital chaplain and was much older. He had many good things to say about vocation as well, we just took a more scenic path getting there. And scenic is just fine. It makes life interesting.

The person I was most interested in hearing about, though, was Susan whose description was "transitional single." What the heck was a transitional single? Turns out that in this case, it is someone who focussed on career to the exclusion of considering marriage in the past, but now is open to the married life (if I have this right). She impressed me with her concise, well thought out, and complete answers.

Something that one of the panel moderators, my friend Grace, pointed out to the boys in concluding is that a common thread of everyone's conversation had been "community." That struck me as I had just been forcibly struck at Mass last Sunday by how many people I knew in the pews all around us. They were Beyond Cana couples, CRHP friends, and, yes, those "regulars" who always sit near us and who we now chat with occasionally due to long familiarity. How connected we were to community and how important it was in our lives. How good God is to bring us all together in worship to remind us that community, family, is a necessary joy.

After the panel was done and the cookies were being passed around, Susan approached Tom because she recognized his name as the person who prints out our parish newsletter, The Spirit. She mentioned that she is the new editor. I was instantly thrilled. For several years, that newsletter has devolved to the point of being a depository for out of date Girl Scout photos and the like. No one I knew read it at all. Then the June/July issue came out and I saw with delight that it had substantive articles, well written, and with depth that made me print it out to read. This was that person! Woohoo! (Go take a look at that issue in the sidebar for the link above ... we'll wait ... this woman is a brilliant writer who engaged me with St. Paul's life in the main article.)

She looked pleased and, as we began talking, I brought up a project I was working on that we could coordinate with each other. I gave her my card. Y'all will find this funny but my card has my phone number, email, the blogs, and my podcast. (Tom was tired of me constantly scribbling on the backs of old envelopes when I met people.) I was explaining away all the extraneous info and she asked about the podcast.

Then ... it happened.

I mentioned reading aloud China Court by Rumer Godden.

This was a hope beyond hope because no one I ever meet in person has ever heard of Rumer Godden. (It's a lonely world out there with just The Anchoress and me shoving Rumer Godden ... and Georgette Heyer ... in everyone's face all the time.) However, I am nothing if not loyal and stubborn so I still bring them up in conversation with people.

Her eyes widened, she smiled wider, and said, "Rumer Godden. She's so wonderful."

We sank into chairs and began talking books as fast as we possibly could.

We walked to our cars and still couldn't stop talking. One thing flowed into another, more connections were made, more similarities found. We finally tore ourselves away later into the evening. The one thing that we both made sure to do on the way out was to thank Grace for inviting us to be on the panel. In doing our duties by these Boy Scouts, and it must be noted, for our community, we had been given an extra gift that we would have otherwise missed. We don't even go to the same Mass. I barely recognized her as a lector from the few times we have gone to her regular Saturday Vigil Mass time.

It is such a wonderful thing when you "click" with a person in just a few minutes. Undeniably it is one of life's great pleasures. Something that leaves a smile on your face and your spirits high for long afterward. In a very real way, it is like falling in love ... that communion of souls that fills a gap we didn't know we had until then. What a surprise. What a joy.

And what a long route of coincidences it took to get me there. From CRHP ... to Beyond Cana retreats ... to feeling sick and attending a late mass ... to Hannah and Grace talking ... to Grace's need for married panel members. A long and winding road to be sure, in which this budding friendship is not the main point but surely one of the wonderful benefits along the way. Let me say it again ... God is so very efficient, such a multi-tasker. All for our good and, quite often, if we are open to it, for our joy.

These are the things that God has in store for us ... things that so often are beyond our imaginings ... things in which God knows we will delight and which He delights in giving. He is good. And I am grateful.

Days with My Father

Beautiful. Touching. Inspirational.

Real.

Take some time to admire the beautiful layout and photography, and most of all, the beautiful story of a father being told by his loving son.

Via Saint Superman.

Update: I also just saw the above blog being called perhaps the saddest blog I've ever read. Perhaps because I've lived with the idea of Alzheimer's for so long (my great-grandmother had it, my grandmother had it) that I've come to terms with the idea that it afflicts people the way it does? I looked at it as tribute from a son to his father, almost a celebration of the qualities he loves about his father, not the sadness of the father who often isn't (literally) himself.

In the News

A delegation of Episcopal priests from Fort Worth paid a visit to Catholic Bishop Kevin Vann earlier this summer, asking for guidance on how their highly conservative diocese might come into “full communion” with the Catholic Church.

Whether that portends a serious move to turn Fort Worth Episcopalians and their churches into Catholics and Catholic churches is a matter of dispute. The Rev. William Crary, senior rector of the Fort Worth diocese, confirmed that on June 16 he and three other priests met with Bishop Vann, leader of the Fort Worth Catholic diocese, and presented him a document that is highly critical of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

The document states that the overwhelming majority of Episcopal clergy in the Fort Worth diocese favor pursuing an “active plan” to bring the diocese into full communion with the Catholic Church. ...

I was pretty surprised to read the above story in The Dallas Morning News. For those of us who are interested, Get Religion tracks down the whole thing. Very interesting indeed!