"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
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!
“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
I've always wanted to make a cherry pie on George Washington's birthday. I cannot tell a lie - today I did it.
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.
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.
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.
The wind roared all day.
"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.
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
"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.
Well, everybody was praising the "mildness" of the day - it was above freezing.
Last Sunday night, it snowed. We woke up to a fairyland.
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?
I mentioned to Gretchen, in a comment, that I was reading a little book of Ruth Pitter's poetry. And that I couldn't really find one I actively like.
This book was published in 1953, so I guess it's safe to put a few here.
I'd forgotten about this Star of Bethlehem book; it tries to figure out what it was that shone so brightly to guide the three magi to Bethlehem. I had found it on the sale table at the library, and then it got buried under a stack at home. Of course. The author has all sorts of ideas about it. The green cover of the Niall Williams has called to me for years, every time I came across it at work, so I finally took it home. It's the second in his memoirs of life in Ireland after moving from New York. I remember that many years ago his first one was serialized in the newspaper, and was very popular. It's about time I picked it up, I guess.
Plodding along with my dress, I am now ready for the sleeves. Except, like the skirt, the pattern piece is nowhere to be found. But that's okay, because I'm not that keen on the sleeves, anyway. And then I got a catalog from Poetry, and there is this dress in corduroy that's just like the one I'm making, but with sleeves I like a whole lot better. I don't know how long that link will last, so maybe I can take a photo from my catalog another day. Anyway, I went through my patterns and found this blouse one from years ago. I never made it, but it's similar - if I can take out some of the volume it might do.
It'll be a starting point.
I bundled up and ran outside before it got dark, longing for some fresh air.
The grass is in its dried-up winter state. I just ran around and breathed the cold air for a bit.
I'm curious to see what her conclusion will be.
"It turns out that attention - what we pay attention to, and how we attend - is the most important part of the mindset needed for re-enchantment.
It's like this: if enchantment involves establishing a meaningful, reciprocal, and resonant connection with God and creation, then to sequester ourselves in the self-exile of abstraction is to be the authors of our own alienation.
'Attention changes the world,' says Iain McGilchrist. 'How you attend to it changes what it is you find there. What you find then governs the kind of attention you will think it appropriate to pay in the future. And so it is that the world you recognize (which will not be exactly the same as my world) is firmed up - and brought into being.'
Matthew Crawford writes that living in a world in which we are encouraged to embrace the freedom of following our own desires - which entails paying attention only to what interests us in a given moment - actually renders us impotent. He writes, 'The paradox is that the idea of autonomy seems to work against the development and flourishing of any rich ecology of attention - the sort in which minds may become powerful and achieve genuine independence.'"
- Rod Dreher, Living in Wonder
A bunch of parishioners stayed after Mass today to get all the Christmas decorations put away; all that's left are the poinsettias. There are a lot of them, red and white, and they're bright and cheery. But all that beauty, with the wonderful Italian nativity we have, the lights, the sparkly ornaments, the greenery on every windowsill - all away. It's the only way to do it, of course, with a disparate group all living in different places, together to perform a task.
But how strange it all is - here one moment and gone the next. In our homes we don't have to be so "complete" about it. We can let it wind down gradually for a little while longer. But then we will have to be like Scrooge, honoring Christmas in our hearts and trying to keep it all year. Because it's been born, and it wants to keep living.
"In the English calendar, Twelfth Night was for many centuries a time of more riotous festivity than Christmas Day - a last hurrah of feasting before the return to work. During the Middle Ages the Christmas season lasted forty days, until Candlemas on 2 February, and January was supposed to be a month of feasting*, not fasting - the exact opposite of the modern 'Dry January'."
- from Winters in the World: a journey through the Anglo-Saxon year, by Eleanor Parker
*I'm all in with that.
It was supposed to snow lightly this morning, from five till ten. But it didn't stop, and it's been snowing all day. With no accumulation! Still, there is something about snow falling, even if it doesn't mount up.
I made a wonderful discovery yesterday! I diligently use the little defuzzing machine on my sweaters, which works excellently, but I had the idea to try it on my opaque tights. They're made from recycled nylon and get pilly after a while, so that I have to toss them. I mostly wear longer skirts, so it doesn't show much, but eventually..........well, this worked like a charm!! My tights are like new - try it!
It's been very cold here, in the twenties for a few days. But after a warm breakfast I went out to see what's going on outside. I couldn't see too well, because for the past month I've been going around with one contact lens, but I just wanted some sunshine and briskness.
I looked at the state of my garden beds. They seem well, and the overabundance of dried leaves has settled, and that's a relief.
Over in the corner near the new little cherry tree, some birds fluttered up when I drew near. I thought I saw some white stripes - was it a mockingbird? I suddenly remembered many years back in a cold, windy winter, when I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for a mockingbird living in the brush at the brook's edge. I'd throw it through the kitchen window, and he'd see me and come over. It's been so cold - I should go in and make a sandwich for the birds! I went back to the house. I made a nice sandwich, brought it out, broke it up and scattered it around.
I never saw anyone near there. Then it was time to go to the eye doctor. When I returned - (I can see, I can see!) - I thought I'd go over while I had my coat on. The pieces were gone! Hurrah!, said Fred, Scrooge's nephew. I agree with him. I'll have to keep it up.
Our priest has been saying some thought-provoking things lately - well, at least to me. (I guess that's what they're supposed to do, anyway) On Christmas he said if we want to benefit from the great event of God becoming human, we need an appreciation of humanity. He gave as an example the expression we often hear/say: "I'm only human". But it is an important part of us; we are not Gnostics.
I am copying this from chatgpt.com:
Gnosticism was a diverse religious and philosophical movement in the early centuries of Christianity (primarily in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD) that emphasized esoteric knowledge (gnosis) as the path to salvation. Gnostics generally believed that the material world, created by a lower or flawed deity (often identified with the God of the Old Testament), was corrupt, imperfect, and should be transcended. They often taught that true spiritual enlightenment involved the escape from the material realm and union with a higher, divine, and pure realm of spirit.
For Gnostics, the physical world was not the focus; rather, the inner, spiritual knowledge was considered the key to salvation. They viewed the body and the material world as prisons for the soul, and they often promoted asceticism or other practices to distance oneself from the physical realm.
This view was in sharp contrast to the orthodox Christian belief that the material world, including the body, was created good by God and that it had a role in God's redemptive plan, including the incarnation of Jesus Christ, who took on a physical body.
To go off the subject a little, (the "subject" being the thought-provoking things Father has been saying lately), there is a movement that is gaining traction lately called transhumanism that basically believes we can raise ourselves up to a godlike state, via technology of various sorts. From chatgpt:
Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates for the use of advanced technology to enhance the human condition, particularly by transcending the limitations of the human body and mind. The central idea behind transhumanism is that human beings can and should use science and technology to improve their physical and cognitive abilities, potentially leading to a post-human future where humans surpass their biological constraints.
Where have we heard this speech before? "You shall be like god", from Genesis, chapter three. We haven't learned much, have we?
Today in the U.S. we observe Epiphany, which is really tomorrow, but it isn't given the attention over here as it is in Europe. Epiphany is when the three kings, or magi, or wise men arrived to worship the child Jesus. They represent the first non-Jews who acknowledged Jesus as King, above themselves. So, it's kind of our feast day. What Father said was that "Epiphany was when God made himself known. He has no hidden agenda." He wants to be known. And this is something we can learn from in our dealings with others. He pointed out that when Satan approached Eve, he did not introduce himself. When he tempted Jesus in the desert, he didn't introduce himself first.
I just found the whole thing very interesting.
I changed all the calendars. I like wall calendars, and we have several around the place. Some are for writing on, some not - the pretty ones.
It was the strangest day - sunny, but at the same time, snowing. No accumulation, and no dark cloud above that I saw, but the flurries, again and again, with the sun shining, in the early afternoon. I could hear it, so it must have been sleety for a while. I was snug inside with my Christmas carols.
When came in flesh th' Incarnate Word,
The heedless world slept on,
And only simple shepherds heard
That God had sent his Son.
I was reading in chapter fourteen of Revelation; there are angels overseeing the elements - it spoke of one who has authority over fire. It would be handy to remember that, in case of a fire! I find this kind of information very interesting. Which brings me to a book I got for Christmas, Living in Wonder, by Rod Dreher. He speaks of how and why we’ve come to a point of being totally unaware, or even ignorant of anything beyond what we can apprehend with our senses. It’s a big interest of mine. You know I love fairy tales and such.
There was snow on the ground, and then we got a little more on Christmas Eve morning. Everyone seemed pleased about it. We went to our cousins at the shore on Christmas Day, and they had none, but it was still here when we came back home. :) Now, it's gone; we are going to be in the fifties for three days. A varied closet is a must around here.
It's the fourth day of Christmas. I've got to find the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols on the BBC, since I was working when it was live. I never want to miss it! "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom, a light has shone. For a child is born to us, a son is given us; upon his shoulder dominion rests. They name him Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Father-Forever, Prince of Peace."
- Isaiah, 9:1, 5
