Level Wise

Now might be a good time to remember the speech of Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont in 1095 here:

Why Flowers Don’t Have Faces
by Amy, age 8

Before Adam ate his apple,
the flowers had faces.

Before you saw smiles,
but now you just see traces.

Now to see the smiles
you must travel miles.

The devil long before
had destroyed our smiles.

That is why to see them
you must travel miles.

This has been the first morning I’ve seen daylight in Orland for a long time. So, after having a good smoke with my Christmas Peterson (thank you, honey), I loaded everyone up in the van and headed to the Saturday swap meet in town.

On the way, we stopped by a local orchard and bought a bag of fresh navel oranges and a few jars of homemade jam. The proprietor has three acres of citrus, which he ripens on the tree and sells direct to the consumer in a little roadside store. The store is open for about 6 months out of the year, and also sells locally grown kiwi, mandarins, grapefruit, almonds, pecans, and walnuts. The third-generation owner has a regular job with the sherriff’s department, but he will be retiring next year to work the family business full-time.

I keep up occasional correspondence with the prioress of a cloistered Carmelite monastery, and she pointed out to me that our daughter’s baptism (Jan. 2nd) coincided with the birthday of St. Therese of Lisieux. I didn’t know this. Now this is exceedingly cool because I have a devotion to St. Therese, and last year I received as a gift an icon of her from the convent at Lisieux itself, blessed by a priest, and it is this very icon that hangs over Marie’s bassinet. More proof that Someone is watching out for us in ways strange and mysterious…

Little note: I know many people pronounce Lisieux as “Li-soo” because it’s easier that way, but in actual fact it is pronounced “Liz-ee-uh.”