Leo, not Leon

 I started my Sunday cooking early, and the house smells wonderful: thyme, oregano, garlic, onion, green pepper, carrot, zucchini, tomatoes and sweet potato. What a nice way to end the day, with such aromas.

I've been meaning to clear up something - well, muddy up the waters is more like it. The missing cat is Leon, not Leo. The cat we've been feeding along with Benny, is Leo. We heard it straight from Dianne, so there is no possibility of error here, and I feel bad for whoever isn't going to see this post and miss the explanation.

Leo and Leon have been coming to our yard and going through it for many years - we could never get near them, but they liked to come here. Once Dianne said that Leo was bigger. After that when I saw one of them and he seemed large, I'd think it was Leo, and when I saw one of them and wasn't sure if it was large, I'd figure it was Leon. Not very scientific. Another time she told me that Leon had lots of knots in his fur, which they couldn't seem to get out. So when Benny showed up, and one of the yellow cats came with him, we noticed so many knots - well, this must be Leon, we thought. My brother, the hairdresser, would sometimes sit with him and patiently brush, and then use his professional electric razor. "Leon" would be so happy, he'd lick my brother's arm. Then "Leo" went missing. 

We have also been in the habit of bringing Benny home in the evenings, if he's here near sunset. Benny, a black cat, is impervious to the dangers of automobiles. He is frequently to be seen in the middle of the road, grooming himself. A car may drive up to him, and he remains unfazed. Frankly, it makes us nervous wrecks, and now with days getting shorter, we just carry him home (across the street and two houses over) most of the time. Anyway, it was on one of these occasions we saw someone in Dianne's family who said that our guy is Leo, and the missing one is Leon (still missing). 

picking basil with Leo

I'm very sorry for the confusion this will cause! We tried to get it right!

Otherwise, after terrible humidity yesterday, today was sparkling. The mockingbirds have been singing their October recitals.

the only thing

 "We need the light of prayer to see our way in crossbearing. Prayer enables us to transcend not only the natural reluctance that all of us have when it comes to putting up with difficulties but also the very good reasons that suggest themselves as to why this particular cross was not really meant for us by God.....

The Passion is described as the mystery of Christ's suffering. It was a mystery at the time because people could not reconcile it with what they had expected. In the sense that we can never fully understand the idea of God suffering, the Passion is still a mystery. Now if our sufferings are somehow or other to fit into the Passion of Christ - and this is no fiction because this is where they belong - there will surely be an element of mystery about them........

Pain, if it is going to be purifying, is going to be puzzling....We have a preconceived notion as to what the cross is like, and when it comes we cannot reconcile the reality with the image. If there was darkness at Christ's crucifixion, we should not expect broad daylight at our own....Darkness cannot be fought: hitting out at darkness gets you no result. ...  The only thing that helps is prayer."

                                              - Dom Hubert van Zeller, from Magnificat, September 2026

waiting for the storm

 "As we walked, there came the sound of distant thunder. A storm was rolling through the dales. I'd scarcely noticed how the light had pulled itself down beneath the leaves of the great trees, how they seemed to glow with the threat of storm to come. And instead of returning the way we came, back down through the young wood and through the churchyard, we followed a path along the back hill, coming out on the edge of the ruins, slipping into the courtyard garden and passing blooms trembling in anticipatory glory. Rain was coming, and every living thing was in wait. Down a bit of stair in the southwest corner, and through an arched passage leading beneath the Glass Walk, we came out onto the stretch of lawn near the house, a view of the lake unfolding."

                                            -  from The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion, vol. 8

There's been a wind advisory in effect since noon yesterday, but there isn't much wind yet. It was beautifully breezy yesterday, but got quiet later in the day, and all night (although I was not awake all night to be sure of that). The wind began to appear mid-morning, it's been gusting and blowing on and off since, and I'm starting to hear thunder. It's supposed to be a whopper, so we'll see what happens next. I did all the laundry I can do, and there's a pot roast in the slow cooker. 

I went out last evening before dark and everything had a pinkish tinge -

and even this guy 

I would like to cut out a dress, and get out some fall-ish decor. Maybe bake a cake.

a storm coming

I am a countryman, Lord,
who comes from the country of the world.
Teach me your city's ordered ways,
the courtesies and gracious manner of your court.
Remove from me the likeness of the world,
on which I had been modelling myself,
and make me like your citizens,
lest in their midst
I seem as one deformed.
And teach me too
the language that I do not know,
the language I began to hear
when I came out of Egypt,
but do not understand
because I had grown up in an alien land.
Teach me the language you speak
with your sons and they with you.
And make me understand those little
signs, by which you give
understanding hearts to know
what is your good, acceptable,
and perfect will.

-  William of Saint-Thierry

It was windy earlier and there's a bit of rain now - a nor'easter is coming. Very windy, lots of rain, for a couple of days. I like going out in the wind - it was quite pleasant today, after I got rid of the headache, which may have resulted from the heavy weather approaching? I don't know. But it was breezy, mild and fresh. 

a perfectly moist cake

 It being the beginning of fall and everything, I baked a pumpkin chocolate chunk bread (cake!) yesterday, but when I got it out of the pan, it felt slightly dry; I was afraid when it was cool it would be noticeably dry. There is something you can do about this.

Once upon a time, a former co-worker baked a cake. She took it from the oven, and after cooling a bit, she turned it out of the pan. But before it could cool entirely, something urgent came up and there was no time for bothering with cooling cakes - she popped it back into the unwashed pan and got it in the freezer. When she thawed it eventually, it was so moist, she could hardly believe it. And so from that day forth, Darlene always froze her warm cakes, trapping the moisture before evaporation took place, and all her guests lived happily ever after, which everyone does after enjoying a properly baked cake.

So, instead of feeling sorry for myself yesterday, I put the loaf cake into a plastic ziploc bag while it was still warm. Today, it was perfect!

The recipe: (because it's Really Good)

the dry ingredients:
mix 1 3/4 cup flour, 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I used 1 tsp. cinnamon, one half each of nutmeg and ginger), 1 tsp. baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt. Set aside.

Mix: (a whisk is fine) 1 can pumpkin puree, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup oil, 2 eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla. Fold in the dry, then add one cup of chocolate chunks or chips. Bake at 350 F in a greased and floured loaf pan for around fifty mins., or as long as it takes. This recipe is from the Stop & Shop website.

an eastern phoebe

 

Over the last two weeks, I've seen a bird perching, every now and then, on a post outside the kitchen window. At first I thought it was a mockingbird - the coloring is right, but the shape is not that of a mockingbird. This was not a familiar bird to me. So finally I took a picture. 

"Flycatchers perch in an upright attitude and often sit quite motionless."

                                               -  A Field Guide to the Birds, Roger Tory Peterson

I found a photo just like mine - this is an Eastern Phoebe, a type of flycatcher. He sits quietly for a while on his post, and then he's gone. I've never seen one before, but if he's catching flies and other bugs on the wing, he won't be coming that close to the house, I guess. Many's the time I hear unfamiliar bird calls and have no idea what bird is calling. I'm not sure if one of those bird ID apps would work unless I'm closer than inside the house with the window open. If we didn't have these short and temporary posts, I wonder if he'd come - he seems to like them particularly. Another bird book said they wait for insects to fly past, then they go - it's called hawking.               

I put up new "curtains" in the living room today - this consisted of two lengths of fabric, hemmed at either end and clipped up. No lining, and not even a need to hem the sides - the selvedges won't fray. But they aren't really long enough to swoop up with the ribbon. Also, they don't meet in the middle of the rod, and I always wish I could think of something to hang in the middle. I have no more fabric, but am hoping I can think of something.

Very plain, but I like the light color.

giving God away

 "Give money away, or spend it, and it is no longer yours. But give God to others, and you possess him more fully for yourself."

                                                    -   Fr. Garrigou-LaGrange

what we have

I kept last month's Magnificat because of several passages and meditations which struck me. Here's one:

 "What do you have that was not given to you? This is the true foundation of Christian humility. All pride should be smashed under this divine saying! The humility of the saints thus becomes more and more profound, because they come to know better and better their own frailty in contrast to the grandeur and goodness of God."

                                              -  Father Reginald Garrigou-LaGrange

Consider how the lilies of the field grow; they neither toil no spin,
yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed
like one of these.

-  Matthew 6:28b-29

                                                               

pleasant days

 The weather is getting nicer - I used the oven twice today, and the house really didn't get uncomfortable! I've wanted to make bread, so I used a quick rising recipe for raisin bread - it's delicious, but I do prefer slow rises with less yeast. Soon, when the temperatures come down!

We still have loads of tomatoes coming in, and zucchini. I used a huge one for a big pot of soup, and I think I'll grate some for the freezer. It's a pleasure to do these things on a mild, dry day like this one. 

Leon, sleeping deeply. 

I couldn't take it anymore

 I decided to stop reading The Brothers K - I won't miss them. I w

rote down the publisher, and the translator in case I ever have a reason to go back to them. For a good reason, I might; if so, it may as well be the same edition.

I've had the cushion for the rocking chair in my bedroom, waiting for some finishing touches, so long that I kept forgetting about it. But enough was enough and today I was looking at it. Basically, I'd covered the whole thing with some corduroy, just going right over the original, piping and all, and it almost was enough to cover the whole pad, but there's a space at the back of it that I just handstitched on. I've been meaning to cover it with something - nothing seems like a great idea. So I left it that way; it's on the chair and nobody's going to notice it until something strikes me. 

The offending area is at the back, where the chair spokes (is that the right term?) are, quite unobtrusive.

I took a video of Benny, coming up our driveway:

He stopped at the "crossroads", to ponder whether to go ahead to the back door, or take a left to the front door. 

I picked up Gladys Taber's The Best of Stillmeadow, which I apparently read six years ago . I hadn't remembered that a previous owner of their old farmhouse had murdered his wife! They didn't seem to mind it. They wanted their children to grow up in the country, with fresh air and nature all around. The house was rather run-down, more than they'd realized.

"Our basic equipment for this venture consisted of a staggering fortitude and no common sense. But we didn't know it then. We came out the next weekend and paid some more money. By then, most of the furniture had vanished, except three carders and five spinning wheels, and one rope bed which had been too big for moving out quickly.

High hearted, we advanced. We bought tons of wallpaper, and it turned out to be tons, since we had never papered before and so were uncertain about quantities. For years we gave away wallpaper. I sent for some furniture stored in Virginia, and three weeks later a disturbed Kentucky racehorse arrived while the furniture rode along to some racetrack. It takes time to swap a horse for your furniture. But by then we had discovered the fatal truth about every sink, toilet and tub in the house.

'Well, one could not expect a man to drain the pipes before shooting his wife,' said Jill. 'He didn't think of it.'"

Leo is lost

 

That is Leon eating, and the other is Leo, his brother. They're twins, and this photo was taken about a week ago. Leo isn't used to us; he will come through, but not let us near him.

We didn't want Benny going home after dark this evening, so my brother carried him over there. Dianne was outside and said she hasn't seen Leo in a week.

Last night I heard a Great Horned Owl outside at bedtime. Maybe he wouldn't be able to pick up a furry cat like Leo - let us hope. But prayers would be appreciated - we hope he isn't stuck in a garage somewhere.

A little more ferocious looking than his brother, Leon.

the love amazing

 There was a wedding - a young couple from our church. Many who were not going to the reception still attended the wedding mass itself. Everyone must have felt as uplifted as I did by the end; God was definitely the main character. 

They met in college, and both impressed the chaplain with their faith, self-discipline and sense of community. Three visiting priests concelebrated with our own pastor. 

The recessional hymn was O God, Beyond All Praising; it was a fantastic thing to sing after such an event:

O God, beyond all praising,
We worship you today
And sing the love amazing 
That songs cannot repay;
For we can only wonder
At ev'ry gift you send,
At blessings without number
And mercies without end:
We lift our hearts before you
And wait upon your word,
We honor and adore you,
Our great and mighty Lord.

Then hear, O gracious Savior,
Accept the love we bring,
That we who know your favor
May serve you as our King;
And whether our tomorrows
Be filled with good or ill,
We'll triumph through our sorrows
And rise to bless you still:
To marvel at your beauty
And glory in your ways,
And make a joyful duty
Our sacrifice of praise.

I do love this hymn and have posted it here more than twice, I'll bet. But it's another thing entirely, after a marriage takes place, to all be singing these words together. Especially from "and whether our tomorrows," to "and rise to bless you still", because who knows what path life will take when two people pledge to be faithful to each other? I wish them very well, such nice kids.

Benny naps under the Japanese maple

 on top of the mulch. Sweet little fellow.

God gives us the joy of his help

Loving Father, you are our help.
Your kindness is a greater good than life.
May we bless you in our daily lives, 
 always calling upon your name.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

-  from Magnificat, August 2026

reading the journals of Emma Lion

 I've been reading "The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion". I kept running into glowing praises of the "journals" here and there online over the past few months, until finally I began to wonder why we don't have them at our library, and why none of our patrons have asked me about them. But then I suddenly became interested. 

I asked Suzy Q, the director, to buy them - there are eight, and we didn't know if we should, so she ordered the first four. If you don't know, they are quite slim, so four isn't much to invest in - not like it would be for a usual book series. 

So they came, and I got them ready and into the computer; then I thought I may as well give the first one a try. Amazon says this: "Readers have compared Beth Brower's writing to Jane Austen, Oscar Wilde, P.G. Wodehouse and L.M. Montgomery."  I would say "no" to all of the above. But that doesn't mean I am not liking it.

So, volume one. I was skeptical, but it was cute. And short, so, painless to read, which I felt I should, since I'd asked Sue to get them; I thought I should know firsthand what they were like. And it grew on me as I read. It's witty, and I think diverting would be the best word. I had all four volumes home with me, so I immediately picked up volume two.

In the second one I was getting more used to Emma, and the author is smart, in that she didn't lay out all of Emma's past, her family, her situation, etc., all at once - you are learning it a little here, a little there. So, like Hansel and Gretel, there are the crumbs that you pick up and follow. (Well, I guess Hansel and Gretel had the intention, but it didn't work out that way.) I would say the second "journal" is more interesting, but that may be because I was resisting all the laudatory stuff until I could make up my own mind. 

Volume three is where I am now. It's light reading, but hard to put down, mostly short "entries", clever remarks, very entertaining, with several appealing characters; original and surprising situations arise and you get drawn into Emma Lion's world. I was reminded of Martha Grimes' Richard Jury mysteries for some reason, with all the witty dialogue and so many characters, but Beth Brower keeps them under better control than Martha, I think. (I gave up on those years ago - it dawned on me that Jury and Melrose Plant didn't seem to be aging - nobody was growing. They were all stuck, and I guess that's her intent, but why?) 

Anyway, what I'm getting at is - I'm going to tell Suzy Q to buy the rest, and I'm going to tell several of my co-workers they will probably enjoy these cute books. They're not new - the first was published in 2019, so word of mouth seems to be doing its work. There's something nice about that. 

In short, if you're looking to be amused, diverted, and even laughing at times at something light and pleasant, pick these up. That must be why they're getting popular, in this difficult world.

"filled with good things"

 I was continuing on with Watership Down, when it got so tense I couldn't leave it; so I made more progress than I expected to. I've read it before when I first started at the library, but only remembered what tribulations they had, what dangers they faced. Now I'm marveling at the wonderful story-telling ability of Richard Adams. 

I put the book down to go turn on the light out back; there was a rabbit out there. I so wanted to say to him, I've been reading Watership Down! But how do I do that? So I watched while he enjoyed the clover with which our yard is plentiful - thankfully - and then hopped away toward the brook. The humid air has blown away in the past few hours. We will make the most of it.

These all look to thee,
to give them their food in due season.
When thou givest to them, they gather it up;
when thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good things.

- Psalm 104: 27, 28

 

"By sunset the whole party - twenty rabbits all told - had made their way up the length of the beech hanger and reached the warren. They fed among the dew and the long shadows, with twilight already fallen in the fields below. Then they crowded down into the Honeycomb to hear Hazel and Bigwig tell the story of their adventures to those who had waited so eagerly and so long to hear it."

- Watership Down

a little hitchhiker

 We got in the car this morning, heading down the road to go to Mass, and a little sparrow landed on the outside of the passenger side, where the window comes out. I rolled it up so he couldn't come in - he stayed there while we went down the street. We pulled into a gas station and my brother got out, went round to my side, and the bird was still there. I was just going to say he'd need to take the little one off the car, when he flew into some bushes. He was young and perhaps didn't know what was going on. 

Reading Watership Down makes me think (even more than usual!) about how our lives impact the natural world around us, since so much of how we live has little to do with nature. 

"Love the animals. God has given them the rudiments of thought and joy untroubled.
Don't trouble it, don't harass them, don't deprive them of their happiness,
don't work against God's intent."

- The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky*

*Can you believe this quote from The Brothers was the epigraph to chapter 22 in Watership Down? A connection between two books, both of which I am currently reading. 

cat talk

 I've been wondering at what level cats can communicate information to one another. 

After Benny was coming around for a few weeks, Leon started to show up. I would put out a bowl of food for Benny, Leon would come up the steps, Benny would continue eating while Leon might attempt to nose in on a bite here and there, Benny would just keep eating, and then Leon would give up the attempts. Benny would not hiss or swat, there was no annoyance or aggravation between them. They are used to each other. But I dud once see Benny stop eating and go nose to nose with Leon. It seemed there was some exchange there, something imparted. They know each other well. Leon backed off. Now we just give them both food.

They both seem very mild-mannered, very gentle. My brother picked up Benny today, after he had reached up, seeming to want it. Meanwhile, I was visiting with Leon on the back step while pulling  little things from his long fur; I heard him purring. 

to the kingdom

 May God the Father bless us,
May God the Son heal us,
May the Holy Spirit enlighten us
and give us eyes to see with,
ears to hear with,
and hands to do the work of God with,
feet to walk with,
and a mouth to preach the word of salvation with,
and the angel of peace to watch over us
and lead us at last,
by our Lord's gift, to the kingdom. Amen.

-  A Dominican Blessing,  from Magnificat, August 2026

plodding through another heatwave

 "Martha and I might have settled over a book, or taken up our embroidery, or written letters ourselves to a numerous correspondence - but an unaccustomed restlessness had me in its grip."

                                           -  from Jane and the Ghosts of Netley, by Stephanie Barron

The air is hot; this morning early my brother went out. He never complains about the heat, but he said it was awful out. He went to the supermarket and when he came out, "my glasses fogged up." That was worth complaining about! 

I'm getting through the Brothers Karamazov and am also reading Watership Down - two rather rough stories - and was craving something less heavy, a story that draws you in. I like to reread old favorites, so I picked up one of the Jane Austen mysteries. To the hum of the air conditioners, and in between homework chores, I picked it up at every opportunity.

I'm ready to hem my burgundy dress. These sleeveless dresses are so cool, so welcome this summer! I'm not good at taking selfies and it's hard to photograph a whole length of dress. But last summer I bought fabric for three dresses on the Hancocks of Paducah website, buying only sale fabric. One of them is too short and I just got some eyelet for a ruffle to lengthen it. I wear the others regularly. So this year I bought three more and I'm on the third. But I love the batik version so much that I bought two more fabrics - these will be in heavy rotation, but it's satisfying to know that I paid between fifteen and twenty one dollars for each, since I bought only sale fabric. 

The tomatoes are turning red, and the beans are starting to flow in. I've got basil drying - I like it better than fresh, usually. I still have some basil leaves in the freezer, but I reach for the dried herb more often.

We've been feeding some neighborhood cats. They're not strays, but they come around and up to the door, so we give them food. This one is Benny. 

Note the tongue sticking out. I think he's cute. Then there's Leon, who has been coming through here for years, and now is finally comfortable with us. He has a certain look about him. I couldn't put my finger on it, but my brother said he looks mournful.

Leon of the Mournful Aspect

It's that longish, Norwegian Forest cat kind of face, and the way he has his head lowered but the eyes look up at you. 

*If you should feel curious about reading this, don't! It would be best to begin at the beginning with this series. You will thank me later.

fasting and mercy

 "Fasting is the soul of prayer, mercy is the lifeblood of fasting. So if you pray, fast; if you fast, show mercy; if you want your petition to be heard, hear the petition of others. If you do not close your ear to others, you open God's ear to yourself."*

                                       -    St. Peter Chrysologus

*but don't be fasting on Sunday.  :)

in quiet

 "..I also know even better now that it's always amidst the siege that God's kindness arrives. We live in a world at war and will until the kingdom comes and the story of the cosmos begins again. Our pursuit of quiet will always be attended by our anguish, our wrestling, our loss. Quiet does not remove those things from us; it offers the space in which we may give voice to them so that they do not destroy us, so that the alternate voice of God's kindness may turn the besieged cities of our lives into 'rock of refuge' David found in his own wild distress... In quiet, we learn to watch and wait for God's help as it sets up camp in the very heart of our darkness."

                                              -  Sarah Clarkson,  Reclaiming Quiet

work in progress

 Here's a project I began a few years ago, but when something has a place in this house, it can easily be forgotten. But then I remembered it, and would like to finish it.

I'm just "quilting" these two fabrics together by hand, with different flosses as my whim dictates. Half is done, and I'm going the other way. 

peace, not from the world

 "Our peace doesn't come from the world, from exterior circumstances... It is the fruit of prayer...The only time we have good discernment is when we are at peace. When we're preoccupied by worry, disturbed by events in our lives, our emotions can get the best of us and we don't have an objective grasp on reality - we are tempted to see everything in black and white and question everything in our life.

When a problem has robbed us of our peace, the most important thing is not to resolve the problem in the hope of regaining our peace, but to regain a minimum of peacefulness, and then to see what we can do to face the problem. We will avoid making irrational choices for all the wrong reasons. How do we get back this minimum level of peace? Essentially through prayer, listening to the Word, and believing that God will never abandon us."

                                             -  Father Jacques Philippe, from Magnificat, July 2026

fresh air and sunshine

 We've had such beautiful weather this week - so welcome, after the Previous Awful. And the nights are in the fifties lately! Very unusual for July. In this morning's prayers: from Psalm 65 - "the hills are girded with joy". I underlined it. This sort of poetic description just takes you away, doesn't it?

I'm reading The Brothers Karamazov - wish me luck. I expect it'll take me at least a month.

I sat on the front step this evening before sunset and saw two young rabbits frolicking across the street. After a while, they ran back across the road to our back area, I think. But then I noticed two more still across the street, so life continues. 

I bought a dress - new - and it came with a scent that I didn't want. It smelled like a fake fragrance you get from some detergents - not appealing. Why? A new dress! Anyway, I knew what to do. I hung it on the clothesline. This was last Saturday. Then we had heavy rain on and off. I left it out. A new dress. It wasn't on sale, by the way, but what are you going to do? I had washed it, but it has only happened once that a smell came out in the wash - not usually. Anyway, I was determined to give the fresh air a chance. 

soaking wet in the rain

I turned it over every day - I was concerned about fading, but the coloring has a faded effect anyway, so I hoped it wouldn't be anything obviously awful. On Thursday I sniffed it, and - it was ninety nine percent gone, and that was good enough for me. 

I wanted to share this, because I have washed stinky items over and over, I have soaked them with vinegar and water, with baking soda and water - these things don't work. Only the air, and the breeze. Maybe the sun? I don't know that. I once bought a used handbag on Etsy which smelled of fragrance and I couldn't wash the lining of a leather bag so I hung it out in desperation. For a month! It took a month of hanging it out every non-rainy day, and I didn't give up. That's when I learned this method. So I wore the dress to work and a friend came in, admiring the print and fabric, and it turned out she is also familiar with this method. So, if you have bought clothing or a blanket or other linens that smells and you're afraid you're going to have to get rid of it - DON'T. Try this! 

In late spring, somebody left two daisy plants at the library's plant swap table, and I took them. Now there are more daisies at our house than before. 

But the daisies outside are predictable in their behavior. Of course I had to re-wash this pot. 

toward the fullness of life

 "O God, in your love, you have sown the Good News of the Gospel in the wilderness of the world and brought it to flower and fruit through the death and Resurrection of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant us the wisdom to recognize your love at work in hiddenness, the faith to trust in your love at work in weakness, the hope to live by your love at work in darkness, that all the world may grow to the fullness of life you offer in the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"

"In its boughs nested all the birds of the air, 

under its branches all beasts of the field gave birth,

 in its shade dwelt numerous peoples of every race."

- Ezechiel 31:6

but the mockingbird sings through it all

 It was ninety-eight degrees on Tuesday; yesterday was supposed to be slightly cooler, with possible storms in the evening. I went to work and noticed it was looking like something was brewing outside - it was yellowish out there, but the weather report said nothing. It was the patrons who told me it was from the Canadian fires. I tell you, it was so bad, my eyes were stinging all day and everything outside looked unnatural, like another planet. 

Today, I woke up with a headache that nothing would touch. I went out briefly in the morning and it got a little worse. It only started to improve when I put on the a/c. There was still haze today and will be tomorrow, but at least it doesn't look weird. It's been a strange summer, with high heat and this.... 

But I think I'm caught up on my sleep! - I took about four naps, and did only the minimum of housework. 

I wonder how the creatures felt - do their eyes burn? But I will say this - in the height of summer, on the hottest days of July, you can't step outside without hearing a mockingbird singing somewhere, nearby or in the distance, but if you know their sound, you will hear them. 

willingness to be this new thing

 I've been reading an article in Plough, an interview with Ken Burns, the filmmaker and historian. 

"This word 'liberty' had an incredible effect. Why would anybody want to give up the benefits of being a subject of the British constitutional monarchy? Most of everyone's wealth, education, prosperity, and literacy came from that colonial relationship. Why would you give up those benefits for freedom and democracy, ideas never tried before in human history? At the heart of the American experiment is possibility. At the heart is risk. At the heart of it is this willingness to be this new thing, a citizen.

It's not hard to be a subject. You're under authoritarian rule and you just put up with stuff. But to be a citizen is to assume responsibility, to assume the pursuit of happiness, which the Founders understood not as the acquisition of things, but the pursuit of lifelong learning. Lifelong learning made you more virtuous, and the more virtuous you were, the more possibility that you could begin to bear the responsibility of citizenship and to be able, if not to answer, then to ask more authentically those essential questions: Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my purpose? Where am I going?

I am interested in these gigantic conflicts like the Revolution that produce something as spectacularly interesting as this idea that people, for the first time in human history, could govern themselves. It wasn't just the aristocracy that pushed this forward, but ordinary people who debated over the ratification of the Constitution and the subsequent Bill of Rights. It is one of the most active moments in the history of humanity of people coming together in a civic way to create something. But did they agree? No, not at all.

In the compromises of the Constitution, there was the perpetuation of slavery, even though it had just been proclaimed eleven years earlier that 'all men are created equal'. And yet saying these things began to open the door to permit even the people who knew it wasn't about them to see path forward. Women, Native peoples, free and enslaved black people, and the poor understood that this was the opening salvo in battles that they could fight to make the words truer and less hypocritical. So, for me, in American history, the best sometimes comes out of the worst and sometimes the worst comes out of the best."

                                                     -  Ken Burns

I didn't mean to quote so much of it. But it's a week since the 250th July 4th, and it seems weird that it's not more of a big deal; I really appreciate his vision of this country.

the best box in the world

 She fits in it perfectly.

She hides underneath it, so no one can see her!

except her little face

She chews on the edges, bangs it around, runs into it, pushes it and makes a lot of noise. (especially at bedtime) 

This box is perfect, and she loves it so much.

the course of human events

 The pie came out well, I decorated the table with lots of red, white and blue, I made strawberry coconut milk ice cream and we stayed in with the air conditioning. Of course! One has to make the most of things. I wore my latest dress creation - the coolest thing I own.

I was hoping I'd hear some bells ringing if I stuck my head out, but I suppose city dwellers would be more likely - nobody near me was ringing any bells. I would have rung some, if we had any. I even had the idea to dig around for some little Christmas bell decorations, but I stored my ornaments differently this year and have no idea where they are! I would have rung anything if I could have just found it! 

We were talking a bit about the founders: what made them persist, what gave them their momentum to  shake off the British and start their own government. It's easy to give up, especially when the average person complains in the pub, but that's about all. I did read a book about Samuel Adams where the author gave him credit for never letting go of the idea to throw off British rule; he was constantly talking about it, planting the idea in people's minds. I need to find more books about that. 

And after a week of extreme heat, it was barely seventy today, and raining. Cold air was actually blowing in! I'm happy for the creatures - I couldn't tell if anybody was drinking from the little trays I set out with water. The rabbit above was out in the rain for a while today, and didn't mind the wet at all. Maybe the leaves he ate were jucier.

pie validation

 I was busily peeling and cutting apples when I noticed that a couple of them had a Liberty Bell-shaped sticker.

That's it! It's in the oven.