O that my people would heed me,
that Israel* would walk in my ways!
At once I would subdue their foes,
turn my hand against their enemies.
The Lord's enemies would cringe at their feet
and their subjection would last forever.
- from Psalm 81
*Israel here does not refer to the modern state of Israel, but to the Lord's (supposedly) faithful people. Christians, or at least Catholics, take it to mean themselves.
It rained, heavily, a while ago. I think it's going to be drier after this - the air, I mean. This week we've had a reprieve from the high heat, but it was more humid that before, so the air conditioning was still in use. What would we do without the weather to complain about? But I won't have to water the plants outside.
The Yearling is so enjoyable and I'm surprised at it. Well, these people had a hard life, so "enjoyable" is not the best word, but the writing just brings you along smoothly and willingly. I've noticed it basically consists of lots of short, almost abrupt sentences, which doesn't sound good, does it? But it doesn't seem to matter, it's just her style and it works well.
"Jody went around the side of the house and took down the milk-gourd from the wall. He felt as light as the gourd. It seemed to him in his liberation that he might spread his arms and float over the gate like a feather. The dawn was still nebulous. A mocking-bird made a thin metallic sound in the chinaberry. The Dominick rooster crowed uncertainly. This was the hour at which Penny arose, allowing Jody to sleep a little later. The morning was still, with a faint fluttering of breeze through the tops of the tall pine trees. The sunrise reached long fingers into the clearing. As he clicked the lotgate, doves flew from the pines with a whistling of wings."
- Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
I'm thinking of making a plain summer top, something simple that takes a yard or slightly more of fabric, like the One Yard Minimalist Top on Etsy; I have to look around to see if I've got something here.
This morning I looked down and Daisy was playing with her reddish ball in the kitchen. Honestly, it did try to get through my subconscious that there isn't a red ball, but not quite - anyway, I picked it up to toss into the living room, but - it was a little tomato! That one in the photo above. Yeah, trying to get things off the counter, but it doesn't always work out. Which reminds me: the last time I cleaned the counter, I put some stuff on the table - she was sleeping somewhere. After a while, I turned and she was sitting on the wooden cutting board! I almost tossed it immediately, but I actually Never use it for cutting, we have something else. So, I sprayed with vinegar, etc., and scrubbed. It's mainly useful for resting a large, hot pan on it. So, it's still with us, but if I ever think it may be used for cutting by anyone, it will go into the trash.
Yeah, she's cute. She was looking into my eyes earlier, and so earnestly, that you can't be angry for long. She tries to belong, she tries to understand, she tries to be good, I'm sure. But for some reason she can't figure it out. Annie does not look deeply into the eyes, she is a simpler being. But she's also a lovely cat. They're good companions for each other and for us.
I am very slowly going through The Distant Mirror, about the 14th century in Europe. I picked it up today, and was surprised:
"Long before Columbus, they knew the world was a globe, a knowledge proceeding from familiarity with the movement of the stars, which could be made comprehensible only in terms of a spherical earth. It was said by the cleric Gautier de Metz in his Image du Monde, the most widely read encyclopedia of the time, that a man could go around the world as a fly makes the tour of an apple... Visually, people pictured the universe held in God's arms with man at its center. It was understood that the moon was the nearest planet, with no light of its own, that an eclipse was the passage of the moon between the earth and the sun; that rain was moisture drawn by the sun from the earth which condensed into clouds and fell back as rain; that the shorter the time between thunder and lightning, the nearer the source."
- Barbara Tuchman
I mean, my plants being eaten.
"To those who respond to the beauty of [the Church's liturgical prayers], saying them is like singing a favorite love song, the repetition of which only adds to its depth, its rhythm becoming like a heartbeat of love itself. Each time the believer says, "Lord, have mercy" with real ardor, it is like one more wave in the ocean of his relationship to Christ, just as in human love each "I love you" is richer in meaning because it includes more moments of misunderstanding which have been overcome by love."
- Ronda Chervin
Last Sunday at mass, probably during what we call the general intercessions, Fr. T. mentioned the attempt on Donald Trump's life the day before. He wasn't getting political, but he had something to say.
He spoke of a "civilization of death". He said an assassination attempt was a kind of blasphemy, to try to take the life of another, as if the sacrifice of Christ was not enough - that the death of someone would be necessary to make another person feel better. It was strong language - between his thoughts on this and the peaceful chanting of the visiting priest, it was a lot to digest.
Mother, now that the need is
at its greatest and the powers
of darkness seem to have free
rein, we come to you with
childlike trust and implore
your powerful aid. We
consecrate ourselves to you.
Preserve us in the love of
your Son, protect us from the
evil of this world and lead us
safe to the heart of God.
Amen.
- from Aid to the Church in Need
Every rabbit we see outside get scrutinized for any sign of scarring on the right side, or fur that looks wonky, looking for our little patient. Today I saw a full-grown rabbit with a bit of fur sticking out on his right side. He was with a little one and I got lots of closeups.
His fur has different shadings than the little guy, who has a more uniform color. And the big guy has a dark spot on his back. The fur had peeled off the back and we'd put it back in place. It was off completely on an area on the right side.
In other news, I had put in the elastic waist on my skirt, but it was too poofy. Lawn is soft and does have a sort of drape, but not much weight. So, I removed the elastic and trimmed a bit off the upper edge, thinking I'd just make a waistband. Until it dawned on me that I'd also have to put in a zipper; I didn't want to do that; I didn't want to unpick a French seam on a lightweight fabric. So I decided to put in a few small pleats to take away some of the fullness. So far, so good. But then I had to cut a piece to make a casing to take the place of the part I'd cut off - anyway, I think it'll be all right now. But I have to try it on.
Yesterday was the feast of St. Bonaventure.
[God] created man in orderly fashion, so must he also restore him in orderly fashion.
First, the work of restoration must respect freedom of the will. Christ, therefore,
restored man through his all-efficacious example.
An example is all-efficacious when it both invites to the summit of virtue
and shows the way there.
I just went out the water my little garden - the air is hot. Our Julys are not usually like this. Anyway, I went out there and saw that somebody ate the tops of my two bean plants and much of my curly parsley. The rabbits, I suppose; there are many of them.
I am a poor gardener, but I'll keep going, because I like the experience of gardening, and learning how to grow things. I hope they don't eat all my plants!
We had a visiting missionary priest at Mass yesterday; he was of the Redemptorist order. Polish, but the accent didn't sound like it to me; he had served in Denmark and other places; when they come, it's always to raise money for their poorer locations. After speaking a little while he suddenly began to sing a very simple melody - a chant, really - calling on the Holy Spirit. It was unexpected, beautiful and very moving - everybody felt it. After getting used to the melody we joined in for a while, and then it was done.
O Wisdom of God, you are the light by which we see:
- shine on the paths we are to walk this day.
- from Magnificat, July 2024
"Something about a robin makes me feel he/she would be very good on committees."
- Gladys Taber
I am almost finished with my blue lawn skirt; the elastic is pulled through the channel and the hem is basted and pressed. I'm not sure I like the elastic waist, though. So, I may switch to a waistband - I'll think about it.
I harvested a small cabbage from my garden for dinner today! A customer of my brother's gave us five of the plants and I took one. My garden is a mess, but the one bed where I actually have things planted is growing like crazy! I'm thrilled.
I finished To Kill a Mockingbird with Close Reads - it just so happens it was published on this date in 1960. The conversation on the podcast was enjoyable, and we all agree that every page was beautifully written, and frankly, couldn't be improved upon. Another of the modern American classics, like The Great Gatsby, which I read last summer. I wouldn't read Gatsby again, but this one I would.
My brother bought a packet of Italian bean seeds to plant - we liked them so much last year. It wasn't long before he noticed the tendrils and had to put up poles for beans that were supposed to be the bush variety.
"We have the bad habit of thinking that faith is nothing else but believing that God exists. But such faith in no way distinguishes the nonbeliever from the Christian. How many men fully admit a force that surpasses them, without being for that reason Christians? Faith is not the simple intellectual certitude about the existence of God nor even the assurance of the existence of Christ. Faith is that force which comes from on high in an always contemporary Pentecost and opens our mind to God's way of looking at things.
If one truly searches for him, he searches for him as the key to all existence, as the One without whom nothing makes sense."
- Fr. Bernard Bro, from Magnificat, July 2024
A couple of weeks ago I notice one of the tomato plants on the side of the house was wilting, so I watered it. Meanwhile, my brother came home and said he saw some grass clippings scattered around that plant and he surmised it might be a rabbit's nest, so he was just going to call that plant a loss. There are more rabbits around.
I just was coming up from the basement and heard him call to me, hurry up, but carefully! There's a mother rabbit nursing her baby right out here at the foot of the back steps. Oh, my word, there was.
It was a haphazard affair, I have to say: she was sitting upright and the babe was just sort of hanging underneath, doing its best. It's a wonder that rabbits survive. It looked kind of like this.
Anyway, this subject has almost trumped the fact that it's July 4th, and we had a nice time. I tried to make a red, white and blue dessert.
