so far......

So far I have 3 pictures that I really like that I took this summer in Italy. The first is from the Isle of Capri. Though I have more from there that I like, I have not cropped them for here yet. This first one, from the Isle of Capri is outside of the oldest perfume factory on the island. It was so perfect, that all I did was remove a bit of the edges to get it here. I actually could have posted the picture "as is" but preferred to trim it a bit. So, here it is:




The next two pictures are from Assisi. I have another from Assisi that I will post later that I also like, but I need to crop it down a bit, maybe 2 more from Assisi now that I think about it. The first is the bell tower of the Church of St. Clair from outside of the city walls. The second is a residence. It is supposed to be the actual residence of the family of St. Francis, but as many things, it may not be. IN ANY CASE, it makes a grand view and a beautiful statement to the simplicity of stone and flowers! Enjoy them!

The Group of us!

Here we are on the start of our trip in Assisi. As you can tell it was a beautiful day!


Here is the WHOLE bus load we traveled with, or actually, they traveled with US! I must say the students, teachers and grandparent that were with me, were the BEST group on the bus. We were NEVER late and always attentive!


Here we are waiting to get our tickets to the museum. It was crowded that day, but we saw a lot.

NO, we are not rushing the boarder crossing. But we are in ROME and the Swiss Guard are in the Vatican City. An amazing line of demarcation that is!


Last group shot was here in Pompeii. It was a HOT day and we were quite exhausted from our tromp through the ruins. The tour guide was great and explained a lot to all of us about the history of the Ancient City Life of Pompeii. From here we went to lunch at a small cafe and rested and bought more "stuff" to bring home. Then off to our last 2 days , one in Sorrento, and then a full day on the Isle of Capri.

Guido's

Last year, when we were in Rome, we went to this small snack bar for coffee every morning. We became, in the few days, "regulars". I thought I had posted pictures of that event, but I guess I didn't. At Christmas 2006, we sent a card to the "barista" of the snack bar with pictures we had take with him on our last day in the city.
This year, I went back, but it was later in the day and he was not there, so I took this picture of the front of the place to remember it by.


The next day I went to visit Fr. Brian at the Oblate General House. He and I went for a walk and went back to what we from last year called "Guido's". We in fact did not know his name, and he was there!



He remembered me and thanked us all for the pictures we had sent him at Christmas. He also made Fr. Brian and myself a cappuccino (on the house!) which he is holding in the above picture. He did tell me his name, but I am not a great one for remembering names.

Below is a picture of Fr. Brian that I took later in that day in front of St. Peter's. I am truly amazed with that church. The line to get in through security was too long, so I didn't go in on that day, but I never fail to see something new every time I go in!



OK, here is a picture from last year, June of 2006 when we stayed in Rome.

Knockers!

You all have dirty minds! DIRTY. I thought of titling this "Knock knock knocking on Rome's Door", but I went with the best line I knew, short and to the point...knockers. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. Many are from Sienna, a beautiful ancient walled city. More pictures of people places and me later! Enjoy!


If you look close, you can see me taking the picture!

Life Moves Forward

It has been a packed May, 2007. Yes, I aged another year and we added a new puppy to our household. We found her listed in the paper and went to see if she was to come and live with us. What can I say, you see a puppy and all you say is "WHAT A CUTE PUPPY!". So home she came. Cathy and I both agree we "rescued" her from her birth home. When we entered the house where she was at, it smelled of animal urine to the point of making us nauseous. The poor thing had fleas (which we noted on the drive home!) and needed a bath. Mind you she was 4 months old. So, cleaned, deflea-ed, and living in a "clean" house is our new member, Sweet Tea. If you say the name quickly, you get Sweetie. Weinette has taken to her, after 2 days of NOT enjoying a new puppy, and the two of them run and play and enjoy each other like they have known each other for ever! Here she is!


School is out, and I am off to Italy this coming Saturday. I leave San Francisco @ 6AM. AGHHHH...that means I must be at the airport by 4AM!! Oh the sacrifices we make!

The back yard has matured now with the late spring temperatures and the early and late sun makes for some wonderful shadows and images:






and my favorite calla lillies in the front yard are blooming!



Well I will post new pictures when I return from Rome, but be patient. Two days after my return from Rome, Cathy and I are off to Philadelphia for the week of the 4th of July! I will have pictures of from there too to post!

Saddness, yet hope

Aquinas says that all things seek their perfection, and all things find their perfection in God.
The word animal is derived from the Latin word anima,
which we translate as soul or animated spirit.

I know that we, humans, have a rational soul.
Not that we are rational, but that we can choose
between good and evil.

Other animals have an irrational soul, one that
does not choose. Yet a soul it is.
That soul seeks, like all other created things,
its perfection.

It finds that perfection in God.


Today, Stubby was sedated. He passed from this life to the next. He, had sought his
perfection and now he has found that perfection in God. I will miss him, Cathy more than I,
and I have no idea how much Weinette will miss him, but she will in a way that I will never
know until I too have met my perfection. He is happy, he is pain free and he lives in our hearts.


He will be missed, but only for a time.

Why wait???

Here are three more for the day. All of these are from the back yard and are representative of the colour that has bloomed this year. We are most pleased with how the yard and the colours have come back after the trauma it went through when we had the block fence constructed two summers ago. We had to have the sprinklers replaced, the lawn replaced and almost lost four of our trees. That loss alone, of the trees would have been devastating to our yard. Our gardener came in and in one day replaced all the broken lines and had water to the trees. To see the yard today, one would not know the horror of it just 2 years ago. We are most pleased with the results of our labours!

These roses grow over the fence that separates the dog area from the rest of the yard.


The gerber daisies have been with us for a few years now. I keep them in pots and move them about the yard. They make a nice touch of summer colour!


lastly, I love this plant. I put it in a pot about 4-5 years ago. It has come back every year with more and more blooms. Last year and this year have been the best ever. The location it is in fits it well and it has at least six to eight blooms this year!

Sunday 29 April 2007

Well yesterday was a camera in the garden day. Here are some of my favorites of the set, others will be posted later in the week, so keep looking, you too may find one that YOU like!

This is a Flamingo that was given to me by the staff @ Berenda School when I left to work @ MSHS. He (I am not sure it is a "HE" flamingo as I don't look too closely, but let us assume!) is hiding behind the bleeding heart plant looking into the setting sun. Thus the reason for him wearing those FINE sunglasses!


This is our latest art addition to the yard. I call her the Lady of the Garden. A very minimalist piece that we bought in Rosarito in during Spring Break.


I liked the motion of the frog jumping at the flower, sort like he was claiming it as his own!


This is an abstract for me. It is a glass wind chime in the Bradford Pear trees with the sun shining through and illuminating the glass from behind. I like the colours!


So that was Yesterday in the garden....more to come!

Predestination

I have been busy reading for this, but I have yet to finish all I need. I have a book by Reginald Garrigou-lagrange on predestination. I have a book on Aquinas and his ideas of aesthetics. I just got a book on the ideas of Freedom and Grace as understood by Augustine. The more I read the more I can see that predestination is based on a few ideas. The first of these is the power of the creator not being "all powerful". The second being the idea of "original sin" and its effects on the human condition. And thirdly, the one I see as most important, is that the whole teaching of Predestination is a negative teaching. All of it is based on refuting a particular heresy at different times in history. There is no positive teaching, separate from rebuttal teaching. This leads me to a very nebulous idea, that maybe what has been taught is not as sound as it could be. A person in an argument, especially in a religious dispute, will tend to pull ideas and proofs to fit their argument. It is also known that heretical teachings in the early years of Christianity were destroyed so it becomes more difficult to understand the other side of the story. What we know, of a lot of the heresies, are found in the rebuttals where they are quoted or in what the reformed are asked to proclaim. You can discern what the ideas they, the heretics, proclaimed, by what they were ask to profess (usually the opposite of what they were teaching).

So, where to now? I need to find Origin's ideas on predestination and then the Pelagian Heresy. They seemed to have hit on an idea that was quite along the ideas of the Eastern Fathers, and that Augustine ( a Western Father) laid a major fight on them and refused to accept their profession of faith on separate grounds from their reformed teaching on predestination. Seems like he was really taking a lot of the argument "personal" and not as a disagreement. Also Augustine threw in the idea of infant baptism, which added an even more diverse twist to predestination that has haunted the "loving God" image since.

Just an update of where I am, and that I have not forgotten the topic of the year. I know it is the center of conversation at every meal, every coffee house, donut shop and taco stand in the whole world. Okay, so I am alone in this conversation!

another find on the Internet

Towards the beginning of the Month of April, I was going through pictures on the Vatican web site of the funeral of Pope John Paul II. I was clipping through the pictures pretty quick as I have seen them before. I hit on this picture:


The gentleman on the right, rather "plump" and distinguished. I met him last year when I went to the Papal Audience of Benedict XVI. He was standing across from us, smoking and I was intrigued by his insignia that he was wearing. I called him over and asked him some questions. Here is the proof!


He is the Outside Door Chamberlain of the Pope. He is the gentleman leading the procession of the remains of Pope John Paul II in the first photo. To say that I was amazed at his position is to be calm about the event. It was a fun discussion that we had, and I am glad that I called him over and met him. I only wish I had asked his name as well. Next time I will!