Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

It was a pleasure for Julie and Scott not to burn any books during the recording of A Good Story is Hard to Find podcast. Go listen before someone else pulls out the flame thrower.

In Search of London ...

... in which we discover that there's more to London than meets the eye. Pick it up at Forgotten Classics.

Think always of me ...

I die in the Catholic Apostolic and Roman religion, that of my fathers, that in which I was brought up, and which I have always professed. Having no spiritual consolation to look for, not even knowing whether there are still in this place any priests of that religion (and indeed the place where I am would expose them to too much danger if they were to enter it but once), I sincerely implore pardon of God for all the faults which I may have committed during my life. I trust that, in His goodness, He will mercifully accept my last prayers, as well as those which I have for a long time addressed to Him, to receive my soul into His mercy. I beg pardon of all whom I know, and especially of you, my sister, for all the vexations which, without intending it, I may have caused you. I pardon all my enemies the evils that they have done me. I bid farewell to my aunts and to all my brothers and sisters. I had friends. The idea of being forever separated from them and from all their troubles is one of the greatest sorrows that I suffer in dying. Let them at least know that to my latest moment I thought of them.

Farewell, my good and tender sister. May this letter reach you. Think always of me...

From Marie Antoinette's letter to her sister-in-law, written eight hours before she was beheaded, found at Letters of Note. It is touching and worth reading.

The Mystery of the Hopping Cardinal

Walking through the neighborhood this morning, my eye was caught by a young male Cardinal that landed in the grass not too far away.

He was obviously a juvenile, being slim and fairly small, but with a bright red color that contrasted wonderfully with the vivid green grass.

He looked around cautiously and then gave a great hop forward. Again, he looked around and another great hop. The third time this happened I thought, "What is going on?"

Via Wikipedia

There was a grasshopper just ahead of the bird, as it turns out. Every time it gave a hop so would the cardinal. Since I was standing and watching, all the nearby birds got quiet. Except for one chirp from overhead in a tree. I couldn't see the bird but I wondered if that was mama calling.

Sure enough, that little guy caught his hopper and flew up to the roof. Bam -- the other bird landed near him. Significantly larger, but definitely female, this had to be mom. She surveyed him as he gulped.

I rarely get to see those sorts of scenes acted out in nature so it was a real treat.

An Old Classic Still Has Power to Surprise: Heidi by Joanna Spyri

Heidi by Johanna Spyri

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I came across this when perusing Semicolon's list of 55 Free Kindle Books Worth Reading. I don't know why Heidi appealed to me at that moment but I remember loving the book when I was a child and reading it many times. I began reading it this weekend just to get a taste of the classic I loved, but had no intention of reading all the way through. Imagine my surprise to find myself hooked and when the story was about 25% through, saying to myself, "What else is there to it? Isn't this most of the story?" As I went on, I remembered that the story was more complex than I remembered.

Briefly, for the handful of people who haven't any idea of the story, Heidi is a Swiss children's classic about a five year old orphan, Heidi, who is left with her grandfather, the Alm Uncle, in his isolated hut high in the Alps. Heidi's adventures with her grandfather, Peter the goatherd, the goats themselves, and the mountains (which are a definite character in the book) are just the beginning of the story. When she is suddenly swept away to the big city, how will Heidi adapt? What will happen to those left behind who have come to depend on her sunny personality? And so forth and so on. This is a much more compelling story than I am making it sound, albeit with a nice touch of Victorian moralizing about learning to read, how hard work never hurt anyone, etc.

That leads us to the second surprising thing: about half to two-thirds of the way through, with the introduction of Clara's grandmother, there was also an introduction of God into advice and conversation about how Heidi should live. It was done in a very natural way but I didn't remember it at all. Neither did I remember how Heidi took her personal experiences with God and passed them on to others who then put them to good use.

Something this made clear to me is that atheists who worry about exposing their kids to Christian novels shouldn't fret. Raised by atheists who just didn't think religion was worth discussing, I remember talking with my mother about the details we both loved in the book. Evidently the God-talk just passed right by me as particular to the characters but not something that I was interested in at all. (God had to wait for the right moment which was 20 or 30 years later.) I did vaguely recall that the grandmother (Peter's, not Clara's) was mightily attached to her hymns but that also was a vagary I applied to her personality (or old people, possibly?) and not something which mattered to me.

I think this also applies to a lot of things that people worry about their kids being exposed to. My twenty-something girls still talk about the shock they experienced rewatching The Little Mermaid a few years ago and hearing the double entendres in Ursula's song. They accused us of exposing them to wanton behavior. We laughed at them because why would they be so shocked if they understood it in the first place? Likewise this applies to why kids love Coraline by Neil Gaiman from the first page while adults often take a while to warm up to it (guilty as charged).

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Definitely the influences we expose our children to should be age appropriate, but we can relax a little about a lot of the specifics.

Keeping the Sabbath in Modern Times

I was listening to Heather Ordover's wonderful commentary on Gulliver's Travels (which comes with audio of the book specially recorded for us, y'all). In this particular episode of Just the Books, she mentioned a New York Times article about a good way to be able to fully enjoy vacation. It is to "practice" turning off electronic devices and taking a day to rest every week (as far as I gathered). Essentially, let's keep the Sabbath (secular style) everyone!

Heather and her husband have been working gradually in that direction and resolved to turn off electronic devices and do activities with their children that they wouldn't normally do during the week ... on Saturday for them because they are Jewish.

Love it!

You know that I have struggled to try to keep the Sabbath holy. It can be tough, especially at first, but as time has gone by I have found it becoming an easier habit and an almost unconscious practice. I fully realized this on the 4th of July when I was deliberately not turning on my computer or iPod. And then I said, "Self, this isn't Sunday, it's ok."

But you know what?

That made it less of a "special day" so I went ahead with my Sabbath-style "no electronics rule." I did have to work preparing holiday food, but it was special food work and so also contributed to the holiday mood. That is how I tend to treat Saturday, as a matter of fact ... fewer electronics, more time for weekend cleaning and cooking and books and things.

Here's the email I sent to Heather, who is used to getting my emails when I'm all excited. It's my on-the-fly version of our journey to keeping the Sabbath holy.

Anyway, I think I've already mentioned that we try to "keep the Sabbath" also? For about a year or so, I'd say. It began because of a book [The Power of Pause by Terry Hershey - my review here] that was loosely tied to spiritual practices and the point that keeping the third commandment (not a request, but a commandment) comes above honoring your father and mother as well as above "thou shalt not murder."

Darn it.

Partway into it, I then read Rabbi Heschel's amazing book, The Sabbath, which was partly above my head but most of it was amazing and brought me to that understanding that the "lounging around, wasting time, turning off devices, just hanging with our loved ones" is what life IS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE ALL THE TIME.

Of course, I say this as a Catholic ... the younger brothers of our elder brothers, the Hebrew people ... but seriously. If we are to love God and then to just have a blast hanging out, essentially loving each other too? C'mon. That's a bit of Heaven on earth.

Though I have to make my Saturdays super-full to get it to work, that's ok (and that's also why I have to quit typing soon) ... it is so worth it.

Now I feel as if I'm cheating to turn on the computer, iPod, etc. So I don't. And it is lovely. We visit Tom's mom, we talk to Rose on video Skype, Hannah comes over and we have cocktails, a meal, and a movie ...of course, we go to Mass ... and you know, when you have a whole day with "nothing to do" then you can focus on Mass because you're not
busy making that mental list of what else to do the second you get out the door.

Of course, it is not always like that. But our rule of not doing something that can be checked off a list is one that works. And it makes it like a little vacation every week.

I'll add that I was already being influenced as well by a bulletin insert I wrote about the third commandment (yes God uses everything to get my attention).

Weekend Joke - Knights

From the brilliant xkcd.

BBQ Chicken Pizza and Fahrenheit 451

No, that's not the temperature I want you to cook the pizza at.

BBQ Chicken Pizza is at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

While you're fixing it, you can listen to my sample of Fahrenheit 451, at bit of lagniappe at Forgotten Classics.

Kenyan Muslim youth will provide a vigilante service to the Christian churches

Mr Wachu said that at a meeting the Inter-Religious Council of Kenya on Tuesday it was unanimously agreed the church attacks were acts of "terrorists and terrorism".

"Therefore we all resolved to stand together as one united front," he said.

"We decided as solidarity that the Muslim youth will provide a vigilante service to the churches not only in Garissa but in any other places that the Christians may deem fit."

He said that it was now up to the Muslim leaders in Garissa to organise out how the estimated 30 churches in the town would be protected.

"Muslims felt that because those Christians are a minority in their domain they must be protected at all cost."

Get the whole story here (via Deason's Bench). God bless them.

Venus is occupied by bathing beauties who need Earthmen to fend off the vicious space-dinosaurs ...

(1) Space colonization not only is possible, but Venus is occupied by bathing beauties who need Earthmen to fend off the vicious space-dinosaurs, and Mars is occupied by Amazonian nudists who lounge about the dead sea bottoms and in the jeweled, deserted, antique cities, yearning for Earthman love. For some reason, these advanced alien societies all prefer to use swords rather than firearms;

There are few things more entertaining than John C. Wright in a scientific debate. The Space Princess Equation, for example, proves my point.

Nothing + gravity + time = Leonardo da Vinci

Strange Herring wrestles with the God-Particle question and shows just one of the reasons I love reading it.

Garlic-Glazed Chicken Pizza

Oh, so good ... and, despite the length of the instructions, simple ... get it at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

The Casual Vacancy - J.K. Rowling

When Barry Fairbrother dies in his early forties, the town of Pagford is left in shock.

Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity, and unexpected revelations?

A big novel about a small town, The Casual Vacancy is J. K. Rowling’s first novel for adults. It is the work of a storyteller like no other.

I hadn't seen the plot summary before. I'm not sure what I expected Rowling's book for adults to be about, but this is not the sort of thing I expected. It does look like the sort of book I enjoy though so my hopes are cautiously rising.

The Liberty to Do What We Ought, Fortnight for Freedom, day 13

The quality we Americans most cherish is liberty. It is here that we Christians, while patriots, often find ourselves restless. Not that we are not grateful for our freedom – you bet we are! But we admit that too often liberty has been misinterpreted to mean license. No one articulated this apprehension better than Pope John Paul II, who taught, “genuine freedom is not the right to do whatever we want, but the liberty to do what we ought.” So, our American freedom is not a “cutting loose” from God, morality, virtue, or responsibility, but a bracing impetus to carry out the duties that are ingrained deep in our soul.

Cardinal Dolan's latest post says it perfectly, so go read the whole thing.

=====================

Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us
Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us
St. Monica, pray for us
St. Augustine, pray for us
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us

Passionate Knitters Force Olympics Apology: "we would again like to apologize to the members of the Ravelry community..."

In case you hadn't heard, the US Olympic Committee came down hard on knitting site Ravelry's "Ravelympics," threatening a lawsuit and in general throwing their weight around.

We believe using the name "Ravelympics" for a competition that involves an afghan marathon, scarf hockey and sweater triathlon, among others, tends to denigrate the true nature of the Olympic Games. In a sense, it is disrespectful to our country's finest athletes and fails to recognize or appreciate their hard work.

They didn't expect the public outcry that resulted. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say, they didn't know how many passionate knitters and spinners would take their displeasure straight to the USOC. The USOC is maintaining their right to the Olympic name, however, they are being conciliatory.

As a follow-up to our previous statement on this subject, we would again like to apologize to the members of the Ravelry community. While we stand by our obligation to protect the marks and terms associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Movements in the United States, we sincerely regret the use of insensitive terms in relation to the actions of a group that was clearly not intending to denigrate or disrespect the Olympic Movement. We hope you’ll accept this apology and continue to support the Olympic Games. ...

Mason-Dixon Knitting haven't taken this lying down and before the apology, they began their own offensive ... the knitterly way, using hand knit socks as incentive for Stephen Colbert to publicize the battle.

The whole thing reminded me of one of Stephen Colbert's "PEOPLE WHO ARE DESTROYING AMERICA" segments. You know, where he exposes the deep damage done to the social fabric and the Values We Hold Dear that is being done by, say, a lady who wants to air-dry her laundry to save energy, in a community that has a strict rule against clotheslines.

Stephen Colbert needs to expose this travesty! He needs to protect the pure and noble Olympics from tarnishment by association with millions of handknitters watching the games this summer.

In an optimistic but not too strenuous effort to make this happen, I tweeted Mr. Colbert. (He is @StephenAtHome on Twitter.) I went so far as to promise him that if he did a piece on the Knitters Who Are Destroying the Olympics, there would be a little something in it for him: a lifetime supply of handknit socks.

Of course, there are now 573 knitters in the Socks for Stephen Ravelry group knitting as fast as they can. I see that the apology did nothing to slow the knitting down. See, when these knitters begin a project, they do not stop until they are done.

This is much more amusing than watching the actual Olympics. When I read the original USOC complaint letter my first reaction was that the Olympics are not what they used to be back before they began allowing professional athletes to compete against the amateur ones. After that happened I lost most of my interest in the Olympics.

So for the USOC to complain about a lot of enthusiastic people organizing their days and evenings so they could knit along with the Olympics ... it just showed they don't get it. At all.

Summertime and Corn Salad is Easy

Or so my mother tells me. A recipe that has everyone begging for more ... at Meanwhile, Back in the Kitchen.

Gloria Purvis, Fortnight for Freedom, day 12

Gloria Purvis is so articulate, reasoned, and intelligent that I am letting her speak for us today.

=====================

Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us
Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us
St. Monica, pray for us
St. Augustine, pray for us
St. Teresa of Avila, pray for us

Cowboys and Aliens ...

We watched Cowboys and Aliens this weekend. Once again, Tom said, "Why are the critics so hard to please?"

It was basically a straight-forward Western, albeit with aliens standing in for surly prospectors invading the area and terrorizing the locals. (Extremely small spoiler follows). And there's a gold rush.

Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford step up and stop them.

I saw some critics complained about the lack of humor, but many a good Western has not been humorous. It wasn't perfect, but it didn't have to be. It was a perfectly serviceable Western. We recommend it.

We particularly enjoyed the fact that Harrison Ford's character was the one that experienced marked growth. Not only was it good to see him in a decent part, but interesting that Daniel Craig wasn't given all the attention.

Ladies, I celebrate the costumer who fitted Daniel Craig's duds. Truly, you will not find your time wasted if you enjoy a fine figure of a man.

An Enchanting New "Classic" Fairy Story: The Hidden Princess by Stephanie Angelini

The Hidden Princess by Stephanie Angelini

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A thousand days walk from here, all made in lefts, there was some time ago a young kingdom and a younger King. Even the mountains of the kingdom were young -- sharp and callow and reaching, with a forest thick and thieves and rock upon rock falling over into the sea.

The people were as simple as the salt they did without and the young King was not far behind. While the people toiled to squeeze their life from the stony earth, his majesty spilled the blood of the mountains. Animals of every kind, shy and quick, hid in the trees and streams, the rocks and boulders, the cliffs and crags. These were the meat of the royal table and it was often put there by royal hands.

One day the King went hunting, as he often did, alone and on foot. As he walked, he came across a man sitting near a stone ledge with a strange tool in his hand. Coming closer, the tall, straight King cast a shadow on the bent, old man, who squinted and said nothing. ...

The Hidden Princess is that most unexpected of things ... a modern fairy tale that is beautiful, evocative of "classic" fairy stories, and riveting.

The language is beautifully chosen as you can see. What you cannot tell is that The Hidden Princess hews to standard fairy story convention in such a way that you almost think you recognize it (Is it Sleeping Beauty? No! Wait, maybe it is Snow White). It then turns a corner and becomes once again its own tale, until it again hews close to almost recognizable territory.

Because it is a fairy tale and, because we all know the fairy tale conventions, we are fairly sure where this story will end, but the getting there is such a treat that it is difficult to stop reading. I literally kept reading "just one more page" so that I was continually late all day when I read this. When I finished, I went to the beginning and began reading again, which is the sure test of a tale well told.

At this time, The Hidden Princess is available only as an ebook but it deserves to be in print with beautiful illustrations like those by Arthur Rackham or Heidi Holder.

Highly recommended.

Christ in Three-Space, Fortnight for Freedom, day 11

I realized during one of the quiet meditative bits that I could still be praying. The trouble was that I hadn’t memorized very many prayers, and St. Patrick’s Breastplate was not one of them. But I figured, I might not know the litany accurately, but I know the general form. ”Christ in one place, Christ in a diametrically opposed place.” That’s how I ended up praying something like this:

Christ above me, Christ below me,
Christ within me, Christ beside me,
Christ when I rise up, and Christ when I lie down,
Christ in three-space, Christ in tiny rolled up dimensions where gravity lives

I figured that was probably ok, as it’s totally what St. Patrick would have written if he’d been able to share in the delight of God’s creation through theoretical physics.

Leah Libresco's been up to Math-Related Prayer Hijinks. I say, preach it sister! He is everywhere and at the same time we are held in the palm of His hand. If that isn't using theoretical physics, I don't know what is.

Let us pray: for our country, to change hearts, and for those living where taking your faith seriously means taking your life in your hands ...

Prayer for Religious Liberty

Almighty God, Father of all nations,
for freedom you have set us free in Christ Jesus (Gal 5:1).

We praise and bless you for the gift of religious liberty,
the foundation of human rights, justice and the common good.

Grant to our leaders the wisdom to protect
and promote our liberties.

By your grace may we have the courage to defend them,
for ourselves and for all those who live in this blessed land.

We ask this through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, our patroness,
and in the name of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, with whom you live and reign,
one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

St. Thomas More, pray for us
St. John Fisher, pray for us
St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us
Bl. Miguel Pro, pray for us
Venerable Fulton Sheen, pray for us