Always Something

In Sarah, Plain and Tall,  Jacob, a widower with two young children, places an advertisement in the newspaper for a wife.  He receives a reply from a woman from Maine, who accepts to come to the American prairies for a month to see how things are before she makes a commitment.  Maggie, a neighbour originally from Tennessee who has married the man to whose advertisement she had herself responded, asks Sarah,  "'You are lonely, yes?'"  Maggie continues, "'I miss the hills of Tennessee sometimes.'"  When Sarah replies that she misses the sea, Maggie adds, "'There are always things to miss.'"

In that context, . . .

There’s always something to miss.

To treasure.

To reject.

To admire.

To envy.

To trust.

To question.

To risk.

To distrust.

To embrace.

To avoid.

To appreciate.

To resent.

To remember.

To forget.

To forgive.

To begrudge.

To cultivate.

To ignore.

To support.

To neglect.

To accomplish.

To regret.

To celebrate.

To mourn.

To love.

To grieve.

To cling to.

To let go of.

To acquire.

To discard.

To express.

To conceal.

To bless.

No matter where we are.

No matter what we might already have.

Dawn

The vision and its pathway, a fugue in two parts, come to me as I lead music ministry during Advent.   The vision?  Endlesss bliss and the triumph of truth.  The pathway?  Shine out and sing.  All right there, hidden in plain sight, in hymns I’ve sung dozens of times.

I begin the fourth verse of the hymn at the Preparation of the Gifts, "The King Shall Come When Morning Dawns" (Text John Brownlee).  

"And let the endless bliss begin,

By weary saints foretold,

When right shall triumph over wrong,

And truth shall be extolled. " 

I can’t identify with "saints," but "weary", I can relate to.    In what must resemble an out of body experience, my mind lasers in on "And truth shall be extolled."   In an era that’s cavalier about facts,  those words resonate.   The rest of me, meanwhile—fingers, mouth, vocal chords, mostly—finishes playing and singing the hymn.

While the presider continues with the order of the mass, I mull over the vision of the future the hymn describes.  "Truth extolled" would indeed build bliss. During the rest of the prayers and the Preface, and even as I play the Holy Holy,  a verse of the Gathering Song (Marty Haugen, 1987, GIA Publications) filters in, the second melody in what has become a fugue for the future.  This verse proclaims action: 

"Shine out with the splendor of love,

shine with justice and righteousness. 

Sing the music your spirit has heard,

the songs of glory and light."

 

This is the pathway to the vision.   Be a light for justice; voice the essential truth you know in your heart; key in on the positive, the songs of glory and light.   In that way, endless bliss has a chance.

So what does that mean for me, then, every single day?  What can I do to keep a few embers of the potential for endless bliss glowing?  After all, I’m only one person.  When I think about it, quite a bit, it turns out.

·  Aim to discuss rather than persuade.

Enlightenment needs facts, details, opinions, plusses, downsides, as many as can be garnered and sorted, about every aspect of a subject.  For that to happen, the aim has to be discussion, not persuasion.

·  Ask questions.

Instead of a focus on the expression of my own view, I can seek to understand where others are coming from, and why they hold the opinions they do.  This means reading outside my perspective, no matter how difficult it might be.  Rations will be in order.  It means listening intently to people whose views are diametrically opposed to mine, and keying in on the ideas.  

·  Be willing to evolve.

I might even have to ask myself hard questions.  I might even have to question my thinking.  I might even have to evolve!

·  Call out downright false or, at best, misleading,  statements.

In conversation, I will not initiate  I will, however, weigh in on a disparaging political comment that’s gratuitous, inserted into a conversation out of nowhere.     False or misleading statements that seldom reference a source or any evidence at all also fall below my line.  I will not vote for politicians whose platform is constant attack, blame, criticism and fear-mongering.  They have nothing else.

·  Support forward-thinking people and projects.

I will support projects and individuals who look forward, not back.  Politicians who can build on the innovation and hard work of our ancesors  and keep traditions alive by moving forward have my vote.   Stagnation is not an option.  Neither is hearkening back to some sort of supposed golden age that has never existed.

·  Act.

Speak out.  Work for justice.

·  Park my outrage.

Lies, crassness, insults, threats, attacks, tunnel vision, the rise of the imbecile—all contribute to my own outrage.   To work for solutions, though, I can’t seethe.  I must breathe, and remain rational.   Otherwise, I can’t listen or engage in constructive dialogue.

·  Hold on to my joy.

Here’s the toughest challenge.   I’ll need both hands.  Ration cable news and talking heads.  News in print is easier to manage with equanimity.   Alternate heavy non-fiction with easier reads.  Treasure my family time.  Focus on the positive.

I’ve always believed in agency, in the power of the individual to make change, one gesture at a time.   Never in my lifetime have I felt the vision, rooted in democracy, so threatened.  Never have I felt such urgency on the pathway.  Never have I felt the dire consequence of inaction.  How appropriate—the reminder of the vision and the pathway dawned on me during Advent, the season of flow from darkness into light.

Fiction Reads 2018

So, surprise, for real, I didn’t drown after all in the sea of non-fiction that described the decay of a civilization.  I came up for air, from time to time, for longer and longer periods.  How did I choose the books?  Favorite authors,  Canada Reads selections, incidental recommendations, language, and, of course, pure chance.

English Language, in order of enjoyment, not necessarily literary merit:

Dear Girl,  by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Parish Rosenthal (2017)

Readers of this blog know my obsession with AKR’s books.  Her last book celebrates girls, and encourages them to be everything they can be, with practical suggestions for how to do that.  A must for every young girl.  "Dear girl, Keep that arm raised!  You have smart things to say!"

This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel (2017)

Best fiction of the year in my set.  Frankel tackles the subject of transgender children, with empathy, relatable characters, and language at once fresh and delicate.  Masterfully written.

Origin, by Dan Brown (2017)

I loved the book, and was surprised that some people I talked to thought it formulaic in the Dan Brown style.  Somehow, although I’ve read all the books in the Da Vinci Code series, the historic, geographical, and architectural detail about Spain swept me up as much as the plot.  " 'There is only one way Christianity will survive the coming age of science.  We must stop rejecting the discoveries of science.  We must stop denouncing provable facts.  We must become a spiritual partner of science, using our vast experience—millennia of philosophy, personal inquiry, meditation, soul-searching—to help humanity build a moral Framework and ensure that the coming technologies will unify, illuminate, and raise us up . . . rather than destroy us.' "

American War by Omar El Akkad (2017)

Very powerful novel, dark, and intricately connected to the non-fiction I read on a similar topic.  In Canada Reads, it finished second to Forgiveness (comments below).

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green (2017)

John Green’s quirky characters and authentic voice will always bring me back.  I’ve read all his books (e.g. The Fault In Our Stars, Looking for Alaska) and never tire.  " 'We are about to live the American Dream which is, of course, to benefit from someone else’s misfortune. ' " (p. 23)

A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva audio book

The English Assassin by Daniel Silva (2002)

The Confessor by Daniel Silva (2003)

The Kill Artist by Daniel Silva (2000)

The Daniel Silva run began quite by accident with an audio book from the library that I thought might keep me awake and, optimally, intrigued, during a nine-hour drive home solo from Calgary.  Worked in spades.  The world of spies and assassins, and the people mixed up in it, made the kilometres fly.  I hunted down three other books by Daniel Silva, whom I had never read before, and they bridged some serious non-fiction.  I will go back.

The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve (2017)

Anita Shreve died of cancer at age 71 while I was reading this book.  Based on a historic fire in Maine in 1947, this is the fictional story of Grace Holland’s self-discovery as she struggle to survive in that crisis.

A Darkness of the Heart by Gail Bowen (2018)

On her book tour, Gail Bowen dropped in to our local library for a chat.  She delighted and inspired.  This read reminded me of how subtly she contextualizes each new Joanne Kilbourn novel and establishes the threads for the next one.

Drums in Autumn by Diana Gabaldon

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon

I love the Outlander series, especially the first three volumes.  Season four of the television series prompted me to refresh my memory of volumes four and five, that I had never reread.  Without six or seven years between tomes, I was able to make connections that had eluded me.

The Color of Rain by Micahel and Gina Spehn (2011)

Simply the book that inspired a TV movie that I enjoy overcoming tragedy and blending families.

Macbeth by Jo Nesbø (2018)

An author courageous enough to retell the Macbeth story in 1970’s America has my attention. Slow and dreary for the first forty pages or so, the novel did grapple with the essential questions Shakespeare asks in his play.  What catalysts  could trigger the "secret man of blood"  that lies dormant people?

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline (2017)

Forgiveness:  A Gift From My Grandparents by Mark Sakamoto (2017)

Two Canada Reads choices that, in my mind, didn’t meet the expectations the reviews and comments had set. Worthwhile reads, both.  The first explores indigenous issues with which Canadians continue to grapple, and the second honours the character of Japanese Canadians imprisoned in Canada during World War II and stripped of their possessions, and still able to forgive.

The Winners’ Circle by Gail Bowen (2017)

Another Joanne Kibourne novel.  Unfortunately, Bowen gets caught in the recapitulation trap, and her trademark invisible weaving of past threads gives way instead to a whole chapter of catch-up that detracts from this book.

French Language

Chanson douce de Leïla Slimani (2016)

Disponible en anglais sous le titre The Nanny (2018).  Une femme se rend indispensable à une famille professionnelle après la naissance de leur deuxième enfant, avec des conséquences tragiques.  « Son cœur s’est endurci.  Les années l’ont recouvert d’une écorce épaisse et froide et elle l’entend à peine battre.  Plus rien ne parvient à l’émouvoir.  Elle doit admettre qu’elle ne sait plus aimer. » (p 230)

La meilleure façon de marcher c’est celle du flamant rose de Diane Ducret (2018)

Un roman déprimant, et difficile à lire pour cette raison, à mon avis.  Simplement un surcroit de peine et de défis.  « Mais celui qui a inventé le bateau a aussi inventé le naufrage, il ne faut donc pas s’enorgueillir de ses succès passagers; il est nécessaire d’œuvrer toujours avec vertu, courage et humilité, se vaincre soi-même pour triompher de tout. » (p 154)

Madame Tout-le-monde de Juliette Thibault (2011)

Premier roman d’une série; le deuxième tome m’attend toujours.  Ce livre est une recommandation d’une amie, et je comprends pourquoi.  La langue presque archaïque me distrait, cependant.  Je me rends compte de nouveau que je préfère les romans français que j’ai lu dernièrement, pour leur langue beaucoup plus naturelle.

Non-fiction Reads 2018

My goal for 2018  was to submerge myself in non-fiction, the better, I decided, to make a stab at understanding events in my  hemisphere and in the world.  True confession:  I almost drowned (life raft in the next post).  So, this column of my favorite non-fiction reads is not for the faint of heart.  It’s for the resilient, the agents.  It targets those who need perspectives and information to get truth and rationality out there in the trenches,  to « rouse a disaffected humanity and press the world’s physical truths into its palms » as Barbara Kingsolver says, in Unsheltered (p. 193).  I’ll begin with my daily news sources, and end with my book-of-the-year selection.

Journalism

Throughout the year, I continued to get my news from online newspapers:  The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and my two local papers.  I continue to follow the courageous  columnists I recommended in last year’s best-reads post.   This year, I stumbled on unconventional news sources, namely :

•     Chris Hedges in Truthdig; his most recent article The Election Circus Begins, exemplifies his lucid and frank prose.  

•     Jonathan Chait (cf Trump Literally Did NotUnderstand What a Shutdown Would Do)

•     Ryan Holiday, a personal strategist often published in Medium, (cf How toDevelop Better Habits in 2019) who led me to

•     Umair Haque, an uncompromising chronicler of American collapse  and the menace of authoritarianism.

Politics

•     No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump’s Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need (2017) by Naomi Klein—the Canadian activist’s call to action

"To have a hope of changing the world, we’re going to have to be willing to change ourselves."   (p. 261)

•     Trumpocracy:  The Corruption of the American Republic (2017) by David Frum

•     The World As It Is: A Memoir of the Obama White House (2018) by Ben Rhodes.              Fascinating account of the critical events of the Obama presidency.  Here’s the difference between what really happens and what we know about what happens. 

•     America,  The Farewell Tour (2018) by Chris Hedges

More on the American collapse, with a stark message on the caveats of citizenship: "Resistance entails suffering.  It requires self-sacrifice.  It accepts that we may be destroyed.  It is not rational.  It is not about the pursuit of happiness.  It is about the pursuit of freedom."  (p. 305)

•     War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence (2018) Ronan Farrow 

Understand the cumulative effect of decades of budget cuts in diplomatic offices and preferences for military solutions.

Indigenous Issues and Truth and Reconciliation

Unsettling Canada:  A National Wake-Up Call (2017) by Arthur Manuel and Grand Chief Ron Derrickson

Manuel and Derrickson write a history of the Indigenous peoples of British Columbia.  The authors describe their experiences growing up, as well as their roles as activists in the events that shaped the directions of relations with First Nations on the federal and provincial levels.  They are frank in their assessments, and provide singular perspectives and insights.  

The Comeback (2014) by John Ralston Saul

Indigenous peoples are reclaiming their power and influence in Canada.  "The situation is simple [he says].  Aboriginals have made and will continue to make a remarkable comeback.  They cannot be stopped.  Non-aboriginals have a choice to make.  We can continue to stand in the way so that the comeback is slowed and surrounded by bitterness.  Or we can be supportive and part of a new narrative." (p. 6)

Being Human

Barking to the Choir: The Power of Radical Kinship by Gregory Boyle (2017)

“Seek first the kinship, and watch what happens,” Boyle says.  The path to reconciliation is relationship, and all of us have a responsibility to make it happen.  Why all of us?  We have a pulse, Boyle says.  “This larger sense of belonging to each other acknowledges that many are the things that connect us, and those things that divide us are few and no match for our kinship.”  This book is the cumulative wisdom of Boyle’s decades of developing relationships with former gang members to support them in building a solid life.

The Widower’s Notebook (2018) Jonathan Santlofer.  Memoir

Santlofer’s wife dies in his arms in their living room a few days after surgery.  The book describes his reaction and his efforts to rebuild his life. 

Hockey Matters

Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador and the Future of Hockey (2017) by Ken Dryden

Breaking Away (2015) by Patrick O’Sullivan

Both accounts provide insights into the physical and emotional toll a hockey life can exact.

Yvette’s Book of the Year

Conspiracy:  Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker and the Anatomy of Intrigue (2018) by Ryan Holiday

Hands down, this was the best book I read in 2018.   Not only did this real-life drama read like a mystery novel, Holiday supplemented the account judiciously with lessons in strategy from his vast reading.  He explains a complex matter with unerring clarity, and provides frequent summaries of names and events without ever sounding condescending.  A masterful job on all levels—research, structure, storytelling, and language.  This was an unexpected page-turner.  In fact, after I read the library copy, I purchased a copy to keep.  It was that good.  My favorite aspect, however, is the emphasis on agency, on the power of the individual to make change:  "If you want to have a different world, it is on you to make it so.  It will not be easy to do it—it may even require things that you are reluctant to consider.  It always has.  Moreover, that is your obligation [author’s italics] if you are called to a higher task.  To do what it takes, to see it through." (p.  294)  Very timely message.

Maple Creek

On the way home from Calgary, the car pretended to self-drive for a few minutes, right into Maple Creek for lunch.    I can no longer simply drive by this singular small town of just over two thousand people, having savoured its hospitality and fantastic food in July.   At that time,  I did know that Maple Creek is the Gateway to Cypress Hills and Fort Walsh.   What I didn’t know was that it’s a travel destination all on its own.

That iconic Saskatchewan July day, who knew we would head into Maple Creek from our home base on the highway, the EagleValley Campground, loaded onto the flatbed of a tow truck!  A two-week old starter started, but then wouldn’t stop.  That’s how it goes, sometimes.  The opportunity the misadventure disguised revealed itself about ten minutes later. 

Chicken Noodle Soup and House Roll at The Shop

My husband supervised the repairs in the garage, and I scooted into The Shop across the street just as the skies opened.  In Chef Jordyn Winzer’s Bakery / Deli, I settled in to wait out the storm and the breakdown with a cranberry-coconut cookie, a mug of coffee, books and my computer.   Not much time to read, though, as another RV breakdown victim sought refuge in the restaurant.  I can’t resist a French accent, however, and seized the opportunity for a conversation in French with a visitor from Quebec.  Not five minutes after his departure, a French-speaking family stopped by.  They were motorcycling to the Rockies, each parent with a teen behind them on the machine.  By the end of that stimulating exchange, the skies had cleared.   A container of roasted garlic carrot humus in hand, I headed to the garage to check in; just a few more minutes, and we’d be rolling, a new starter installed.

By then, supper was a logical next step, and the Star Café and Grill beckoned.  Featured in the Globe and Mailin January, the restaurant was at the top of our personal gotta-eat-there list.  It didn’t disappoint.  I had carmelized onion soup and lettuce wraps. With Cypress Hills rhubarb wine,  the light and flavourful meal refreshed and satisfied.  During our walk later, I made mental notes to stop at Country Lane Kitchens and Cowtown Kids Toy and Candy before our departure.  I continue to wonder how a town of approximately two thousand people can support a kitchen store and a toy / book store?  My own town more than twice the size doesn’t!

The next day, after visits to both businesses, I had even more questions.  Just a few steps into the store, I could tell that Country Lane Kitchens rivals any similar enterprise in a city.  When I spied a display of Bosch kitchen machines, I asked about the metal driver for the cookie paddles.  What?  They had them on hand?  Really?  I left with a driver and the cake paddles too, for the price of the driver and shipping online.  Country Lane Kitchens, too, would be added to our Calgary itinerary.

The two story half-block toy store is a child and grand-parent’s nirvana.  As I meandered  from the science experiments  through the games and the building toys, past the kites and the trucks, I wondered how I could have been oblivious to this treasure for so long.  No more.  Cowtown Kids Toy and Candy will be another regular stop.   

To celebrate our memorable three days in Maple Creek and Cypress Hills, we headed to the Rockin’ Horse Bar and Grill.   I didn’t want a heavy meal.  One of the chef’s specials that night was a small lasagne and salad, with lots of sauce, the description added.  So tempting!  But I never order pasta in a restaurant.  In the end, my decision to trust the description paid off in a delightful small oval dish of narrow lasagne noodles slathered in a robust marinara sauce, with a fresh salad on the side.  Another perfect meal for me. 

Thank you, Maple Creek, for a great three days in July and an energizing short pit stop a few days ago.  We’ve been extolling your hospitality and your treasures since we got back, and we’ll alter our travel routine to assure a stop in your special town.

Grassroots

"We almost lost our school," the volunteer tour guide adds, near the end of a fascinating ride on the Southern Prairie Railway at Ogema.   "We were down to 45 students.  And when you lose your school, there goes your community."

So, she continues, people  got together to brainstorm possible pathways.  They decided to lobby agribusinesses to see if one would set up near their town.  Success!  Filipino workers followed, with their families.  School enrolment is now at 145 students.  An ice-cream shop and a wellness spa have opened.  Further down main street is Solo Italia Pasta, relocated from Northern Italy, that makes wood-fired Neapolitan pizza available fresh on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, or frozen and ready to bake at home.   Great story here, combining travel, romance, and business opportunity.  Wow!  How inspiring!  All this has happened in Ogema, population 403 (2016 census)! 

"When you walk down Main St.," she concludes, bringing me back from my reverie as the train pulls into the station,  "remember to find the fire wall.  It was buit in 1915, after a fire destroyed a significant part of Main Street.  The brick came from the plant in Claybank."

The Claybank Brick Plant, as it happened, is our next day’s destination on our Southeast-Saskatchewan camping experience.     We head out from our home base at Dunnet Regional Park in Avonlea, a beautiful park nestled in a sheltered valley.  It boasts a concession booth, outdoor gathering spot, and a swimming pool in the final stages of renovation.  I notice many RV’s permanently installed on sites rented annually.  I’m surprised.  My surprise itself astonishes me.  This is a beautiful spot—peaceful, quiet, clean, friendly, restorative, a tribute to the community that works hard to maintain it.

We find the brick plant on an iconic July day, sunny, warm, the living skies living up to their name and reputation.  At the Bunkhouse Café and Gift Shop, we take advantage of the orientation video, and enjoy chats with other visitors.  The place buzzes with the chatter of a cycle group from Regina that’s just arrived.  A server brings the corn chowder and homemade Saskatoon pie to our corner table.  One hour until the tour.

Claybank brick, we learn, was a high quality product used nationally and internationally.  It faces the Gravelbourg Co-Cathedral as well as the Château Frontenac in Quebec City.   Its exceptional resistance to heat made it a wise choice for the launch pads at Cape Canaveral, Florida.  The tour guide is knowledgeable and patient with our questions, as we discover the fascinating process of brick making and details about the lives of the workers who lived and worked in this isolated spot.  The plant itself has hardly changed from its opening in 1914.  In fact, each year on Heritage Day, volunteers get the machinery moving again to demonstrate how the bricks were made.   For outdoor enthusiasts, hiking trails branch out from the plant into the clay canyons.  As the site has lost provincial grant money, support is critical to maintain this jewel of Saskatchewan history.

We move on to another home base outside Maple Creek.  From there, we head north on Highway 21 toward the Great Sandhills.   I’ve never been on this highway, I realize, a set-square perpendicular that pierces fields of startling yellow canola, flax showing off a blue hue as it ripens, green pastures dotted with watering holes and cattle, and  a brilliant blue canopy.     All the way to Leader, with only a small mid-way correction, the road heads straight north and the landscape replicates.   We encounter almost no traffic.  The isolation of farm families living in this area of the province overtakes the beauty of its vast panorama.  I thought I understood isolation, growing up in a hamlet of 100 people, but this expanse moves me, and I’m grateful.

At Leader, we turn eastward toward the access to the Sandhills, Sceptre.  The museum and interpretative centre testifies to the innovation and hard work of small-town folks.  Residents have transformed a circa 1960 school into a small town, with school room, hospital room, dentist’s office, police service, general store.   Detail is painstaking, and artefacts abound.  As we head down the grid road to the hills, we appreciate the solitude, and trust that we’ve interpreted the directions correctly.  In the parking area, we read about John Both, a rancher devoted to the sandhills.  No one should judge another person until you’ve walked in his boots, he said, and, to honor him, a arch of boots greets hikers on the trail to the hills.

What an experience!  Meandering through grid roads and secondary highways in southeast Saskatchewan in a 1978 camper van without air in +30 temperatures has reminded me of the challenges of life in what some might consider the middle of nowhere.  Thanks to this grassroots holiday, I can better understand and appreciate the issues, concerns, and delights that characterize life in this corner of our great province.

August 10

Until not that long ago, August 10 was just an ordinary special day.   Embued with elevated status because it is my husband’s birthday, it has always borne the accoutrements of celebration.

Birthdays have always been important in our family.   Gifts?  Not so much.  Time in celebration?  You bet.  I would make coconut cream pie, a favorite to anticipate this once in the year.  We would gather for a special meal around a dining room table set with the china and my mother's silver.  Often, guests would join the party.  To take advantage of summer, we might eat on the patio, linger over a mug of beer or a glass of wine with neighbours, while away the afternoon and evening chatting.   Now and then, we might change it up—a car show, supper on the lake in the city with friends or family.  In 2006, we had cake on the cliff on the isle of Capri.

From the get-go, my husband shared the August 10 magic with a a friend and neighbor, one year older.  That friendship has endured through the years.  Over the last decade, though, others have laid claim to August 10.   The daughter of our niece (and godchild) was born on August 10, as was our grandson’s cousin on his mother’s side.  When August 10 rolls around now, we think of three other people.

In the last five years, a shadow has tinted the aura around August 10.  People die on this day.  My godmother, Janine, died on August 10 in 2013.   The link to my tribute to her (August, 2013, Strength) is here.  Three years later, the director of education who first hired me (at the time, those individuals were called superintendents), an elegant and magnetic individual in his nineties, with a calm, reassuring manner, passed away on this very day.  At the request of his wife, I played and sang Ave Maria at his funeral, a significant musical stretch for me. 

Just this past August 10,  last week, Charlie, my husband’s music partner over the last three years, passed away.   An agressive and pervasive cancer claimed him only six weeks  after diagnosis.   A gifted musician with a mellow approach to life, generous in sharing his time and abilities, he was an ideal partner for Elmer.  Together, they brightened the days of countless individuals with limited opportunities to get around.  Just such an occasion at St. Paul’s Lutheran Home is described in my post, Teleportation (October, 2017).  In response to a request from the family for stories for Charlie’s grandchildren,  Elmer has written a moving elegy to Charlie.   Check it out in the preceding post.

Curious, isn’t it?  And there’s no explanation, either.     Astrological sources (more curiosity) indicate that August 10 is "an extremely potent time,"  and that the configuration represents "a form of a cold passage that one needs to go through to reach for the light of the Sun."  That’s interesting.   August 10 is known as a pathway to the sun, to the light.  In birth, the light of life, I imagine; in death, the light of the spirit, of eternal life with God, believers would say.

Right now, I’m thinking this coincidence of life events assures our connection to six very special people.  When August 10 rolls around, how can we not ask how the girls born on this day are doing? How can we not think of Elmer's childhood friend?  How can we not remember those close to us who passed away?  How can their lives not touch us deeply?

August 10 will continue to be a celebration of the lives of special individuals.  It’s just that a few of those individuals will be with us in spirit.