Mother Feeding Her Twins in a Cornfield

Mother feeding her twins in a cornfield by Bertha Wegmann, c. 1900
Via J.R.'s Art Place

 I love the sweet looks on the mother's and baby's face. Bertha Wegmann captured that perfectly.

More Praise for Stay by Me, Dear Friend

Joseph Reninger at Zombie Parent's Guide wrote this very nice review at Goodreads.

One of the great challenges of being a Christian is developing your personal relationship with Christ. Like most other relationships, it takes time, commitment, and interest to make progress. The goal is not simply to know the other but to love the other. When people fall in love, they think about each other all the time and want to be together all the time. It's a crazy and wonderful time. That's the way we Christians should be with Jesus, though it is much more tricky because it is so different from a romantic relationship. And it is so much more important.

Julie Davis provides a lot of devotional material to get the reader into that state of intimate friendship with Jesus. This book has, on each page, one or two related quotes, a reflection, and a short prayer. Facing pages have related materials with a shared title over the two-page spread. The reader can read one page if time is short or both pages to get some more depth or different perspectives on the same idea. The format works very well and is not tied down to days of the week or of the year. In the introduction, Davis even encourages readers to jump around. Find something useful or eye-catching or inspiring. The book is divided loosely into sections for different times of day, showing how to be aware of Jesus throughout the day, being present to Him and talking with Him like a good friend. It reminds me of Fiddler on the Roof, where the main character Tevye has a very frank and familiar way of talking with the Lord, which he does throughout his day, asking for help with a problem or complaining about a misfortune or offering advice on how to handle a situation (yes, Tevye gives advice to God!). We could all be more like Tevye and this book helps.

Highly recommended--I read through it quickly to write the review but will use it as a devotional and go through it at the proper pace.

I have long enjoyed Zombie Parent's Guide which has a lot of good book and movie reviews. Be sure to swing by see what's going on.

In the meantime, pick up a copy of the Stay by Me, Dear Friend!

Pick it up at Amazon!

Julie and Scott would love to record a podcast this week, but there's a bridge that needs building.

 This week we're deep in the jungle talking in Episode 334 about The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Palm Trees Under Glass

Palm Trees Under Glass
photographed by Will Duquette
(All rights reserved)

Stunning, no? I've gotta say ... I miss LA.

Great First Line — Huckleberry Finn

You don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter.

Mark Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

He's right on both counts. But what a great, economical way to say "sequel" and also "this is completely different."

Great First Line — Blood Rites

The building was on fire and it wasn't my fault.

Blood Rites by Jim Butcher

Do you think he makes those sorts of huge mistakes? Or gets blamed for them a lot?

Avocet

Avocet by Remo Savisaar

Great First Line: Johnny and the Dead

Johnny never knew for certain why he started seeing the dead.

Johnny and the Dead by Terry Pratchett

A great first line from the Johnny Maxwell trilogy that almost no one has heard of or read. Except for me. Everyone go look for them and get reading!

Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums, Tudor St George Tucker

Notes on Mark: Matthew, the Tax Collector

Saint Matthew writing the Gospel
with an angel holding the volume,
an Islamic miniature c. 1530

MARK 2:13-14
Thinking of how we feel about the IRS, we can understand why Matthew was not well liked. Then add on the facts we see below, which is that tax collectors could line their own pockets with whatever they could get away with ... well, I feel the crowd's astonishment when Jesus calls Matthew to follow him.

Matthew was a well-hated man. Tax-gatherers can never be a popular section of the community, but in the ancient world they were hated. People never knew just how much they had to pay; the tax-collectors extracted from them as much as they could possibly get and lined their own pockets with the surplus that remained after the demands of the law had been met. Even a Greek writer like Lucian ranks tax-gatherers with "adulterers, panderers, flatterers and sycophants." Jesus wanted the man no one else wanted. He offered his friendship to the man whom all others would have scorned to call friend...

Of all the disciples Matthew gave up most. He literally left all to follow Jesus. Peter and Andrew, James and John could go back to the boats. There were always fish to catch and always the old trade to which to return; but Matthew burned his bridges completely...

The odd thing is that Matthew's reckless decision brought him the one thing he can least have been looking for -- it brought him immortal and world-wide fame. All men know the name of Matthew as one forever connected with the transmission of the story of Jesus.

The Gospel of Mark (The Daily Bible Series*, rev. ed.) by William Barclay

I'd like to note one other thing here. Mary Healy in The Gospel of Mark: Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture points out that although the Pharisees disapproved of Jesus, they questioned his disciples. Jesus answers because he overhears. Is this because they lack the courage to confront Jesus or because they are trying to shake the disciples' faith? An interesting point and one to consider when we ourselves are questioned similarly, as is all too common these days.

* Not a Catholic source and one which can have a wonky theology at times, but Barclay was renowned for his authority on life in ancient times and that information is sound, as are many of his general reflections.

 ===== 

Sources and Notes Index

Godzilla Minus One

POSTWAR JAPAN. FROM ZERO TO MINUS.

In postwar Japan, a new terror rises. Will the devastated people be able to survive… let alone fight back?

We loved this for a lot of reasons. It manages to combine the monster movie action thrills of a Hollywood-style movie with the introspection of the first Japanese Godzilla movie. The result is simply fantastic, something that keeps you on the edge of your seat with adventure and also looks at surviving the ultimate catastrophe of having your society, family and life collapse. 

This was especially interesting since it is set in post-WWII Japan so you are also getting the Japanese commentary on that whole situation. Along with the biggest monster to stomp a city.

Godzilla Minus One was unavailable since the first short theater run in America due to some Godzilla licensing agreement with the Hollywood movie makers. I was thrilled to hear it is now on Netflix since we'd figured it wouldn't be allowed here until 2025. Being suspicious of streaming agreements based on something so flimsy and stupid, we wasted no time in watching it. Do thou likewise!

Mom and Babies

 

From Traces of Texas, where we are told:

Baby possums have a gestation period of only 12-13 days. That's the shortest gestation period of any mammal in North America.

There's barely enough room for them to hang on!

Great First Line - Sky Coyote

You'll understand this story better if I tell you a lie.

Sky Coyote by Kage Baker

That tells you right there what the main character is like and the way the story is going to work. Of course, Coyote is a trickster character in Native American folklore so this works perfect.y

A Parrot Ara macao

A parrot Ara macao, Edward Lear

I always think of Lear's nonsense poetry and when I am reminded that he was an accomplished artist, it delights me all over again.

Haven't heard of Edward Lear at all? Here's the poem that comes to mind when I think of him.

There was an Old Man with a beard,
Who said, "It is just as I feared!--
Two Owls and a Hen,
Four Larks and a Wren,
Have all built their nests in my beard!"

Great First Line - Chinaman's Chance

The pretender to the Emperor's throne was a fat thirty-seven-year-old Chinaman called Artie Wu who always jogged along Malibu Beach right after dawn even in summer, when dawn came round as early as 4:42.

Chinaman's Chance by Ross Thomas

The beginning of a great book full of scoundrels, villains, double-crossing, and a really twisty, fun plot ... just like all Ross Thomas books.

The Artist in His Museum

Charles Willson Peale (1741 - 1827), The Artist in His Museum , 1822

Via Idle Speculations where you may read more about the artist and museums.

Worshiping Idols

The ancient pagans, men who were highly civilized for the age in which they lived, invented idols for themselves and found different ways of adoring them. Many civilized men of our day -- new pagans -- raise up idols which are still better constructed and more sophisticated. In our day there seems to be real adoration and idolatry for everything that makes its appearance in the name of progress or that provides yet more material well-being, pleasure or comfort ... It seems that man also completely forgets the fact that he is a spiritual being destined for eternal life. Those words of Saint Paul ... are all too topical. Their God is the belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things (Phil 3:19). It is the modern idolatry that tempts Christians who no longer give any thought to the immense treasure of their faith or the great richness of the love of God.

Francis Fernandez, In Conversation With God Vol 3

It seem that this is a universal problem that applies to every age as I look all around, including in the mirror, and see this tendency everywhere.

Portrait of Rosalind Russell

Portrait of Rosalind Russell. Nicolai Fechin (Russian-American, 1881-1955).
Oil on canvas. Acquired directly from the artist by Mary Pickford.
Via Books and Art

Great First Lines: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death-cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.

Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Great first lines from a mystery/horror novel that I haven't read in way too long a time.

Fukagawa Susaki and Jūmantsubo

Hiroshige (1797–1858), One Hundred Famous Views of Edo #107,
"Fukagawa Susaki and Jūmantsubo"
Via Wikipedia

I love the perspective given with the bird of prey descending in the foreground while we look past it to the landscape and defining mountain beyond.