October Gave A Party

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the leaves by hundreds came

Philip over at Carpe Canem notes that as a child he used to be more attuned to the seasons changing and his grandmother's custom of decorating the house with seasonal flowers. I expect he's right in that children can often look with wonderment at natural phenomenon in a more intense way than adults do. Adults are "use" to the changes, so often times we "forget" to really LOOK.

I took this picture in Northampton, Pa in late October a number of years back. I expect I can find better examples elsewhere - but this is a picture I like because you can see scarlet, red, orange, yellow and green all on the same tree.

I can't say I enjoy it getting darker now that fall is here, but I do miss gathering the fall leaves and putting them in a bowl of water to enjoy as I did when I was young. We don't have much of a fall here in southern California - the changes of season being much more subtle - i.e. drought, fire, monsoon, mudslide, earthquake, then drought again. When I was about 8, we were given a small book of poems to memorize. I do not know if children today learn this poem, but outside of Mother Goose Rhymes, this is the first poem I remember learning:

October’s Party
by George Cooper

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came.
The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples,
And leaves of every name.

The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.

The Chestnuts came in yellow,
The Oaks in crimson dressed;
The lovely Misses maple
In scarlet looked their best.

All balanced to their partners,
And gaily fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow
New fallen from the sky.

Then in the rustic hollow
At hide-and-seek they played;
The party closed at sundown
And everybody stayed.

Professor Wind played louder;
They flew along the ground;
And then the party ended
In jolly "hands around."

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St. Jerome - Patron St. of Librarians

and grumpy people

I didn't want to let the day pass without acknowledging St. Jerome. St. Jerome gave us what was to become the Latin Vulgate. I've often been partial to him, because unlike a lot of saints, Jerome wasn't known for suffering fools gladly. He was a great scholar, and wasn't afraid of women with brains, as evidenced by his friendship with St. Paula. I think I'd have liked St. Jerome in real life, and I hope he'd have liked me too. I'm partial to the doctors of the church. I love St. Therese of Lisieux, but I don't think I could have bitched up a storm with her, like I could have with St. Jerome.

The picture's by Colantonio. St. Jerome is pulling a thorn from the lion's paw. They look like they understand each other.

Happy Birthday to my friend Christine, whose birthday falls on St. Jerome's feast day. She's a librarian too.

Mathetes Award

Philip at carpe canem has tagged my blog with a Mathetes Discipleship Award.

The description of the award from the originating website reads:

Mathetes is the Greek word for disciple, and the role of the disciple (per the Great Commission) it to make more disciples. I'd like to take the opportunity to award five other bloggers with this award and badge for acting in the role of a disciple of Christ. These five all share the message in their own creative ways, and I admire them all for what they do.In the spirit of this award, the rules are simple. Winners of this award must pick five other "disciples" to pass it on to. As you pass it on, I just ask that you mention and provide links for (1)this post as the originator of the award (Dan King of management by God), (2) the person that awarded it to you, and then (3) name and sites of the five that you believe are fulfilling the role of a disciple of Christ. If you know of other deserving recipients of this award, and would like to start a new string, then please post a link to where you've started in in the comments to this post. I would love for many deserving bloggers to be blessed with this recognition.

I'd like to tag: (as far as I know they haven't been tagged yet, either)

1. Ma Beck

2. Shoved to Them

3. Loved Sinner

4. Journey to Therese

5. Swiss Miss
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Inertia Wins

from my junior high days

I learned that inertia is "the tendency of an object to stay in motion if in motion, or of an object to remain at rest if at rest."

Do I get up off this barcalounger and go out to Barrett Lake and have their fish fry? (45 minutes away, close to the border - the last two or three miles going down a mountain into the valley, and it might rain) OR crack open Ballykissangel, Season Six, which I have in my hot medium sized hands? I was at rest. Inertia won. [Big surprise.] Like I can resist watching an episode of Kathleen learning how to drive. It's all old hat to many of you, but I came to the series late, and this is the first time series six is available to me.

Personally, when "push comes to shove" I always thought Fr. Mac was the best priest of the lot. Warts and all.
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"We buried him"

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"We buried her"

How often I've seen those phrases in literature. Usually, when people say that, they don't mean they themselves took part physically in doing the burying. I've attended many funerals, many of close family - and usually, at most now, family members and friends may be given flowers to throw onto the coffin.

Early this afternoon, after a beautiful Mass, Abbot Claude was interred on the grounds of the Abbey. In Paradiso was sung, as the monks took his coffin outside of church to the burial ground. Abbot Charles presided at graveside. I have never attended a priest's funeral before, but in this case towards the end of the commendation, Abbot Charles himself picked up a shovel full of dirt and threw it on the coffin himself.

Just that sound of the dirt hitting the coffin brought a few tears to my eyes, where before there had been none. All the monks blessed the coffin with holy water, and later all present were afforded the opportunity of throwing a shovel full of earth on to the coffin and bless the grave with holy water. It was truly a community effort of burial. It was moving to be given the opportunity of doing a final personal service for Abbot Claude.

And Almighty God will raise him up on the last day.
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Abbot Claude Ehringer, O.S.B. - R.I.P.

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Please remem-
ber

Abbot Claude in your prayers today.



Abbot Claude died this past Sept. 17th, 2007, at Prince of Peace Abbey, Oceanside, Ca. He would have been 99 this November. His funeral Mass and burial will take place, Thursday, Sept 27, 2007, at Prince of Peace Abbey, Oceanside, Ca. Our loss is heaven's gain.

This photo was taken last year on Sept. 18th. Please check Fr. Stephanos's blog for full biography. I can personally attest Abbot Claude knew just the right thing to say at exactly the right moment.

Eternal rest, grant unto him, O Lord.
And let perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, Through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Amen.
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Treasure Chest - ONLINE!

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God bless their little hearts American Catholic baby boomers (and about a 1/2 generation before the boomers) will remember the magazine TREASURE CHEST. It was only sold in Catholic grade schools. It was published from 1946 until the early 1970s. It was essentially a Catholic oriented comic book. The Adventures of Chuck White was a perennial serial comic. The comic also had many stories of interest to Catholic youth, or stories with a Catholic twist. And they often had items of general interest.

Some kind folks at American Catholic History Research Center at Catholic University of America, decided that it was a great idea to scan in each and every page of Treasure Chest from 1946-1963. I started reading regularly the year after that. [Dang, I wish they had 64-65, I never DID find out how one serial episode ended that year, because we moved!] But I am very grateful to see all that went on before! For instance, a while back (before I started blogging) - I read the first two years worth of the Chuck White series. I had no idea he was a convert! The very first issue starts in the spring. It came out every other week from Sept - June, as a rule. It was a real treat.

See here for the story of the 1st Catholic Mass in the English speaking part of what was to become the US or here for a story about Mother Cabrini, or here for the ubiquitous Chuck White. [Sometimes the server goes down for maintenence, so don't let it bug you if you are trying to read it later at night and it's not connecting.]

I feel sorry today's kids miss out. The sort of thing we got in Treasure Chest was often just plain fun, but it reinforced/supplemented the lessons we got in school (or added to them!) and bolstered our home training as well.
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She'd have worn them if she had them

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I think

The photo's a bit fuzzy, simply because it was cropped from a larger photo. The full photo shows the instigator, who shall go nameless. Given the grin on the instigator's face, I didn't have the heart to remove the glasses. It's a test, anyway, to see how observant the pastor is.

Trust me, if your parish is in a tourist area in the American Southwest, you are going to have a drawer full of left behind sunglasses. Sometimes they are put to uses the original owner could not have foreseen. I expect in Alaska Our Lady may have acquired a pair of mukluks, a sled dog or two, and a parka. It's the thought that counts. Sorta.
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Werewolves!!!

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Don't miss the "Werewolves post" from On the Side of Angels. This sounds like one of the best party games ever. One Moderator, two werewolves, a seer, and a bunch of villagers, werewolves ripping people to bits at night, and village mobs lynching people by day. What's not to like?!

All this calls for a little Werewolves music by Mr. Zevon. Of course, I would be really good at this game - I mean, it's obvious, isn't it? Look for the werewolves to have "perfect" hair. Especially if they are from London. So help me, once my mother insisted we get on the "wrong bus" in London - and we passed right by "Lee Ho Fuk's" - I thought my mother was a genius - how did she know that was one of my favorite songs that year?

(Lon Chaney, Jr. walking with the Queen)

No, this post doesn't have a blessed thing to do with Catholicism, other than be prepared to meet death at any time, by any means.
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YES! It RAINED!

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That black "line" across the photo is my wind-
shield wiper, which I had to use today - for RAIN! It hasn't rained here in ages. It rained all of 0.12" today, and I was thrilled.

It is wonderfully clear after a rain. So I went to San Diego's Mission Trails Regional Park, a few miles north of my house. The photo below shows the view north of the visitor's center, down into Mission Gorge.



This next photo shows a section of the Old Mission Dam - built by the Native Indians under the supervision of the Franciscan Fathers.


Construction was completed between 1813-1816. It fell into disuse after the early 1830s due to constant flooding. It introduced a good water supply for agriculture and crops. The Franciscans of Mission San Diego de Alcala brought agriculture to the Indians in this area. Before that a main source of their diet was wild game, fish, and things like acorns. Efforts to build a dam had been tried as far back as 1775. This dam is a historical landmark, and was a frequent destination for San Diego picnickers in the early 1900s.

Water conservation is so important in California - as is the aqueduct system. On Labor Day when I stopped in Santa Nella, I also had occasion to drive over the present day aqueduct. This aqueduct is over 400 miles long.




(This video is 11 seconds long.)

No one who lives in California long, ever takes water for granted!
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A Splendid Time was Had by All

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I don't usually have much of a social calendar on Friday nights.

But I did tonight. Our parish choir held a "Hurray for Hollywood" dinner tonight. (They had two performances/dinners last week.) Some mingle-mingle- marguerita-marguerita followed by dinner and then the show, which kicked off with "Hurray for Hollywood" and ended with "Thanks for the Memories." The "crew" even managed to get dessert on the table at the top of act two during the opening act number "Be our Guest."

Quite fun to just to get together for a social, when you don't have to "do" anything. (Unless you were part of the choir or kitchen crew - then you worked your tail off!)
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Fall Equinox Fun

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Yes, you really CAN have an egg stand up on its end at the spring or fall equinox.


You can even do it all the other 364 or 365 days of the year too. The season is slightly changing. I can tell. I had a turkey drumstick for lunch the last two days running.
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Shoved to Them: Purgatory

Shoved to Them: Purgatory

Has the perfect post on why purgatory is a lot like a visit to the Emerald City in the land of Oz. NOT to be missed!

Is it just me?

I thought every Catholic carried some-
thing like this

Over on Fr. Mildew's blog, he mentions the difficulty UK hospital chaplains have in finding out if patients are Catholic. He mentions the roadblocks he's seen in the UK and wondered if people could tell him the situation in various countries.

I got to thinking along those lines. When I was growing up in the Catholic schools and in the home, we were taught it was a good idea to carry an "in case of emergency" card. I.E. a card that identified you as a Catholic, so that "they" could notify a priest so you could receive last rights or whatever other assistance you needed (like visits and Communion, etc.)

On the back of mine it has spaces for places/people to contact - i.e. relatives/close friends -- I added my parish information. As a single person without immediate family I find this particularly useful. But is it still common practice for people to carry such cards?
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