moving along through summer

the little landscape round was green and woody, and refresh'd the eye*

 

Summer is moving along too fast. I've worked extra a number of times; the heat has kept me in more than I would like - I think, after today, we'll have a break in the hot and humid weather. We haven't even opened the windows the past two nights, but it looks like the upcoming evening temperatures will be down in the sixties - I feel cooler just thinking of it!

There are a few youtube sewing channels I like to follow - these women like to sew all their clothes and they seem to whiz along, so even though I don't, watching them is motivating. My blue linen top just needs the hem binding, and will be done. I realized I've got a lot of blue in my summer wardrobe all of a sudden - oh, well. I think navy suits me pretty well. 

I bought a new rug for my bedroom; Daisy is often on it. I came home from work yesterday, and she was there. It's wool - can it be she has an appreciation for quality?  :D Annie also likes it, but Daisy is with me more often.

*  Coleridge, from Reflections on Having Left a Place of Retirement

"It was a spot which you might aptly call the Valley of Seclusion.......it was a Blessed Place."

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