Coming up on our busy calendar is the twenty-fifth anniversary of our move here, to this town, in this house. I don’t think this is worthy of a celebration, more worthy of acknowledgement, long time spent in a place, the possibility of roots. But it did make me think about numbers–more as words than as arithmetic or math–and how we use and abuse numbers.
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Category: Musing (Page 1 of 27)
I have stuff. I am a keeper of stuff. I buy plastic boxes because cardboard just doesn’t do it. For me it is memory, saving memories. I have been pretty good at keeping mostly, mostly carrying a lot of weight, stuff that is important to my life and to our life. When we moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina, I cleaned out a lot–not good at yard sales, but rather good at Habitat and Goodwill. I spent the better part of two Christmas seasons after Tom retired cleaning out all the decorations.
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In North Carolina, like much of the East Coast, there is that slice of the year–days only– that is bereft of humidity or cold or heat. If you don’t pay attention, you miss it in all it’s glory. It’s where the weather is almost not there. You walk outside to a silken breeze and sunshine peeking through leaves. And it always reminds me of the first day of school! Continue reading
“Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her, ablaze with light from her eternal King, let all corners of the earth be glad, knowing an end to gloom and darkness.”
Easter. The celebration of Easter falls on the first Sunday after March 21, the Church’s date of the vernal equinox. Easter. The most amazing liturgical season of the entire calendar.
The next Sunday will be Divine Mercy Sunday. Good Friday is the beginning of the Divine Mercy novena. “Jesus said to Sr. Faustina one day: ‘Humanity will never find peace until it turns with trust to Divine Mercy’ (Diary, p. 132). Divine Mercy! This is the Easter gift that the Church receives from the risen Christ and offers to humanity at the dawn of the third millennium.” — St. John Paul II, Divine Mercy Sunday Homily, April 22, 2001
Eastertide. The marked by Divine Mercy Sunday, The Ascension of our Lord and The Solemnity of Pentecost, which crowns and fulfills the Easter season, is a good time to pray for a deeper indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
Alleluia! Alleluia! Let us rejoice and be glad.
Just because there was no social media in Rome doesn’t mean that it was a simpler life. Read any book on Pax Romana and you read of class warfare, slavery and oppression. Ha! Don’t even get me started on Medieval Times and sadly, from the 1700’s on we have more information on just how gawd-awful life could be.
Human rights are a new thing in the history of the world. There is no such thing as the good old days. For some life was a horror. For others life was drub. For some it was great, but keeping it great was a huge chore.
It’s always interesting how we come to cope with the mess of life, how when we interact, we show our concern and care. It’s not just words that are interesting, it’s how people put them together and how we use the words. I’ve written about the British series LEWIS- the spinoff or sequel to MORSE and the term, What Joy? Or No Joy? Which was an interesting way to say, ‘did you find anything good?’ Or, ‘no, there is nothing to report.’ A very succinct way.
Recently I’ve heard the term Stay Frosty, mostly used as a good bye, instead of ‘see ya’, or ‘take care’. [which are throw-away pro-forma statements.] Stay Frosty has a more thoughtful appeal and please note: I hate cold. I mean I have a deep, down, long-abiding, dreaded and wrenching loathing of cold. I rarely put ice in my drinks. I like tap water. I’ll take a neat whiskey over a cold beer any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
So. I looked it up.
Apparently it started in the military? Instead of Stay Cool, it was Stay Frosty. Keep your emotions in check. Don’t get all hot and bothered. But it is more than that. Cool is thought of as laid back, not involved. But Frosty has more of a stand-up, pay attention, keep alert quality.
So in our complicated life, where it feels like every single day we are bombarded. Where every single day there is a problem to solve and less ways to solve it. Where you know , because of all that has happened in the past decade, we can be less inclined to be charitable, or kind, or sympathetic because we are all bombarded with problems. Where there are those who are lashing out, taking their anger to the streets, and mitigating the structures of a civilization, then we need to be alert, be cool, keep our emotions in check and…
Stay Frosty!
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