the back view

 Moses said, "Show me your glory, I pray." And he [God] said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, 'The Lord'; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But", he said, "you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.....you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen."

                                        Exodus 33: 18, 19, 20, 23b

"God indeed can be seen in this life, but only indirectly, through his creatures and effects. We can understand him to a degree, but only obliquely, glimpsing him, as it were, out of the corners of our eyes. We see his "back" as it is disclosed in the beauty, the intelligibility, and the contingency of the world that he has made."

                                                             -  Bishop Robert Barron

"Shall I tell the secret of the whole world? It is that we have only known the back of the world. We see everything from behind, and it looks brutal. That is not a tree, but the back of a tree. That is not a cloud, but the back of a cloud. Cannot you see that everything is stooping and hiding a face? If we could only get round in front."

                                               -   G.K. Chesterton

looking for answers

 

I forgot a book which belongs in this pile - Silence and Honey Cakes, written by Rowan Williams. I'm liking it WAY more than I expected to. 

Monastery and High Cross is about something which may surprise you. From the back cover:

"It is a little-known fact that there were Christians in Ireland before St. Patrick. In 2006, an astonishing discovery was made in Ireland. Found by accident in a peat bog [of course, a peat bog - where else?] was an early medieval Irish manuscript with Egyptian papyrus in the binding of the manuscript? How did that get there?"

How, indeed? Connie Marshner, the author, will tell me how. 

My brother called to me this morning: Come quickly with your camera - there's a woodchuck eating a carrot!

He was right near the house, close to the bird feeder. We are still throwing carrots outside for the rabbits some nights, and I'd just been wondering who else would eat a carrot.

He was a good-sized one.

These creatures are also called groundhogs. They don't ever chuck wood, that I know of. 

How much wood
Would a woodchuck chuck
If a woodchuck
Could chuck
Wood?

puddles and puzzles

 It rained all day, and everything is puddled. It was a winter rain, it couldn't be described as a spring shower, at all. But I used the oven and made chicken tetrazzini, to warm us up.

The crabapple tree is full of crabapples - I don't know what to do about it. They should have been eaten, or fallen down, right? In a month, these trees should be blooming, and will the fruits get in the way? Will they cause a problem. I'll have to go outside and examine it up close. Did they go bad? We'll have to find out.

And on the subject of trees, our young kousa dogwood seems to have the bark gone near the bottom part - we assume it's our rabbit neighbors, since they're known to eat tender bark in the winter. We'll see how that tree does, if it can continue without the bark. Also, my brother says they chewed his blueberry bushes down to the nub. Live and learn. We enjoy our rabbit friends, and we'll work on ways to live together. 

flicker at the feeder

From this morning's reading, on John 13:34 -

"God is love. God is self-emptying on behalf of the other. But this means paradoxically that to have God is to be what God is - and that means giving one's life away.

Now we see the link between joy and commandments; I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. And now we begin to understand the laws, commands, and demands of the Church. All are designed to make us more adept at love, at giving ourselves away. Don't steal; don't kill; don't covet your neighbor's goods or wife; honor your mother and father, worship God. All of these commands - positive and negative - are meant to awaken love and make it possible."

                                -  Bishop Robert Barron

"what our Lenten journey is for"

 "It's worth reflecting on the idea that certain things and certain things only have been 'assigned to our brush', given us to work with, know and describe. It reminds me strongly of the Prayer Book petition that we should 'do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in'. Most of us are under pressure, external and internal, to do everything, be good at everything, be accountable to everyone for everything! It is not so. In the divine economy each of us has a particular grace, gift and devotion. Finding out what that is, and learning how to be guilt-free about not doing everything else, may be part of what our Lenten journey is for."*

                                       -  Malcolm Guite, The Word in the Wilderness, Sunday, 3rd week of Lent

*The emphasis is mine.

creature discomforts

 Daisy knocked one of the kitchen curtains on the floor -

There is one squirrel who isn't baffled by the - well, the squirrel baffle.

Clever fellow.

On another note, Annie chased a crumpled paper and brought it back to me seven times, and the daffodils are getting ready to appear.

an Irish poem

 and a very well-known one, for St. Patrick's Day.

The Song of Wandering Aengus

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:

It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;

And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

-  William Butler Yeats

This poem is the basis for a meditation in Malcolm Guite's book of Lenten poetry, "The Word in the Wilderness". He says:

"We may go on pilgrimage, or wander in the wilderness in pursuit of a vision, but it is also usually the glimpse of a vision, the apprehension of 'something more', the half-heard voice, that seems to call to us in the first place and start us on our journey. ..For Yeats, Aengus represents perhaps not just the poet but every questing soul, and he is the one who retains his vision in spite of never, in this life, having it completely fulfilled. ..For every Christian, there is both a first vision and an unfulfilled 'not yet', and we must all say, in the words of another Irishman also indebted to Yeats, 'I still haven't found what I'm looking for.' ..The poet who thinks he has caught a trout has himself been caught, and will be drawn for the rest of his life on a line of desire and longing. 'And someone called me by my name.' For that is indeed the theme of this poem. Here we come to the heart meaning of the word 'vocation.' A vocation is a calling, and to have a Christian vocation is to have been called, called by name. The Lord of life and love calls us into being, calls us out of darkness into light, and calls us, personally, to turn and begin our lives anew in him."

                                                         -  Malcolm Guite, The Word in the Wilderness

on the horizon

 "Down through the centuries and generations it has been seen that in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace. .To this grace...many saints owe their conversion. A result of such a conversion is ...that he becomes a completely new person. He discovers a new dimension, as it were, of his entire life and vocation. When this body is gravely ill, totally incapacitated, and the person is almost incapable of living and acting, all the more do interior maturity and spiritual greatness become evident, constituting a touching lesson to those who are healthy and normal. 

To the suffering brother or sister Christ discloses and gradually reveals the horizons of the kingdom of God: the horizons of a world converted to the Creator, of a world free from sin, a world being built on the saving power of love."

                                                            -  Pope John Paul II

"He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself."

                                               St. Paul's letter to the Philippians, chapter 3 verse 21

a happy accident

 There were some cranberries in the freezer which I decided to use up, and looking through my pinterest recipes, I found a cranberry bread with orange juice in it - sounded good. I mixed it up, but then noticed it looked funny in the oven; it didn't rise up the way it was supposed to, and I knew I hadn't forgotten the baking powder. Well, it turns out I'd put in one cup of flour instead of two. What a waste! I picked at it, thinking I'd have to chuck it when it cooled, and I was suddenly reminded of what my mother used to refer to as cottage pudding. But it was getting late, so I stuck it in the fridge. That was days ago.

Today I pulled it out, and while I pondered the situation, I had another bite - it really was pretty good. More dense and moist than regular cake, but nice and tart from the cranberries and OJ. I cut it into thick pieces and put it in the freezer. And, just like that, I know what's for Easter dessert! All it needs is a sauce of some sort - maybe I'll splurge on lemon curd.

pins and providence

"You 'flee' to the desert not to escape neighbors but to grasp more fully what the neighbor is - the way of life for you, to the degree that you put yourself at their disposal in connecting them with God."

                                      -  Rowan Williams, Silence and Honey Cakes

 I've been looking at the grass - it's brown everywhere. But when I stare at it, I notice that it is turning. It wants to turn green! Meanwhile, the month is half over and it hasn't been bad, just some wild wind now and again. There was a blizzard, but it wasn't here.

I always feel discombobulated after going out in the middle of the day. Like I've lost my tempo, have to regroup. But I managed to change the sheets, do the laundry, wash dishes, iron, provide some supper - and do some reading. A minimum.

"'What does providence mean?' asked Meg.

'Good management,' said Lucilla. 'It's also a name we give to God when His management is not what ours would have been under the circumstances.'"

                             -  from The Heart of the Home, by Eliz. Goudge

I cut out the pieces for my next skirt, but realized I should iron it before anything else. It was beautiful out, and I am weeding wintery sweaters from my closet, one by one. Last month was very cold, and the library was especially chilly for some reason - I discovered that revived a few shawls which have languished for years in drawers and the closet. But I was needing a shawl pin, so I found a few on Amazon and wore one as a pin the other day.

A bird on a branch - nice and springy.

home again

"We were made for home, and one of the first commands God gave the people newly created in his image was simply to rule and subdue (order) the good earth that was their home. .. One of the first consequences of sin and suffering in the world was the loss of belonging, the loss of the precious place for which humanity was created. It was the loss of home, and to be wanderers in the vast and distorted world was the essence of what it meant to be separated from God. ...However, when Christ came, ...the Spirit of God walked abroad in human flesh, and where Jesus went, heaven was. Where Jesus went, the cosmos was reclaimed for love. Where Jesus went, people were fed and bodies were healed and creation made whole. Where Jesus was, the earth seemed to be made a home again."

                                                 
                                                                -  Sarah Clarkson, This Beautiful Truth

something to chew on

 I keep saying the wind is howling, but it keeps howling. So, what else is there to say? It's absolutely pointless to plan any outside activity - the wind would be working against you. It seems to have caused havoc in Boston. 

On the coldest nights, my brother threw carrot chunks out near the bird feeder. He did this after we saw a rabbit eating bird seed while frozen snow was on the ground. I told him that, since vegetables contain so much water, they would freeze and be too hard to eat - not so. The rabbits came along and chewed them happily. They'd come right after dark, stay and chew for a while, then disappear. Only to return the next time we looked out. They seem to stay up all night doing this, coming and going, snacking. After a couple of nights, two opossums were there, getting bird seed from the ground. That went on for a couple of days, and then a very large raccoon appeared, looking like he was hunting for grubs. And I haven't seen a rabbit since. But they are taking the carrots, so I suppose they're being more careful. A raccoon is a sometime predator of rabbits.

I bought some rayon for another skirt

The green is a bit greener than this, but still a soft shade.

Since I got Malcolm Guite's The Word in the Wilderness: a Poem a Day for Lent and Easter, I use it, and so far haven't tired of it. The sonnet for today has to do with the devil's second tempation of Jesus in the desert wilderness. 

All the Kingdoms of the World

So here's the deal and this is what you get:
The penthouse suite with world-commanding views,
The banker's bonus and the private jet,
Control and ownership of all the news,
An 'in' to that exclusive one per cent,
Who know the score, who really run the show,
With interest on every penny lent
And sweeteners for cronies in the know.
A straight arrangement between me and you,
No hell below or heaven high above,
You just admit it, and give me my due,
And wake up from this foolish dream of love...
But Jesus laughed, 'You are not what you seem.
Love is the waking life, you are the dream.'

- Malcolm Guite

"Then the devil led him and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, 'To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.'"

-  Luke 4:5-7

we have today

 I slept with my window open last night. It didn't get below fifty, although the wind was forceful and there was rain. It actually got up to sixty two today, for a while. Now the wind is blowing like crazy again, and colder air is coming back - this is normal for March. But the warm spells are so enticing.

I finished my skirt the other day, and got the waistband just right, thankfully. I used elastic, since this fabric is a knit - a zipper wasn't necessary. I am not going to hem it. Knits don't fray, and I'd rather not add bulk to the bottom by turning it under - I don't think anybody is going to notice. So today I took the leftover and walked around the house with it to see if the colors would look nice anywhere. The spare bedroom has a small pillow which needs a cover, and the velvet was pretty with the bedspread, so I haphazardly made a zippered cover. 

That background color was advertised as brown, but it's dark red to me - at least, a reddish brown. But at least I found a use for some of the leftover. 

I noticed this on the back cover of Plough's winter issue:

"Someday, all of us will spend our lives in our own school, the world. And education - in the sense of learning to love, to grow, to change - can become not the woeful preparation for some job that makes us less than we could be but the very essence, the joyful whole of existence itself."

                                -   Marshall McLuhan

I never look on back covers. 

It's Lent again.

"Faith is a strange thing. In our little church one feels it strong and firm among the farm people and the retired people and the city week-enders who have been able to stagger out for service. To lose faith in the ultimate good in life is to lose life, I thought, as I came down the steep ancient steps of the little white building. The world news may be especially grim, disaster strikes in a home, any one of the ills flesh is heir to may strike us, and it becomes easy to give up. And yet the gathering together of people to pray and worship God, according to their choice of church, whatever it be, is a strong bulwark against defeat and despair.

The very act of saying, 'I believe,' is a renewal of faith. As for the world, it has been in a parlous state so long that there is no sense in worrying about the future. It is better, I think, to go on believing in goodness and beauty and truth and in God, no matter how we define these terms each of us for ourselves.

And better to live a day at a time. This is a hard task, often, for we tend to keep going or the past and trying to live it over again or looking ahead and uselessly trying to forecast tomorrow and next week and next year. But somebody has said all the time we really have is the NOW. We have today. 

Try to use this day well, that is about the sum of it."

                                                                 -  Gladys Taber

Scottish oatmeal - is it really a thing?

 I saw this at the supermarket - Scottish oatmeal. 

Can you see how finely ground it is? Not as fine as flour, but finer than any oats I ever saw. Do the Scots really eat this for breakfast? It must be very mushy; I feel skeptical. But I bought a bag.

It wasn't cheap, but I was so curious about it. I've been putting it into meatballs and meatloaf in lieu of breadcrumbs, and it's perfect for that! But after this bag is done, I'll grind my own.

living in dangerous times

 "Why, as you would have lived in the sixteenth century when the plague visited London almost every year, or as you would have lived in a Viking age when raiders from Scandinavia might land and cut your throat at night.... The first action to take is to pull ourselves together. If we are all going to be destroyed by an atomic bomb, let that bomb come when it comes find us doing sensible and human things - praying, working, teaching, reading, listening to music, bathing the children, playing tennis, chatting to our friends over a pint and a game of darts - not huddled together like frightened sheep and thinking about bombs. They may break our bodies (a microbe can do that) but they need not dominate our minds."

                                                       -    C.S. Lewis, On Living in an Atomic Age

The clouds of judgment gather,
The time is growing late;
Be sober and be watchful;
Our Judge is at the gate:
The Judge who comes in mercy,
The Judge who comes in might
To put an end to evil
And diadem the right.

- Bernard of Morlaix, 12th century

hello, March

This morning I thought March was coming in like a lamb, but there are twenty-four hours in a day, and by mid-afternoon the wind was roaring, the clouds rolled in and it's supposed to be twenty-nine degrees by nine o'clock. That's a lion. That is March in New England. I couldn't believe how mild it was earlier - sixty-two degrees - and the cats and I really enjoyed the open windows, but I wore boots to the supermarket, because snow was predicted for late afternoon. It didn't happen.

I was reading a substack post today, and the person quoted a paragraph from a Mary Oliver poem. One line caught my fancy:

"In March, the earth remembers its own name."

Yes, the earth around here is waking up. But not tomorrow; it's going to be in the twenties, and tonight my brother threw out some carrot chunks for the rabbits; they do come!

this squirrel stayed still here for so long, I wondered if he was all right

the road

 “O Lord, as we travel through this day of our life, our strength is in you; in our hearts are the roads to our eternal destination, the place where you dwell for ever with your people in joy and in peace. Sustain us as we pass through the bitter valleys of suffering; shield us as dangers threaten; let us rejoice in the springs of living water that refresh us on our way; and keep us faithful until journey’s end, through Christ our Lord. Amen.” 

                                           -  from Magnificat, February 2025

Happy Birthday, George Washington!

 I've always wanted to make a cherry pie on George Washington's birthday. I cannot tell a lie - today I did it. 

repeats

 I cut out the front and back pieces for the skirt today; I have to think about the casing for the elastic - I'm not going to fold over the top, but make a separate piece for that. It's a very pretty polyester velvet with a large floral. I sewed the side seams and was walking by a print on my wall. I got it at Goodwill; it's a bowl of flowers, mostly shades of pale to deep rose pink. The background is rather neutral, even the leaves. I realized my fabric looked a lot like this painting.

sorry about the glare

It's not easy to photograph shiny things, I've noticed. Since this is poly, the sheen is almost like a panne velvet, but not quite. The actual color is warmer than this, a little. But very pretty, and would have been festive looking for the holidays, if I'd thought of it sooner. 

There will be no snowfall today - not a nor-easter, not even a dusting. I guess it's gone somewhere else. And since nothing's predicted for the weekend, I guess we can go to church on Sunday for a change! 

I roasted a chicken early in the day, but have no desire for any of it. I hope I'm not coming down with something - stuff has been going from one person to another at work, round and round, all winter. I just want to eat light.

There's a setting on my camera called silky monochrome, or something. It's pretty. 

Is it okay to post a thing on one's blog more than once? 

"It is a comforting thought that beautiful moments never die. One can collect them, store them away, and they are always at hand to bring forth again and appreciate. There are many of them, and all one needs is an awareness to have them."

                                               -    Gladys Taber

There! I don't mind repeating that!

sshhhh

 We've seen a rabbit outside under the bird feeder, the past two nights, eating seed. The snow is crusty and hard, the days and nights are frigid and they are hungry. My brother bought timothy hay at Agway, and put some out there, and the rabbit came tonight. I was about to get the dryer going, but decided to wait - the noise and steam might send him away. 

Just trying to help.

the two

 

I went into the spare room, and there was Annie on a dresser - that was a surprise. They stayed there, and I got my camera. I love this picture - it's hard to get a good one of Annie, especially. 

staying warm

 The wind roared all day. 

A group of starlings were in my neighbor's apple tree - resting, maybe? It's going to be very cold all week.

Meanwhile, I re-drew a skirt pattern that's getting worn, and made cookies. I almost forgot how helpful it is to cook something in the oven on my days off!

nothing is wasted

 "Our difficulties, whatever they may be, can all be used. They are redemptive. Many, many saints experienced various degrees of mental and emotional suffering and anxiety, and their experience, painful as it was, had profoundly spiritual effects on themselves and others. The anxiety is true at the level of felt experience, but at a deeper level, at the level of spirit and faith, something quite different may be happening. Even in anxiety one can have a real sense of God's love and possess faith.

And it's important to recognize that feeling low, depressed, is an emotional state, not an action. This does not cut you off from God in any way. Those who suffer this affliction have not yielded to it, any more than one yields to a broken arm or leg. So it is never a question of yielding to a sinful action - that would be a far deeper wound - but rather a condition.

But this condition is not meaningless. Prayers to God for help and relief are real prayers and signs of an active faith, hope, and love. This recognition of our need of God, and learning to trust him, are very precious. In all these ways there can be real growth in the midst of, and in spite of, anxieties. Also, these experiences, painful as they are, often bring a deepening compassion for others. All of us have something to carry - whether physical or moral or spiritual - and, united to Christ, these become fruitful for ourselves and others."

                                                    -  Sister Mary David Totah, O.S.B. from Magnificat, February 2025

All emphases are mine. Sister Mary David Totah was an American who later became a Benedictine nun at Saint Cecilia's Abbey on the Isle of Wight. She died in 2017.

a real winter, it is

It's snowing. It should stop at midnight, with freezing rain a few hours later. We've had to go to Saturday afternoon mass two weeks in a row - so unusual, and there are rumors of a nor'easter on Thursday. 

The grocery shopping had to be done, as much as I dreaded being there before a storm. It was busy; at one point the line extended to the other end of the store. Thankfully, by the time we were ready, it was back to normal. And I noticed it was after twelve - lunch, even before a storm, must be eaten! There is still some regularity, some predictability in this world.

When we got to church, the organist was about to go up the stairs to the choir loft, and he cheerily said, "Good afternoon", at the same time I said "Good morning". It was so automatic; if I'm seeing him, it must be morning!

Before today's snow

I saw rabbit tracks in the snow around the bird feeder; do rabbits eat sunflower seeds? I hope he found some food.

I finished reading The Bird in the Tree. It's the first in a trilogy, with the middle one being my favorite. But I had forgotten how good this was - or maybe I hadn't realized it before. I'm wanting to read the whole thing again, but it's not long ago I read the second, so I may just go right to the third, which is The Heart of the Family - I don't remember it that well, but I know I loved these three books.

"In times of storm and tempest, of indecision and desolation, a book already known and loved makes better reading than something new and untried. The meeting with remembered and well-loved passages is like the continual greeting of old friends; nothing is so warming and companionable."

                                                   -  Elizabeth Goudge, The Bird in the Tree

Meanwhile, I continue with J.D. Vance's memoir of his youth in Appalachia. He's come a long way from that very unstable childhood, to the fellow who made that terrific speech in Munich the other day. 

a bit of snow

This looks like a good snowstorm, right? Well, the predicted six to ten inches ended up being -
not quite four. Honestly. 

Of course, we weren't longing for a load of snow, but they hype it up so - and the drama on the weather sites - there are terrible earthquakes all around the world, volcanoes erupting - snow in New England is to be expected, for heaven's sake. So I made a little cake, with spices and pumpkin. And some dark chocolate pieces. 

"I have tried to make life a creative art... Happy homes are very important, I think, far more important than you realize, and God knows how many of them have been built up by the sacrifice of private longings. I am inclined to think that nothing so fosters creative action as the sacrifice of feeling. It's like rain coming down upon the corn."

                                                                -      Elizabeth Goudge, The Bird in the Tree

when it snows in the night

When it snows at night, the reflection from a sky filled with snowflakes is brighter than on a full moon. It lightens the whole house inside, so there’s no groping in the dark when you have to get up. 

In case you didn’t know. 

a lot of snow on the way

 It's supposed to start snowing any moment, but the sky is too dark. When it's going to snow, the clouds are so thick, it looks whitish. But we are getting - some are saying five to nine inches, some six to ten - a good amount, and it will come in its own good time, I guess. But this morning, I hung something on the line to dry! It was just over freezing, but there is something mild in the air - it's hopeful.

We went to Mass this afternoon, in case it's too bad tomorrow. A lot of others had the same idea. One of the hymns we sang was In Christ Alone, which is rather stirring - an Irish-sounding melody.

I've put Samuel Adams aside (again! poor fellow) and am finally reading Hillbilly Elegy. I have been interested in that book for eight years, and now he's Vice President - it's time. What kept me from it, was the idea it would be heavy, but it's not. In fact, the introduction really grabbed my attention; I often skip introductions.

"I was one of those kids with a grim future. I almost failed out of high school. I nearly gave in to the deep anger and resentment harbored by everyone around me. Today people look at me, at my job and my Ivy League credentials, and assume that I'm some sort of genius, that only a truly extraordinary person could have made it to where I am today. With all due respect to those people, I think that theory is a load of bullshit. Whatever talents I have, I almost squandered until a handful of loving people rescued me.

That is the real story of my life, and that is why I wrote this book. I want people to know what it feels like to nearly give up on yourself and why you might do it. I want people to understand what happens in the lives of the poor and the psychological impact that spiritual and material poverty has on their children. I want people to understand the American Dream as my family and I encountered it. I want people to understand how upward mobility really feels. And I want people to understand something I learned only recently: that for those of us luck enough to live the American Dream, the demons of the life we left behind continue to chase us."

                                               -  J.D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy

At five minutes to ten, it hadn't begun to snow yet. At ten fifteen, I looked out - the ground was almost covered.

And I baked a fancy quick bread recipe, because I always want to bake during snowstorms.

snowing and sewing

"Candlemas [Feb. 2] is the last feast of winter and the first feast of spring" (from Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker) - I wonder if that means the weather was more temperate and predictable back then, or is it just that it's milder in the UK, anyway?

 It snowed Sunday night, but then the air was mild, so the snow didn't last. Today, we had a little bit more with some freezing rain - a very different matter. They closed the library and other town offices. But Sunday - we are supposed to have seven to ten inches through Sat. night and all day Sunday! That changed from this morning's prediction which was three to six inches. Wow. 

ice drips

"Icicles hang from the eaves in long silver needles, and around the unshoveled walks, the small prints of stay-at-home rabbits make fascinating patterns."  - Gladys Taber.  My brother saw a rabbit the other day, which was nice, because we are seeing hawks practically every day.

Do I want to make another regency dress? When I can't seem to complete anything for the present era?

dressing like Jane

 I tried on my Regency gown. Well, I tried to try it on - it doesn't fit anymore. But I did such a good job on it - I'm amazed. It's nice and heavy, with the whole thing except the sleeves lined. I made the piping and put it in all the bodice seams

The back center section has gathers, and is lower, like a small train. These bodices are meant to be snug, and, even though I weigh more than I did, my extra weight isn't on top. But I've also done some exercising since then which may account for it. So it doesn't fit, but I don't think I can get rid of it. It's the nicest thing I've ever made. As for trying to match up all the plaid - well, I did the best I could.

Years ago, I wore it to work one day; there was a sign hanging over my back (had my hair up, of course), which said something like, Do You Know Who I Am?  It was quiet at the library that day, and only a few women gave it a try. Nobody got it, I'm sorry to say. A couple guessed Charlotte Bronte! Well, they were on the right track. More than one said "nice dress". Not, Why are you wearing a dress from the past?, but Nice Dress. Funny. 

I'm amazed that I was able to do this.

"the purpose of education"

 "The purpose of education, finally, is to create in a person the ability to look at the world for himself, to make his own decisions, ....But no society is really anxious to have that kind of person around. What societies really, ideally, want is a citizenry which will simply obey the rules of society. If a society succeeds in this, that society is about to perish. The obligation of anyone who thinks of himself as responsible is to examine society and try to change it and to fight it - at no matter the risk. This is the only hope society has. This is the only way societies change."

                                                          -   James Baldwin, from Plough, Winter, 2025

"How Samuel Adams supported his family starting around 1769 is a mystery. With his brewery closing that year, his only steady income was his small salary as clerk of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. According to gossip, the Adamses were so poor at this time that John Hancock and other friends sent them food to keep them from starving and repaired the Purchase Street house to keep it from falling. There was even a joke around Boston about Adams's letter writing: 'Samuel Adams writes the letters and John Hancock pays the postage’.”

Dennis Fradin, the author of this biography, says that Samuel Adams never held a good job when he was younger, he was more of a thinker. And it seems that our revolution would Never have come to pass without him. He knew we needed to revolt against the oppressive British rule and he never stopped insisting on it, trying to stir up the populace. 

fairyland, and other dreams

 Well, everybody was praising the "mildness" of the day - it was above freezing. 

Last Sunday night, it snowed. We woke up to a fairyland.

It was so cold all week, the four inches stayed. It's been in the single digits at night. Today was a pleasant reprieve, even though just around forty.

I finished the Star of Bethlehem book; the author's conclusion was it was probably a planetary conjunction. Would that really be so bright? I am no astronomer. The most interesting thing in the book turned out to be a quote from Franz Kafka:

"The Messiah will come as soon as the most unbridled individualism of faith becomes possible - when there is no one to destroy this possibility and no one to suffer its destruction.....The Messiah will come only when he is no longer necessary; he will come only on the day after his arrival; he will come, not on the last day, but on the very last."

                                                            

That was written in 1935. I think we're almost there.

There was a very loud bang yesterday, like a bird hitting a window, only louder. We looked out to see a hawk, resting a way off from the house. He didn't stay long, and didn't seem hurt. 

The other day, Suzy Q, the library director mentioned the 250th "birthday" of Jane Austen. She said we should celebrate - well, her birthday's in December, so there's plenty of time to plan. But I went to the basement to get my regency dress. And I don't believe I've ever mentioned it here.  

I don't remember how many years ago, but I had discovered Jennie Chancey's website, Sense & Sensibility. She made period sewing patterns, and I bought this one.

I made it in a black watch plaid cotton flannel, with a black lining of - not sure I remember correctly. A broadcloth of some kind, probably a cotton/poly. The buttons are plain black plastic and there's a bit of cheap black nylon lace at the sleeve edge. I put black piping along the bodice seams!  (What has happened to my sewing mojo?)  I'll have to take a photo of it. Well, it doesn't fit me now, but I would never get rid of it. It must be the best thing I ever made! I had also made this pattern from a pretty quilting cotton in a soft green with a gentle dragonfly design over all and a bit of gold metallic shine here and there. I don't have that one anymore, but I found a photo on her site of me in it! Here it is.  I made it a little shorter so I could actually wear it. It's modeled after a dress Kate Winslet wore in Sense and Sensibility, here.  

Should I sew another Regency dress? 

following

 The reading at Mass today was Jesus' first recorded miracle, at the Cana wedding. It indicates that the mother of Jesus was the one who was invited, and because of her, Jesus and disciples were also there. It may have been someone she was rather close to, because of her concern when the wine was running out.

Anyway, we know the story, but it struck me today that the text says afterward, "his disciples began to believe in him."  So, they were going around with him before they saw any miracle, or manifestation of who he might be. That's interesting. 

Have you seen this recent AI image of Jesus floating around online?

Very compelling, isn't it? It was derived from examining the Shroud of Turin. Imagine a man, two thousand years ago, looking even half as alive (intense?) as this man, going around to certain humble "blue-collar" workers, saying, "Come, follow me." He wasn't known yet, there were no public miracles yet - it's not as if he showed them one or two to convince them - but they went with him. Very, very interesting.

His intensity is rather scary. He couldn't have been scary, though - that would be counter-productive, wouldn't it? He didn't come to scare us. The opposite! But still, I do like this image. He is beautiful and very alive. Does he look like a Prince of Peace? Maybe not, but he doesn't look like anything could scare him, or deter him from his purpose. What may be lacking in this picture would be a look of love in his eyes, which AI would be incapable of (in my opinion). 

There was a cry, "Behold, the bridegroom!

Come out to meet him!"

-  Matthew 25:6