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First Day of Fall
The summer is gone, and it will never return. Until next year. But that summer will not be the same as this one was, and nothing is ever the same, but there is nothing new under the sun, whether a summer sun or a winter one, and the full moon waters the earth with its silver light tonight. Silver light tonight. Mrs. Orr and I sat and talked for a long time about the forces that are prodding this country and this world down certain paths. It’s difficult to talk about these things, but it has ever been difficult to deliberately choose to defy evil. Hamlet defied augury; Mrs. Orr…
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Grace In Darkness
Today’s Morning Prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours was soothing to me as I sat before the crucifix and prayed the ancient prayers. A selection from Psalm 92: Though the wicked spring up like grass and all who do evil thrive: they are doomed to be eternally destroyed. But you, Lord, are eternally on high. See how your enemies perish; all doers of evil are scattered. It is indeed good to be reminded that there is nothing new under the sun, and that evil days have always plagued our race. The wicked are numerous. Those who do evil do thrive. But…I hope in the promises that God sees the…
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Sexagesima Snow
If you look closely (or if you can enlarge it) at the photo above, you’ll see a black spot near the bottom, just to the right of the center of the frame. That’s a black bear. I saw him while Jinx and I were out on our walk this morning. The bear was several hundred yards away, loping away from us towards the south, but I knew that if Jinx spotted him, it would be Katy-bar-the-door and every-botty would be kung-fu fighting. I yelled and made silly noises to distract the spotted menace while trying to snap a few pics of the bear. This was the clearest of the ones…
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Cause And Effect And So Forth
While getting ready for work this morning, I thought of the bicyclist I used to see every morning on the side of the road near my office. It’s been months since I last saw him, and I spent some time speculating about where he is and what happened to him. Did he find another job? Move? Get injured? I put the bicyclist out of my mind and went about my morning routine. I left for work and spent the drive in the half-daydreaming, half-praying state so common to me. About a mile from my office, there he was, on the side of the road, pedaling steadily up the incline. I…
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Winter Solstice
The longest day of the year, significant to my ancestors, my people, those who endured in silence the things that make me wince and retreat. I love this day, and I do not love what comes after it…the gradual truncation of the nights and the incremental encroachment of more and more sunlight, until that day comes, that day that comes every year, that day when I go out into the world of men and hear a stereo in a car or see a female dressed like a camp follower or wade through deluded suburbanites jamming the aisles of the store where I’m trying to buy a spark plug and they’re…