Sunday, March 24, 2024

Old Guns

My two oldest guns are worn out and broken but I can't find parts. I took them to a gunsmith but he can't find parts either. He said that if I really want to use the guns I would have to go to a machinist and have parts made, because no one has made parts for either gun since the 1970s. I think I'm just going to trade them in at one of those "gun buy back" events. Maybe, I'll get baseball tickets for them. One is a 50 year old pistol I bought used for $85 when I was 24. When I was homless or living in one of San Francisco's Tenderloin flop houses in the 1990s I used to sleep with it duct taped in my hand. I used this gun to teach my two oldest sons to shoot in my Uncle Fred's (Link to every mention of my Uncle Fred.) eucalyptus grove.

The other is a 80 year old double barrel shotgun. My fiend Jeff's dad bought it during WWII. When he died about 13 or 14 years ago Jeff's mom sold it to me. I used it to take my first two turkeys and to go clay target shooting with Kathleen, Anselm, and Basil.

I am sad to be losing both of these guns.

Friday, March 15, 2024

Coast to Coast

I was leaving the gym the other night (I like the steam room) and accidently hit the "search" button on my steering wheel. The next thing I know, I'm listening to Coast to Coast but it wasn't Art Bell (He's been dead for 20 years.)it was some other guy talking about the Rothschilds and global conspiracy.

I remember the first time I heard that show. It was sometime in 1997, '98, or'99, and I was driving down the San Juaquin Valley on Hwy 99 to see my parents. (I just found out that my Uncle Fred's place out near Ivanhoe where my parents spent some of their last years, before they got too old and sick, is vacant. I'm thinking about making an offer.) It was captivating. Over the years the show talked about space aliens, Atlantis, the CIA plot to kill JFK, and dozens of other conspiracy theories. It was nuts. The one thing I liked about Art Bell was that he was never critical of his guests. He would just let them say whatever their bizaare theory was and act like they weren't crazy but were, really, scholars and experts. It was a lot of fun. I'm glad the show survived it's founder.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

The Boys and a Shooting Club

Basil has been accepted by all of the universities to which he applied but he is really only interested in two: Cal Maritime (business/logistics) and San Jose State (accounting). Personally, I hope he chooses Cal Maritime. The student body and the teachers seem much less radicaly leftist than the student body and teachers at San Jose State. Maybe the accounting department won't be too yucky. But I think he is looking at the cost of housing at Cal Maritime as opposed to living with me or his mom here in San Jose.

Anselm is under the arctic ice right now. (I got a notice from the commander of the pacific submarine forces.) He's been at sea for a month and won't be back until April.

Today during the meatfare lunch after liturgy Fr. Basil said he wants to go shooting with kathleen and I because he inherited all his dad's guns and hasn't shot them in years and years. So I asked when. He said after Pascha. And a whole bunch of other people said they want to go, too. And someone suggested a parish shooting club, and Fr. Basil said "YES!". So it looks like we are going to have a parish shooting club.

Oh! That reminds me, Kathleen bought a new gun a couple of weeks ago. It's a Sig Sauer P365.

Sunday, February 11, 2024

A Debt

In 1997 or 1998 I was managing the door at at SF Weekly's music awards show at Bimbo's 365 Club. A bunch of people, the "entourage" of one of the bands being honored, tried to get past me. I said something like, "I'm sorry. You don't have tickets. You can't come in." They said something like "We're going in, anyway." Annie Jensen, the girl with me at the door was scared and I told her to stand back as I braced myself for what I knew was going to be a horrible fight. Honestly, as much as I used to enjoy fighting back then, I didn't think I was going to win this one. They were a dozen and I was only one. Then a 7 foot tall black man stepped up behind me and asked, "Is there a problem here?" I didn't know he was working for me (No one told me). I didn't even know he was there but my boss had hired him to protect me as I protected the door. He saw a problem and was willing to fight for me. With that question, "is there a problem here", and a terrifying glance he made the threatening throng at the door evaporate. A few years ago I heard he died. I wish I knew his name. I am wondering, do any of my old friends (Wendy Fairbanks, Catherine Draper, Troy Larkin)from SF Weekly know his name? A super tall nightclub bouncer in SF? I understand he usually worked at Slims, Bimbo's, Voodoo Lounge, Utah, DNA Lounge, the Fillmore, and the Cat Club. Before I am too old to remember I'd like to pray for him since he rescued me that night.

Friday, January 05, 2024

Christmas on Madison Avenue

As you know, from 1997 to 2004 I was an advertising executive. And though it has been 20 years since I worked in the industry I do still enjoy a good Christmas commercial. (Raise your hand if you have fond memories of Santa riding the Norelco shaver through the snow, the ringing of the Andre commercial, or the weirdness of the Harvey's Bristol Cream ads.) In my opinion, these are the top ten English language Christmas ads of 2023, not counting ads that are promoting charities.

10. There are two ads on this list that feature slippers. This is the first of them. Macy's "For After Work"

9. Amazon "Joy Ride". The older I get the more weepy I get when I see old people remembering their youth. Amazon "Joy Ride"

8. There is no snow in this ad because the company only operates in Florida. I especially love that the dog knows where to go to get fed. And, gosh, look at that crown roast of pork! Publix "Merry Christmas to you and yours"

7. Puppies and kittens. Enough said. Pet Smart "Make Merry Memories"

6. Beautiful people driving beautiful cars to beautiful places to be together. Mercedes-Benz "With Love"

5. Now, it is true that this advertisement came out five years ago but I only saw it running on FaceBook a couple of weeks ago. The number one thing an ad should do is make the viewer want to buy the product. After seeing this ad I thought, "Oh, I should wear cravats." And then I thought, "Oh, those little flat hats and those slippers would be perfect for cold winter nights." And then i thought, "Crikey, I think I need everything in that ad!" Peter Christian "Spirit of Christmas".

4. OMGosh! Is that really John Travolta playing Santa Claus?

3. If you know much about Michael Bublé you will chuckle at the little jokes in this ad. Also, browned butter. That was funny. Asda "Career Change"

2. "Who gives presents to Santa?" It is the question that launches a mother daughter giving trip. Boots "Give Joy"

1. A friend of mine, a very old woman named Charlotte had dementia. At Christmas parties she would sit someplace quiet in the house. I would sit by her at those parties and let her talk about things and people I knew nothing about. She died in 2023. This ad made me think of her and the Chevy Suburban, one of the best cars ever made in America. Chevrolet "A Holiday to Remember"

Saturday, November 25, 2023

Christmas Movies

I used to love watching Christmas Movies with my boys when they were little. I miss those years. This year I am planning on watching all of these: Love Actually (2003), The Muppets Christmas Carrol (1992), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carrol (1963), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), A Christmas Carrol (1951), Die Hard (1988), Santa Claus is Commin' to Town (1964), The Little Drummer Boy (1967), Christmas with the Kranks (2004), Cricket on the Hearth (1967), A Christmas Story (1983), Elf (2003), White Christmas (1954), The Santa Clause (1994), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1967), Remember the Night (1940), Christmas in Connecticut (1945), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989, Home Alone (1990), A Very Murray Christmas (2015), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), Merry Christmas (2004), The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017), and The Santa Clause 2 (2002). I am curious to know, dear reader, what would you add to my Christmas movie list?

Wednesday, November 22, 2023

Baking for Thanksgiving

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving but Anselm is at sea and Basil is out of town visiting some of his Mom's relatives. So my step-children, Maximo and Sophia are helping me make the cranberry walnut pies and fruited molassas balls. (Of course, I forgot to get molassas and powdered sugar so Kathleen is at the store right now buying those ingredirents.) Earlier today I baked chocolate chip cookies for Maximo and Sophia and a berry pie for Kathleen. Before I go to sleep tonight I'll start brining the turkey and make the cranberry relish. It has been years since I've watched Macy's Thanksgiving parade. I think I'll get up early tomorrow and watch it.

Friday, November 10, 2023

This and That and getting ready for Christmas.

Since August of 2022 I've been teaching U.S. history, world history, economics, and U.S. government at Cambrian Academy in San Jose, California. (I'm also the coach of the clay target team.) It is, I think, only because of God that I was given this job just a few weeks after I wrote this.

I have almost finished buying Christmas presents. I have only two more people to buy for.

Basil has had the flu for the past week but as soon as he has recovered he and I will begin making the fruitcakes and the Christmas sausage. Hopefully, this week.

This was the first year in many that I did not go to Farmer Bob's to get pumpkins.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Oktoberfest

One of the fun things I do at work is that I play a little jodel (I know, it's swiss but they wear lederhosen and dirndle. on the screen for my students every morninng in October and give them a few extra credit points if they show me they've learned to jodel by the end of the the month.) Tey seem to enjoy it and some of them desperately need the points by the end of October, when the midterm exams happen.

Today, Kathleen and I shared a guest lecturer from F.E.E.. First he came to my school and spoke to my two classes of economice on business ethics, a lecture I would have titled The Beauty of Profit. It was truely was beautiful. I wish I had recorded it. After the presentation, when the guest lecturer had left to go to Kathleen's school, one of my students said, "It was like having Henry Hazlitt talk to us", and she was right.

At the end of the School day we took the lecturerer from F.E.E. out to dinner at Teske's Germania, a resturaunt in San Jose. (I was there once before, when I was 26 years old, that was more than half my life ago.) Kathleen ordered the Schweinshaxe. I ordered the Jagerschnitzel. When the dishes came to the table she was grossed out and didn't want to eat what she had ordered. So we traded dishes and, wow, I am glad we did! I have a new favorite food. When I came home I looked up the recipe online and it looks pretty easy to make. I am sure I will be able to convince her that it is good.

In other news, Son #3 called me from Peru. His submarine has been at sea for a couple of weeks, and i knew he was headed south, but I didn't know he was going to be stopping in at Peru. It sounds like he is working hard but having fun.

Son #4 is applying to universities. I think the four on his list are Hillsdale College (In America the words University and college are, mostly, interchageable.) California Maritime Academy, Montana State University, and San Jose State University. Personally, I wish he were not considering San Jose State but, I think he wants to live with his mother and save money on room and board. I'm much prefer he go to Hillsdale or Montana state where there are very active OCF chapters, or to Cal Maritime where the gradutes have the highest average starting salaries of any college in California, but I think he just sees the expense of room and board and wants to avoid it.

And finally, the highschool clay target shooting team I coach is in second place in our conference this season. That is much improved from #39 out of 54 that we placed last season. The team is really working hard and it shows.

Saturday, October 07, 2023

A Different Life

Today son #4 is 18 years old and I have no minor children. Since 1988 I have had, at least, one child under the age of majority. Son #1 died more than 10 years ago. Son #2 is missing. I do not know where he is but I love him. Son #3 is a sailor aboard a submarine somehwere in the south Pacific, son #4 is a college student here in San Jose, California. From the time they were born I had one mission: Keep them out of Hell and keep them out of prison. I do not know if I was sufccessful but I tried. All I can do now is pray.

Thursday, August 31, 2023

Christmas List For the Man Who Has Everything, 2023

I started putting Christmas lists on here in 2017 because Kathleen (She is the woman to whom I am married!) said I am difficult to buy for. I didn't do one last year, so I figure, since a lot has changed since then, I should do one this year. Therefore, the list (in no particular order):

1. Does your man teach his students about politics, economics and history while he and they sit around an enourmous oaken table? Yes? Then he needs an inspiring bust of Cicero to put in the middle of that table.

2. Long ago when your man's Dad was old and dying he metioned that when he was a boy he had a little candle-powered boat made of tin. So, your man found a company that sold them, and he bought one for his Dad. His dad cried when he opened it but never felt well enough to walk the 30 yards to pond. His Dad died a few weeks later. His Mom gave the boat back to him and he played with it in the pool with his sons. But it was lost in a move and he hasn't seen it since about 2006.

3. He watches It's a Wonderful Life every year. Do you know why? Because of the Midland jump spark cigar lighter George Baily wishes on in Mr. Gowers' drugstore. They don't make new ones anymore but they are available on the secondary market. Just think of all the wishing you and he will be able to do together with one of these in the house.

4. He's needed new hubcaps for, at least, a year.

5. You know, he wears pretty nice shoes but there is no place to get them shined since Nordstorm went out of business in San Francisco and and the shoeshine stand on Market Street in the Financial District has been gone for years. So don't you think one of these shoe shine boxes would be nice.

6. Years ago a very rich woman (She owned a bank.) saw your man looking at a catalog of expensive bathroom stuff. She asked him, "do you know the difference between rich people and poor people?" He said he didn't so she told him. "Rich people won't spend more than twenty-five cents on a shower curtain." So, when he says he would love a new spatula he does not mean one of those $15-$30 spatulas at Williams-Sonoma or Sur la Table. He means this spatula for less than $2.

7. Five words: Steer horns for the Subaru.

8. You know his razor isn't like other razors. It can cut fingers off if you don't keep an eye on it. It can cut though those flimsy vinyl toiletry bags just as easily. Your man needs a sturdy leather or waxed canvass toilety bag with lots of pockets for all the essentials.

9. He doesn't smoke often but, sometimes, when your man travels he would like to take his pipes with him. Unfortuntely, the zipper on the pipe case his son gave him broke several years ago. He needs a new one.

10. He has some scottish ancestors, you know. So don't you think he should learn to play the bagpipes?

11. It has been over a decade since my mother died. I have her last two Bibles. One she had from the early 1970s or maybe earlier, I am not sure. One she had the last three years of her life, it was large print for she was losing her ability to see. The last one is in good shape nd has a few passages underlined or highlighted, but the older one is the one that has all her notes in it. The prayers and notes and sayings in the margins are precious to me. There are verses she has underlined that cause me to staop and say, "Why did she underline this?" and I will look at it for a 1/2 an hour or more trying to think what did this mean to her, what should it mean to me? I came across this a few months ago: "When the Devil reminds you of your past remind him of his future." Well, if there is a gift worth giving, it is the rebinding of my Mother's Bible.

Sunday, August 13, 2023

A Vision

I want to write this down before I forget it completely. Already the words are getting confused in my memory.


Holy Tikhon of Zdonsk

Last night was standing in the nave of St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga. My mind was wondering and I was praying for my children instead of praying the communal prayers being sung by the choir. Suddenly it was like I was having a dream and St. Tikhon of Zdonsk was standing in front of me. And he said something like "Remind the Holy Synod of Metroplitan Leonty" or "Tell the Holy Synod to remember Metropolitan Leonty". Then the vision was gone but I was shaking a little and crying.


Metropolitan Leonty at Holy Trinity Cathedral in San Francisco, 1955.

As soon as the service was over I found Fr. Basil in the church hall and told him what had happened and asked him what I should do. I didn't know anything about St. Tikhon of Zdonsk excpt that I saw his icon and have heard is name mentioned during Saturday night vigils. And, other than having seen a photograph of Metropolitan Leonty and having read his name somewhere I knew nothing about him. I didn't even know he had been the primate of the OCA. I told this to Mitered Archpriest Basil, and as I was a telling him I started crying and shaking again. He told me then that the Holy Synod is trying to decide whether or not Metropolitan Leonty should be recognized as a saint in the Orthodox Church. And he crossed himself and said "I believe this" and said he would relay the message to the Holy Synod.

Needless to say, when I got home from church last night I read everyting about these men I could find online.

Tuesday, August 08, 2023

Honeymoon and Covid

We went on a cruise to Alaska. We flew from San Jose to Seattle, where we got on the ship, the M.S. Westerdam. Our first stop was in Juneau where we visted St Nicholas Orthodox Church (They currenty do not have a rector and are surviving on reader services and occasional clergy visits), and then Glacier Bay, then Sitka where we visted St Michal Orthodox Church and were blessed to venerate a relic of St Herman. The ships next stop was Ketchican, where we went fishing.

We caught amazing number of fish, and Kathleen caught the largest one, a 34" Silver Coho.
We had 180 pounds of various species of salmon flash frozen and shipped to us, even one chum salmon which we will feed to the dog.


The next stop was Victoria, BC but we did not get off the ship. That was the night Kathleen started coughing. The next morning we got off the ship in Seattle and Kathleen had a fever. Our hotel, the Mayflower Park Hotel was very comfortable and the staff was very helpful. As soon as I told them my wife was sick they had a room ready for us, letting us check in 7 hours early.

Kathleen spent a miserable night. I walked to a nearby drug sstore to get her medicine but it did not do much. The next morning I was coughing too. By the time Basil Wenceslas picked us up at the airport in San Jose on the 31st of June we both had fevers. When we got home we went strait to bed. The next morning we both tested positive for covid. Then the next day Basil tested positive. All three of us got perscriptions for paxlovid that day. As of Sunday (today is Tuesday the 8th of August.) we are both testing negative and Kathleen says she is 80% recovered. She began teaching her fall semester yesterday. Today was the first day I was able to get out of bed. I can't taste anything except for salt and citrus, or smell anything except for what I think is a hallucination (burning wood), and my sense of balance is off, and I am partially deaf. Hopefully, that all corrects soon. I go back to work tomorrow so today I spent writing my course syllabi. Basil is doing worse than Kathleen and I. This is his third time to have covid.

Thursday, July 20, 2023

A Man Under Authority

A centurian asked Jesus for a miracle. Jesus said he would be right there to heal the centurian's servant. The centurian said, "No, Lord. I am a man with autority. I know how these things work. Just say the word and my servant will be healed." Jesus spoke and the servant was healed.

Long ago, in the 1980s, I was a soldier in the 502nd Air Assault Infantry Regiment, which is part of the 101st Airborne Division. A few of our sergeants were combat veterans from the Vietnam War. But none of our officers had seen combat except for one captain. He was 15 years older than any of the other captains in the regiment and medals covered him: The Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, as well as decorations from the Chancellor of Germany, the President of the French republic, the King of Thailand, and the President of the Republic of Vietnam. Unlike the other 22 captains in the regiment he had been an enlisted man, a sergeant, during the Vietnam War.

I was only a Private First Class but I worked for the adjutant on the colonel's staff so I knew all the officers in the regiment. There was one lieutenant who was a Christian. There was a major who loved the Lord and with whom I sang Handel's Messiah one year. He and I would have been friends but he was an officer and I was enlisted. There was one captain who very ostentatiosly proclaimed his Christianity, as though he thought it would make people think he was a better man than he was. There was the colonel, he was a Christian of some sort, and attended the protestant chapel service every Sunday (it was on his official schedule). But there was my captain, who you think I would have known better than all the others because he was actually my commander. But he was quiet. When he came into the headquarters he didn't talk to anyone but would quickly walk to the colonel's office and make his report or recieve his orders. Always, on his way out of the headquarters he would stop by my desk and ask, "Soldier, do you have everything you need to do your job?" then go back to doing what ever he spent his days doing. I never saw him smile. The only time I saw him angry was when the lieutenant in charge of the mortar platoon said his men were too tired to complete a task. (That lieutenant was forced to resign his commission.) Though he worked us hard, that captain was absolutely loved by all his men.

He was loved because he was humble. He knew his power over us. He knew his responsibility to us. He never abused us but made us perform to the highist standards, much higher than the army-wide standards. I would sometimes hear the captains bragging to each other about how good their companies were. My captain never braggged. He didn't have to. The records were clear. His company had highest PT scores, the highes SQT Scores, the most days in the field, the highst marsmanship scores.... He just stood there and listened to the other captains brag on their men. I never felt like the the standards he set for us were so he would look good to the colonel or the other officers in the regiment. I think all we soldiers knew he demanded so much from us so we would survive on the battlefield, because he had survived on the battlefield.

He was Baptist. He attended a little Baptist church in Clarksville, Tennessee. He never talked about it. He didn't keep a Bible on his desk like the ostentatious captain did. He didn't talk about Jesus to his men. But he went to church every every Sunday morning, as I learned when I heard some of the other officers talking about why my captain wouldn't go out drinking with them on Saturday nights. Did I mention he was humble? There were 4 lieutenant colonels, and 7 majors in the regiment who outranked him, but as a Distingushed Member of the Regiment the captain should have always been seated beside the colonel at any dinner. But one time the adjutant (he was new in the position and didn't listen to me or the sergeant in charge of protocol) seated him below the majors. The colonel, of course, corrected the adjutant, and the adjunt apologized all over himself. What did the captain say? "Don't worry about it. We all put our pants on one leg at a time."

I sometimes think that the captain was a man like Holy Czar Nicholas was. Instead of letting his men bow to him, the Saint would hold an icon of the Savior before his men so they would bow to the Lord instead. That is what people who have authority and understand authority do; direct attention to the One who really has authority, who is the source of authority. And Jesus gave his life for us. And in a desperate attempt to to save his people, the Czar humilated himslf by abdicating. And my captain made no big deal of his rank or reputation but reminded one who gave offense that we are all just men.

Monday, July 17, 2023

A Marriage and an Engagement

Kathleen and I were married yesterday at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga, California.



And today, my son Anselm Samuel asked Tiffany Patterson to be his wife. She said yes.

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Wedding Rehearsal

The rehersal was tonight at St Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga. The chanter, the reader, the priest, the sponsors, and us. After the rehearsal Kathleen and I said our confessions, then we joined the others in the church hall for Togo's sandwiches.

Thursday, July 06, 2023

A wedding and other things

Kathleen and I got the wedding license last week. The service has been scheduled for July 16. My boss asked me to stay on for another year and teach the same subjects. Anselm recieved his dolphins and got promoted to Petty Officer 3rd Class. Basil is still going to Evergreen Valley Community College and is gtting his documents ready to apply next month to Hillsdale College and Cal Maritime for Fall 2024.

Kathleen and Basil and I wanted to go to a San Jose Giants baseball game on July 4 but this is their year to play in Fresno. o, after looking around at all the parades and concerts and fire works shows we decided to see the San Francisco Symphony and fireworks at Shoreline Amphitheater. It was utterly beautiful.

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Radio, Shotguns, and Marriage

I read yesterday that car makers are going to stop putting A.M. radios in cars because the electric motors interfere with reception. I think I dislike electric cars even more now than I already did.

Speaking of radio, I really miss the days when I was a teenager in Florida. I used to lie on the floor doing my school work and listen to WCIE (Where Christ is Everything) out of Lakeland. I'd hear preachers such as Chuck Swindoll, J. Vernon McGee, Karl Strader, and late in the night I'd listen to the music program, The Haven of Rest with Ray Ortland. One of my favorite shows on WCIE was James Dobson's Focus on the Famly and others.

I haven't been listening to radio much for the last few years. I tried to listen to KQED, the local NPR affiliate but it has become nothing but filth. I did an expiriment to see if I could drive from home to work or from work to home without hearing a story promoting drag queens, homosexuality, abortion, or or the mutilation of childrens sex organs (they call it gender affirming care). The drive between work and home is about 15 minutes one way. Every morning and every afternoon I heard of of the vile promotions. On some drives I'd hear two or three. Gone are the days of listening to KQED and hearing Linda Worthheimer, Cokie Roberts, Nina Totenberg, Garison Keilor, Bob Edwards, Click and Clack, and To The Best of Our Knowledge with Steve Paulson and Anne Strainchamps. At least, KQED still has TechNation with Moira Gunn.

I've tried listening to KSFO an conservative talk station but they are so angry and I don't see Conservativeism that way. We are happy becuse we know the truth and see a path to a bright future. I just don't dig the negativity.

And there is no country music anymore.

Kathleen, Fr. Basil and I have set the wedding date for July 16. I'll be a married man again soon. And Anslem Samuel told me he is going to ask his girlfried to marry him.

My school's shotgun team had the last shoot of the season today. We finished 39 out of 51. I am very proud of them.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Getting Ready

Kathleen and I made Paskha tonight. We have seven terra cotta pots in the fridge. Looking at the work and church schedule, I can't see where I am going to have time to make the kulich. I'm sure it will work out somehow. I found out that Basil Wenceslas is bringing a girl to the Paschal Divine Liturgy. I'm making a pascha basket for her, too.

Saturday, April 01, 2023

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pascha Eggs

Every year up till now I put a couple of Reese's egg-shaped peanut butter cups in the Pascha basket but this year, because of Hershy's anti-human stance I refuse to buy anything made of their chocolate. So Basil came over today and we made our own. I bought molds, chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. I figured, since all the videos I watched on Youtube that show how to make them were 20 to 30 minutes long we could start at 4pm, be done by 5pm, and be at church at 6pm. I was wrong. It took four hours to make six of the things. The nice thing is that Cyndi and Kathleen spent a lot of time talking while Basil and I worked in the kitchen. It was also nice to use the copper and ceramic double boiler I bought for Cyndi a decade ago.

Thursday, March 16, 2023

The Clay Target Team

I don't think I've mentioned this before: I'm the coach of my school's clay target team. Late last month Basil went with me to Nevada to buy ammo and we got stuck in a giant record-breaking snowstorm. It took us 19 hours to get from Reno to San Jose, a drive that normally takes 5 or 6 hours.

Yesterday was the team's first practice. They did better than I expected and they had a lot of fun.

In other news: Anselm Samuel's submarine put into port in Guam a couple of days ago. They were not there long. Only about 30 hours; just long enough to load up on food and head back out to sea. I spoke to him briefly. He sounded very tired.

Monday, February 20, 2023

A Day in Napa

Kathleen and I went to see Ottmar Liebert and Luna Nega at the Blue Note in Napa yesterday. It was much fun to see in person a band I first heard of back in 1994 when Columbia House sent me a CD. It is very rare that I go to a live music performance but I really like very much Ottmar Liebert's music. It was surpising to see him as an old man. The only picture I had ever seen of him was on the CD cover from 30 years ago. But I just saw my old drives license from back then and I'm old now, too.

The Blue Note was a nice place. I would not be opposed to seeing other performers there, but it is a long drive from San Jose. If I go to Napa again I'll stay overnight in a hotel.

Tuesday, February 07, 2023

Feeling Better

Kathleen, Basil, and I were sick for the whole month of January. Basil had covid. Kathleen the flu that turned into bronchitis. I just had fevers aches and pains. It has been tough going to work every day but neither of us can get subs to cover for us; Kathleen because she is on special assignment from her school district and me because I teach at a private school. Two days ago, on the(Sunday of the Publican and the Pharisee) was the first time since Christmas we've been to confession and communion.

In other news: Work is going well. Three of my students were inducted into the National Honor Society and I have three students signed up for the clay target shooting team (Yes, there is a state-wide high school league) of which I am the coach. .

Saturday, January 07, 2023

The Past

Fifty three years ago, August 1969 to be more exact, my biological mother was murdered. Until tonight I never knew her name. Her name was Cletha.

Friday, December 30, 2022

The Sixth Day of Christmas

The festivities have been beautiful. We missed Royal hours on Friday but Vigil on Saturday and Divine Liturgy on Sunday were greatly joyful. A fun thing is that our friend Rowan from church joined us for Christmas dinner. It was just Kathleen, Basil, Rowan, and I for Christmas dinner. And the dinner itself was simple compared to past Christmas dinners: Turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, peanut butter pie, cranberry walnut pie, fruitcake, au gratin potatoes, and Brussels sprouts, a port wine cheese ball, and pheasant pâté made from pheasants we shot.

On the second day of Christmas Kathleen and I went to Lake Pillsbury in the Mendocino National Forest to shoot wood ducks. But we saw no wood ducks but we saw tule elk. One bull had a harem of more than sixty cows and a huge set of antlers. No, we didn't shoot any of the elk. They are protected and rare. We stayed at lake Pillsbury three nights. There was lots and lots of rain.

Now we are back in San Jose and are preparing for the next semester. It will by my first time teaching economics. I'm excited.

Friday, December 23, 2022

Two nights till Christmas

Wednesay was they last day of the semester. The only Christmasy things I did with my students were that in the last few days of the semester I read Tony's Bread to them one day and cut up pannetone for them. None of them had ever tasted it so that was fun. And I read The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomy (I don't like the second edition as much as the first. The first had bigger pages.)to them on another day. That had 1/2 the class crying. And then, on Finals Week (only three days, actually.) I gave them all a copy of In Hoc Anno Domini from the Wall Street Journal.

Basil came over a few different times during Advent and helped me bake fruit cakes. I gave one to each of the eleven other teachers at my school, and just this morning, mailed off a bunch of them to friends and family all over the country. And he came over and helped my grind and stuff the Christmas sausage. He is such a good boy.

I was going to go to Royal Hours at the cathedral in San Francisco tonight but I have too much to do. I have two pies in the oven, presents to wrap, and a pheasant pâté to make tonight.

About a week before my son Anselm's boat left for the deep blue sea, I sent three fruitcakes with instructions not to open until Christmas, to the skipper of the boat. One for the skipper, one for the COB, and one for Anselm Samuel. I hope they got to him before they left port. Oh, well. I have been told that if they didn't get to the boat before it left San Diego they will be waiting for them at their next port of call.

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Finals Week

It is late Monday night in Finals Week. I gave the Final Exam to my civics (mostly political philosophy and economics in the Fall semester) and A.P. Government students today. They did pretty well. I am happy for them. They all turned in the term papers last Friday. One girl did an amazing job. I think her paper is publishable, and I'm going to send it off to a journal and see if I can't help her get sonme serious attention. Her research and synthesis abilities are amazing. She would be such an amazing politics scholar or historian but she wants to major in math or chemistry. Maybe, if I can get her published I can convince her to pursue philoshopy. Probably not though. She is Singaporean and her parents want her to get a B.S. in Chemistry and then go to Med school or get into a bio-chem Ph.D. program.

I've been pheasant hunting twice since Thanksgiving. I have a freezer full of dead birds but one was so beautiful I am having it taxidermied. Sadly, I had no idea that dry ice is considered a hazardous material and that I would have to pay mucho dinero to ship the bird to the taxidermist in Idaho because of the dry ice. I think I would have spent less mony if I had hired someone local. Oh well. Live and learn.

Saturday night (this is Monday night) Kathleen's niece spent the night with us. She is a single mother, has a drug problem, and some mental health problems on top of that. It is difficult to know how to help her. We would adopt her baby but as long as she has him the State of Claifornia pays her money so she won't give him up. I am vey worried about that little boy. Tonight Basil and Kathleen helped me make the Christmas sausage. It is something we have been doing since Basil was a little boy of only 3 or 4 years. He is 17 now. Wow, where have the years gone?

Well, in the morning I have to give final exams to my U.S. History classes. I'd better get to bed.

Wednesday, November 23, 2022

The Day Before Thanksgiving

This week I gave all my students an extra credit assignment: Read three Thanksgiving Proclamations: George Washington (1789), Abraham Lincoln (1864), and Ronald Reagan (1988) then write a 6-10 page Chicago Style essay comparing and contrasting the proclamations. I gave them until next Monday to turn it in. Some of them have submitted their essays early, and they are beautiful.

Today I expalined to my stuents how NPR broadcasts Mama Stamberg's cranberry relish recipe every year, let them hear some recordings of the broadcast from years past, then let them taste it. I've heard the recipe many times over the last thirty years but this was the first time I ever made it. It tasted good and most of my students liked it.

Now I am baking two cranberry walnut pies. I just put them in the oven. Once I finish writing this post I'll get to work on two peanut butter chocolate pies (recipe below), and then I'll make pheasant pate (we have lots of pheasants in the fridge!) for tomorrow. We are going to be at the cathedral in San Francisco.


Peanutbutter Pie Recipe
Use two Keebler chocolate pie crusts or two Graham cracker pie crusts. The filling is one cup of creamy peanut butter, 8 oz cream cheese, 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar beaten together, then fold in 8 oz of cool whip (refrigerated but not frozen). The filling is enough for two pies. Top with whipped cream. I like to whip 8 oz of heavy cream with 1/4 cup powdered sugar. That way it doesn't separate as quickly as it would otherwise.

Saturday, November 12, 2022

Pheasant Shooting

It was a busy week. Basil had school (student), I had school (teacher), and Kathleen had school (teacher). Yesterday, Veterans Day we did not do our usual activities. Instead, I slept all day, Kathleen did stuff with her kids, and Basil did homework.

Today the three of us went pheasant hunting. The dogs were not doing their job; acting more like pets than working dogs, but we each got one pheasant. Later we had lunch in the clubhouse and Kathleen picked out a new shotgun. All our shotguns are a little bit to big for her so she tried out this Syren and really like it. Now I just need to save up the money for it.

Well the timer on the oven just went off so I better take the pheasant out.

Saturday, November 05, 2022

Fruitcakes and civilization

Kathleen and I made 10 more fruitcakes today. We were going to go pheasant hunting but it was raining this morning so we decided to stay home and bake. The house smells beautiful; like cinnamon, butter, and whiskey.

Last week it dawned on me that in my world history class (we have been reading the about the pagan world; the Indians, the Japanese, the Aztecs, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Chinese, the Akkadians, the Incas, the Nubians, the Minoans etc.) that the whole pre-Christian world (except the Hebrews), all of them practiced human sacrifice and canibalism. Right now we are on ancient Greece and we have just finished reading Hesiod's Theogony, a gruesome tale of murder, incest, infanticide, cannibalism, rape, and war. I think we will be right up to Caesar Augustus in early December. And then I will assign my world history students the Gospel of Mark. I didn't plan it this way but isn't it amazing to be able to make the transition from the horrors of the demon-ruled pagan history to the Christ-filled history of the years of our Lord right at Christmas time.