Recently in Personal News Category

Perhaps you have noticed that the pace of this blog is. . . well. . . let's be polite and say, "Lethargic." I've slowed down a lot--or so it seems. And yet, what has slowed down is my pace of posting and the raw, anxious gnawing that acompanied a day or two without a post. I came to the earth-shattering conclusion that most of what I had to share just wasn't all that important.

This liberating realization has yet to work its way into the rest of my life, and yet, I cannot but think that if it did, I, and those around me, would be far better off. By slowing down I have an opportunity to pick and choose amongst the inanities I would share with all. That means fewer inanities and a more patient reader population. (One must wonder about those who hang about waiting for the newest post, but one is grateful nevertheless that such maunderings have a following, no matter how small.)

So things go slowly, and I hope that I can move the slowness into matters that are far too rushed for me.

Traveling for work again. Arrived in San Antonio today. After checking in to conference, went to Rosario's for lunch--highly recommended if you're stopping by San Antonio. After lunch went on the mission trail--Concepcion, San José, San Juan, and San Francisco del Espada. This last is most interesting. Within the mission Church there is a stature of San Francisco (supposedly Assisi) dressed in wildly inappropriate golden garments and looking a lot like someone from China, with something that looks like a black lace halo on his head. In addition, the Saint is standing on a skull. The name means something like Saint Francis of the Sword. (The del Espada may refer to the patronage of a family that helped to build the mission.)

San Antonio is a wonderful, bright, friendly city. There isn't all that much to do within the city and so it becomes a perfect place for relaxation amidst some beautiful scenery.

Once I return home and have some of my other devices, I'll try to post some pictures of these wonder missions.

Dinner at Rudy's (of course)--absolutely no atmosphere whatsoever, but the really excellent food more than makes up for it.

Tomorrow perhaps more.

Enjoying a trip to Boston. Arrived at 1:30 or so at the hotel and by 2:00 was out heading for the common and walking the freedom trail. Oh and now my feet are paying for it. Before going to the green, however, I stopped in to pick up the next major read after the truly exquisite Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. Next up: Henry James's Portrait of a Lady. The version I got, an inexpensive paperback, unfortunately reproduces the New York Edition. I would prefer to read it unredacted, but beggars can't be choosers.

Walked from the Common to Breed's Hill and back, taking in all the sites and the smells of Boston. (The North End at dinner time--I can't begin to tell you about THAT olfactory experience.) Had Curried Pineapple Shrimp for dinner and may enjoy a dessert in my room--I don't really know yet.

Among the many marvels I have seen (some for the second time)--the grave of "Hester Prynne," the grave of John Winthrop, the Graves of John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin's Parents, Samuel Sewall, Paul Revere Mother Goose (yes, THAT Mother Goose), Samuel Adams and the victims of the Boston Massacre. Saw the North Church tower belfry arch from both sides of the water and reveled in the magnificent surroundings near Breed's ("Bunker") Hill.

I hope the business trip will allow for a little more time to see Quincy Massachusetts. If so, I will have visited houses and/or offices of the first six presidents of the United States. I find that unbelievably cool!

Synchronicty, not coincidence.

Reading The Sound and the Fury and what should transpire other than a trip to Boston. Why is this remarkable? Well, I can't really tell you straight out without giving away much of the book; however, suffice to say that one of the main characters has something critical and large happen to him in Boston.

So, reading The Sound and the Fury during Holy Week when it occurs during Holy Week, and visiting Boston, the site of one of the main events of the book. Wow! What a tremendous experience.

I have more to share on this. But now a delightful little tidbit. Arrived in Boston, walked down to the commons, stopped in a small used book shop near Emerson College and happened to pick up a first edition of The Collected Short Stories of William Faulkner for less than it would cost me to pick up a paperback edition. Oh, how wonderful to be back in a city where literacy is valued, perhaps even treasured.

One last point--the soaps and lotions and shampoos in this hotel are all verbena-scented. I have to come to the chilly late-winter north to smell "The Odor of Verbena." If the significance of that is not clear, google the phrase in quotation marks.

May God bless all who read this during this Holy Week. Indeed, may He bless anyone who reads this every--so few are my readers, I can afford to cast my blessings far abroad.

Yesterday I went out shopping for clothes--a chore that I consider far more onerous than cleaning out gutters, but hélas, I cannot ask my wife to do so because my entire wardrobe would be red. (I'm told that I look good in red--which would be remarkable considering I don't look good in anything at all--I don't know why red would improve on nature.)

Anyway, we went into this trendy urban department store place. You know the kind, patchwork shorts and oodles of orange or fuschia or this season's color, whatever it may be. Walking in past the cosmetics counter we were greeted by this woman whose hair reminded me of the Gary Oldham do in The Fifth Element but was shaggier. The bangs were like a shiny black paint and the hair on the sides looked kind of matte black. The overall effect was such that I thought, "Woman, you really need to do somehting with that hair." Then I realized, much to my horror, that she had already done something with it and this was the result!

Ah fashion, I'll never get it.

Spent yesterday getting to Queens, NYC.

Got here and the person I was to meet on business was already here. He called shortly thereafter and we got together and walked down the street to have some dim sum for lunch.

After a brief afternoon business meeting, one of our other colleagues drove us into the city. Dropped us off near the Natural History Museum. From that venue we walked to 42nd street via Columbus Circle, took the subway to the village and wandered around until we got hungry. Overall, a really excellent way to spend the evening. The person I was with was a New York native and was really able to show me some of the amazing sights of NYC. I am very grateful.

Back this evening, hopefully to continue update tomorrow. Right now-- 5:45, off to the first meeting of the day.

So, depending on how it goes, there may be a lot of opportunity for posting. If so, I have a number of things I wanted to share from my reading of As I Lay Dying--some humor, some observations in the hope that a better acquainted reader might help some fundamental understandings.

Spent some time yesterday visiting a Carmelite Community in St. Augustine. That was a wonderful experience. They meet in a house near the Mission of Nombre de Dios the site of which was where the first Mass was offered in the United States in 1565. In addition, the shrine of Our Lady of La Leche is there as well, and a number of other interesting buildings and memorials.

But overall, St. Augustine is a sad little city. It has a beautiful, small historical district, that is so overrun by commercial interests that it is hard to identify anything at all historical about the place. You walk by houses that are hundreds of years old and discover that they've been converted to sales areas for new age relics or bikinis or lingerie.

The Castillo de San Marcos, as a National Park site, is well maintained, well kept (as much as a building almost four hundred years old composed of local coquina can be. It marks a high point of any visit to the city. It overlooks Mantanzas bay and the Bridge of Lions which is under reconstruction now. But as for the rest, it's hard to believe that you're walking through an area of any great vintage--the concerns and the obvious plights--homeless, drug-addled, just plain vicious, are so evident and so numerous, that one is left with the sad recognition that this most historic of cities is in desperate need of God's mercy and help. It was more than a little sad.