Latest book that I once culled from my bookshelf but now feel the need to re-buy: The Gary Snyder Reader. I don’t like accumulating books, but this is the cost.

We had a small outbreak of mosquitos in our house. Mysterious, since it’s the dead of winter here. We finally found that they were breeding in a watering can that my wife uses to water houseplants. But there had to be a mosquito alive in midwinter to lay the eggs, right? Mystery still unsolved.

We watched Sound of Metal a couple of nights ago and I’m still thinking about it. Sometimes it got uncomfortably close to being a Movie With a Message, but then went beyond that in striking ways. Deep.

I’m happily settled into Linux and, frankly, feel a bit like one of the cool kids.
When you get down to it, desktop operating systems are pretty much the same, and a lot of the partisanship about them resembles the pseudo-feud between Ford and Chevy pickup owners.
But switching over was simple, and exploring a niche-y piece of tech is fun.
A plus, which many would find a drawback: there’s much less temptation to chase after apps, because there aren’t that many. All I needed or wanted was a browser, LibreOffice, MuseScore, and a text editor, and that’s what I have. I probably won’t see any reason to go back.

I think my sourdough starter is dead. SAD! The loaf has been sitting for 4 hours without doing much of anything. This evening I’ll bake it no matter what, perhaps use the result for a doorstop.

It is worth thinking which kinds of “small steps toward a much better world” do not produce such countervailing effects.

This made me think a bit about the possibility of actions for good that avoid a neutralizing counter-action. I wonder if there really are any?

Finished Dune. It does pick up quite a bit in the second half, and balances suspense against a sense of inevitability in interesting ways. By the end of the book, it seemed clear to me that Paul is on his way to becoming a monster, adding some depth to the hero’s-journey formula. (What will they do with this in the upcoming movie?) The book has some major holes, but I ended up appreciating it pretty well. More reflections to come, maybe, on the blog.

@ablerism

Drawing with the grandkids on a cold snowy day. After a short sledding expedition, we all got cold and came home for cocoa and indoor activities.

From another upstater…

Reactivated a Hello page, a good idea that I first came across here on micro.blog.

Post: Blessing the Waters. That’s me in the red coat.

RIP Fr Moses Berry A replay of a post I did a while ago, linking to some powerful words of his that come back to me now.

I went to the dentist today. The office has a resident cat who wanders around the place freely, which is one reason I like going to this dentist. I’m amazed that a clinical facility is allowed to have an in-house cat. But I’m grateful.

From a little essay by @ayjay:

…human beings perfectly well understand legalism, which they rename “justice,” and perfectly well understand antinomianism, which they rename “freedom.” What we can’t understand is the grace of God.

So we keep turning our simple wheel. Today it’s justice prized and freedom despised; tomorrow will be the opposite. The bacchanal is coming. Get ready.

I’m re-reading Dune for the first time in 50+ years. The earlier part is a political intrigue story to which the science-fiction element is almost incidental. As a teen I read it as a heroes-and-villains story, but it seems to me now that I was reading that in: there may be valorous individuals, but none of the factions/parties are the Good Guys. An interesting theme is that our mental powers are far greater than we suppose, and are only held back by unwillingness to develop them.

Some trivia for you vinyl fans:
>When determining the album’s track order, (Peter) Gabriel wanted to have “In Your Eyes” as the final track, but its prominent bassline meant it had to be placed earlier on the vinyl edition where the phonograph stylus had more room to vibrate. This restriction was no longer an issue for later CD releases, and the track was placed at the end of the album.

Wikipedia

Snow day! It’s nice to look out at the Winter Wonderland, but I think it will be the first time ever that we’ll miss Sunday divine liturgy due to weather.

Feeling an odd desire to read some Hermann Hesse, something I’ve never done. Please talk me out of this, or tell me I’m not just yearning to relive the 1960s.

New Year’s post: Let us lift up our hearts!

I’ve been introduced to a great term: the cozynet. I think it’s meant to be pejorative, but it describes just where I want my small remaining bit of internet energy to be.

Revisiting the Tassajara Cookbook with great pleasure. “With practice you can make yourself at home in the physical experience of cooking so that there is an invigorating flow of energy, rather than the solidified drudgery that marks much of our lives.”

This year the grandchildren got to choose the menu for Christmas dinner, so of course we had hot dogs and mac & cheese. (Also a salad imposed by mom). Unconventional but we had a fine time.

Still here, @annahavron ? Missing your sanity and wishing you a blessed Christmas!

Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One
and the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One.
Angels with shepherds glorify Him;
the wise men journey with the star.
Since, for our sake, the eternal God was born as a little child.
- Kontakion of Nativity
(Image: Ethiopian icon of the Nativity)

Read Taniguchi, The Walking Man, a wonderful ode to looking around. My first Manga-style book, so reading back-to-front, right-to-left, was an interesting exercise.