Merry Christmas!

A gift from my best friend.  The original is in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.  I used to admire it after every shift when I worked there in the late 1990s.

From the Parent File

Isabel: "Do Mexicans eat Mexican food every night for dinner?"
She asks this as if we were not Mexican and while Theresa is making pasta for dinner.
John: "Well, do Americans eat American food every night?"
Isabel: "Yeah, I guess they do."
John: "And what do you consider to be American food?"
Isabel: "Nachos . . ."

Put this into the "Did I just hear myself saying that?" file:

Theresa: "Laurence, do not tie your green beans in knots!"

62nd Annual Santa Paula Optimist Club Santa Paula Christmas Parade

"Half the town watches it, because the other half is in it."

Alan chose to be in it with his baseball team rather than with the Boy Scouts.

Alan is seated on the left.

Gregory chose to be in it with the Cub Scouts rather than with his baseball team.

Gregory is in the khaki shirt.  Stephen is in front of him on the left.

Isabel held the banner for the American Heritage Girls.

Juliana is in the truck, right behind the driver, but she is hard to see.

Laurence was the perfect companion to watch the parade with.*  Although he did not get any candy in this shot, he came home with a sizable stash.

Notice how Alan seems to be aiming at certain individuals . . .

In honor of Grandpa Alan, the Korean War Veterans:

In Santa Paula we've got tractors . . .

. . . and pony buggies . . .

and whatever the h*&% these are . . .

To those who live outside California: I am sorry.  I tried to crop the pictures as much as possible but I couldn't hide all the crystal clear blue sky.  By the way, it was about 75 degrees out.

*If you still hold to the old idea that it is improper to end a sentence with a preposition, what would you do with this one?

Homeschool: Imaginary v. Real

This is how some imagine it:

This is the reality we know:

Don't worry, Stephen's face wasn't clean for long.

Aphorism

Juliana: "I like the name 'Victoria'.  It's like 'tortilla'."

New Bike Rack

Our garage reorganization required a new bike rack.  I had admired very much the rack made by my brother-in-law, Bill.  But we needed the bikes to sit at 45 degrees to the wall, which required a redesign and some special order pipe fittings.

(Click on the photo to make it larger.)

It may look like some of the upright pieces are not perfectly vertical: I must have tilted the camera when taking the picture.  And the curve in the upper back cross piece is there by design:  having the pipe under tension increases the friction at the joints and make the whole structure more sturdy.  (Yeah, that's the ticket.)

Almost all of the kids helped with construction.  There are a lot of little pieces of pipe that were cut with a miter box.  And the joints were assembled with a mallet, no glue.

For Aunt Rachel

Not feeling burned . . .

From ABC News:

A new investigation provides fresh evidence that restaurants and markets continue to dupe seafood lovers into paying top dollar for low-grade fish.


As part of a special “Fishy Business” series, the Boston Globe spent five months buying fish from dozens of establishments throughout Massachusetts and sending the samples off to a lab in Canada. DNA tests found 48 percent of the fish had been mislabeled as a more expensive type of fish.


Fish samples were gathered from 134 restaurants, grocery stores and seafood markets, and the results were staggering.  Every one of 23 white tuna samples tested turned out to be something other than tuna. In most cases the fish labeled tuna was escolar, which the Globe said was “nicknamed the Ex-Lax of fish by some in the industry for the digestion problems it can cause.”  


All but two of the 26 red snapper samples were another kind of fish, the Globe reported.


Is there a lesson here?  (Can you reason with PEOPLE WHO EAT FISH?!)  It must be this:  Shop at Walmart.

For now, not all the Globe’s results were so disheartening. Every sample tested from Walmart, Trader Joes and  BJ’s Wholesale was correctly labeled, as was every sample of mahi mahi and swordfish.


The whole story is here.

Cub Scout Family Camp Out

Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 15-16

Christopher's birthday was the 16th.

The group listens in rapt attention to the fire captain explain his job and his equipment.

 Alan helps explain some first aid procedures.

 Isabel helps a younger girl wash her hands.

 Stephen loves his little sister.

 Setting up for mass.

 Laurence sits front and center.

 The whole group.  My boys knew that they were supposed to be in uniform, but they also knew that they had worn their shirts the day before and they were dirty.  They chose clean clothes over rules about being in uniform.  Good job, boys!

More Laurence

(old picture)

Laurence wanted toast for breakfast, but as he could not reach the toaster without a stool, I put the bread in it for him.  When it popped up, I took it out and laid it on the counter.  It was just the first shade past golden brown, but Laurence said, "I don't like it with all that black on it."  He's a little hyper about his toast being too dark.  So I turned the toast over and the other side was several shades lighter.  "That's better," he said.  "Now can you butter it?"

P.S.  Did you notice the correct use of the word "laid" up above?  Another pair of verbs that fits the lay/lie and set/sit pattern is raise/rise.

Cub Scout Car Wash

How you pay for a year of fun in scouting . . .

Do I look important?

Stephen's shorts are still dry here, but not here:

Gregory is in the tan shirt.

Boy Scout Campout

Alan's troop went fishing in the High Sierras last weekend.  ("High" = 6,000 ft.)  We stayed in the Sequoia National Forrest.  By  mistake the local lake was stocked with twice the normal number of trout, but we did our best to help them get things back to normal.  Alan earned his fishing merit badge by catching, cleaning, cooking and eating a fish.

We fished by this tree for a few hours and I grew to love it.  It stands tall, seemingly scoffing at the forest fire that once scarred it.  The shape of the burn reminds me of the cathedral pattern in the grain of oak.  The picture doesn't show the bright sheen of the blackened area.

Alan was using a rod, although it is not seen here.  He pulled in four trout in about 6 hours of fishing.  I caught a few in a couple hours and then decided it was more relaxing just to watch the fish jump.  Our campground was about 50 yards from the shore.

Stephen: Tiger Cub

Stephen began his Cub Scout adventure this evening.  (His shirt still bears some of the patches earned by his older brother.)  He made trail mix, worked through the Bobcat badge requirements and started a scrapbook.

Vin Scully Misquoted

From Steve Dilbeck, an author for the LA Times:

Here’s [a story Scully] shared Thursday, on the final home game of the year, instigated by Tom Lasorda returning to the Dodgers dugout on his 84^th birthday and involving former Dodger Don Zimmer, when he was managing of the Cubs:

"One year we’re in Chicago to play the Cubs, and for some reason, we’re not broadcasting the game. And Tommy asks me if I’ve ever sat in the dugout for a game. I tell him 'no' and he says, 'You have to try it.'

"I said as long as it’s cleared by the umpires beforehand. I don’t want them throwing me out. So I put on a uniform –- spring training tryout No. 76, but not for Union –- and wait until almost before the game starts and walk through the Wrigley hallway, sit on the dugout and pull my cap down all the way to my eyes. I don’t want anyone to even notice me.

"After the Dodgers are retired in the top of the first, (first base coach) John Vukovich yells over at me, 'Hey, Scully!' And he throws me a baseball. I catch the ball and written on it is, 'If a fight breaks out, I want you.' And it was signed Don Zimmer.

"All the Cubs are in their dugout, laying down laughing."

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Well, obviously Vin Scully would not have said that, because it would not be correct to say "laying".  Instead he must have said "lying".  

There are two things that can be confusing about "lay" and "lie".  The first is that they sound similar but are distinguished by the first being transitive and the second intransitive.  Roughly speaking, that is the difference between an action you do to another and an action you do that does not affect another.  It is the same as the difference between "set" and "sit".

The second difficulty is that the past tense of "lie" is "lay":  "I lie down now", but "I lay down yesterday."

Now, the Cubs might have been lying down laughing.  They might have been falling down laughing.  They might even have been laughing while laying down their gloves.  But they could not have just been "laying down laughing".  Vinny would not have said that.

And that reminds me that another pair of verbs with the same distinction is fell/fall.  Can you think of others?  (No internet searches please.)  Leave them in the comments.

I kept Christ out of the classroom.

Or would have.

Usually it is those who support a vigorous separation of church and state who want to keep Christ out of the classroom, and their efforts usually reach only our public schools.  But when the pope's personal theologian drops in on your undergraduate classroom, you realize the potential for misspeaking could lead to some embarrassment.  You wouldn't want to say something that could start a process ending in ecclesiastical censure.  So I was ready to cut off any student who started to speak about Christ or the Trinity.  Fortunately, our class was on the pre-Socratics and nothing theological was said.

Fr. Wojciech Giertych* was at the College to give a lecture on moral theology.  It was an engaging lecture and quite intelligible, which is all too uncommon.  He even took a question from me afterward, which I appreciated, since he kindly admitted that some of his summary of St. Thomas's position was his own spin on what the saint actually said.

*I can't tell you how to pronounce his name without seeming to make fun, so I'll skip it.  If you have never heard of him before, that makes two of us. Perhaps Chrysostom knows him from the Angelicum.

Of course, speaking on theological topics in front of visiting ecclesiastical dignitaries can cause embarrassment  in other ways as well.  There was a time when a bishop was visiting one of our senior theology classes.  He listened as the students worked through some ideas and couldn't help himself from jumping in to clarify some points.  After leaving the class, the discussion continued and showed that the good bishop's ideas were identical to the heresy St. Thomas was refuting.  On the final exam, one question the tutor asked was, "What is the Bishop Z----- heresy?  How does St. Thomas use scripture and argument to refute it?"

Membra Jesu Nostri

Last night in a concert at the College, we were introduced to the piece "Membra Jesu Nostri," which is a mediation on various parts of our Lord's body as He hung on the cross.  The composer is Buxtehude, the famed organist that J. S. Bach walked 500 miles to study with.  The piece is complex and very beautiful.  The text, once believed to be written by St. Bernard, is very profound and could serve as the basis of many hours of prayer.  The piece is divided into seven parts, each dedicated to one part of the body: the feet, the knees, the hands, the side, the breast, the heart and the face.  Each part begins with a passage from the Old Testament and then continues with three five-line stanzas of Latin poetry.

Laurence was moving his head to the music at one point and gave it this compliment: "It wasn't that long."

The performers were Cammarata del Camino Real (not seen in the video above), which is made up mostly of students and alumni of the College.

Everyone wants to be like me

Learning Spanish

Alan and I are learning Spanish this year with Rosetta Stone, a computer-based immersion program.  Instead of translating into English, you look at pictures and read/listen to the Spanish.  See if you can understand these examples.

La mujer es pequeña.

La mujer tiene un flor.

La mujer no maneja el carro.

Not from IKEA

All the blemishes are due to me.  And it is not done.  I did not have space to work on the doors and shelves until I moved these two parts into the living room.  It will be done very soon . . .

Pismo Beach Getaway

Married thirteen years and we still like to spend time together!  Some highlights include:

• Sunset on the pier
• Rosa's Cucina: veal Milanese, lasagna al forno
• Caramel Apples
• Saltwater Taffy: I was mesmerized by the machine that cuts and wraps it, and watched so long that the worker gave me a sample.  When fresh, the taffy is very soft and melts in your mouth.
• Old West Cinnamon Rolls
• A scenic drive up the coast to and from
• Shell Beach
• Time together; time away

Faces

What a beauty!

Summer Camp at St. Michael's

Frater Simeon was the counselor for the five older cousins.  Some of these boys are holding "good conduct awards."  Michael was runner-up to Camper-of-the-Week.

Frater Herman-Joseph was counselor to Gregory and Charles.

Ignorance of Grammar No Obstacle to Political Career

From the AP:
"British Home Secretary Theresa May announced Monday that a police inspectorate will examine possible police corruption.

She told lawmakers that at moments like this 'it is natural to ask whom polices the police' . . ."

Natural--if you don't know the Queen's English.  Otherwise, you would ask who polices the police.  It is not the pronoun that is the object of the verb, but the whole indirect question.  The pronoun is the subject of this indirect question.

Nieces and nephews that read this blog: pay attention and Uncle John will reward you with candy.

By the way, it is nice to see "police" used as an adjective, verb and a noun in just two lines.

Furniture in Progress

No, I still have not finished the baby gate I showed you before.  But NOT because I am still sawing through that board!  Priorities shift . . .

The big summer project is to add new bunk beds, upstairs and down.  The first one is all painted and will go upstairs tomorrow.

(The metal rods just hold the end pieces for painting.)  The long sides are on the saw horses in the back.  The balls to the left are for the tops of the posts.  All sawing was done by hand, but I did use a router and a drill.

Inexpensive furniture is inevitably cheap.  I think these beds, by contrast, will last for some time.  Frankly, I am hoping the world ends first.  With huge, 1 inch thick tenons in closely fitting mortises, these beds will be able to handle kids jumping all over them.  If that happens, the kids may not fare as well as the beds . . .

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More Laurence

Laurence: Dad, how old will Juliana be when I grow up to an adult?
Me: She will be an adult, too.
Laurence:  What about Stephen?
Me:  He will be an adult, too.
Laurence:  When I grow up, there will be a ton of adults.

How they look right now

Funny how the kids can change subtly as they grow up and suddenly look like someone else--or no one else.  This is how Gregory and Naomi look today.  Gregory suddenly looks more like Alan and his cousin Michael than he did before.

Naomi looks more unique to me today, while still belonging to the family.  Am I missing a close resemblance to someone else?

Quotes from Laurence

Laurence has been pouring out much four-year-old wisdom of late.  I usually laugh and forget it, but to preserve a little for posterity, here was one from tonight's dinner:

"If they were to make chairs lower, but keep the floors the same, then my feet would touch the ground."

A Solution

1) The game board shown is from Nine Men's Morris.
2) 1001 is how one writes 9 in binary.
3) The nine choirs of angels.
4) The nine planets.
5) Players whose jersey number of 9 has been retired by their teams, except for Dee Gordon, for whom we have great hopes.
6) The nine muses.
7) A cat-o'-nine-tails.
8) Beeker singing Ode to Joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.
9) A cat has nine lives.

My sister, Catherine, said, "It has something to do with 9, but I can't tell what."  Well, . . .

1) Nine Men

2) The nine men come from two.

3) They seem angelic at first, but see number 7 below.

4) They seem to be in constant motion.

5) [I like baseball.]

6) They can be inspiring.

7) They can be a scourge.

8) They can bring joy.

9) Yes, this is about nine lives.

My brother, Chrysostom, said, "It has something to do with 9; you must be expecting again."

Due date: February 29, 2012.

The brief dialogue of the old Muppet geezers pretty much summarizes how Theresa and I react after the birth of each child.

A Puzzle

Let others have fun: don't give the answer in the comments.  If you get it, you can always call for well deserved congratulations.  I will announce the answer soon.

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1001

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Ted Williams

Minnie Minoso

Reggie Jackson

Bill Mazeroski

Enos Slaughter

and an exciting new Dodger:

Dee Gordon

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The Muses

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