A Conversion Story

Thought this was appropriate for Lent. It's a true story.

There was a man who fell in love with a Catholic woman. Now this man was 11 years older than her, and a professed atheist. He had not always been an atheist, but was, rather, raised in the Church of Christ. By the time he was twenty, however, he had turned his back to God. Someone once wrote that there were no atheists in foxholes, and in combat this might be true, but there are atheists in uniform, and he had been one of them. The idea of "God" amused him more than anything, and he had no regrets at how he treated people, the drunken nights, the women he was involved with, the collapsed first marriage - it was just life, just, well, "stuff." No big deal.

But then he met the woman. He asked questions. He was often quite hostile in asking how she could simply accept what she believed. You see, he expected a full philosophical or theological approach to her answers - discourse, illumination. It was, she said, faith. That's all. You have it or you don't. She obviously did, and it drew him even closer, this thing that he really could not or, rather, was afraid to, open himself to.

So he decided to attend mass with her, to see what it was all about. He was welcomed with open arms. Though he didn't understand everything and could not partake in communion, those around her, her friends and loved ones, welcomed him warmly and with a love that he had never experienced. Of course there were more questions, things that she could not answer to his satisfaction, so they began to attend classes - RCIA - together. Then a really funny thing happened, and he believed.

Or at least he thought he did. One Easter it was time for him to be received into the church. The man still had many unanswered questions and drove the nun who taught RCIA a bit nuts with his constant questions, but all felt that he was ready. So he and the woman attended mass together. Gnawing at him were still many questions that he did not believe had been adequately addressed, but by now he loved the woman totally and was willing to believe as she did, or so he constantly convinced himself (though he was not aware of this at the time).

There was always that little nagging bit of doubt that was there. He listened, and watched, during the consecration. "This is it." he thought, as he made his way to the front. He took the host. "Hmmm," he thought, "I expected more." Then to the wine.

Just a small sip was all it took.

You know how when you have a bloody nose, you get that particular taste in your mouth? Well, the man tasted blood in his mouth stronger than he had ever before. Transubstantiation, he thought, was a silly concept. Maybe, he allowed, it occurred for the exceptionally holy, but not for all, certainly not for him. But it had, and shook him to the core of what he thought, up to then, were his beliefs. The wine had become blood, he realized, and his doubts fell away.

Good things have continued to happen to him, things he never expected, and his faith has grown stronger every day.

Because of blood.

Mmmm...

The perfect complement to my lovely wife!

You Are Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

You are kind, popular, and generous. You tend to be successful at anything you try. A social butterfly, you are great at entertaining a crowd. You are most compatible with strawberry ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

Bill O'Reilly's Sexual Predator Crusade

Wow, three posts in one night!!!!

Anyway, Bill O'Reilly just came on . Now, I used to really like Bill, had all of the books and everything, but the way he treated the Swift Boat vets - essentially disregarding them - during the 2004 election really turned me off to him. However, I must admit I admire his crusade to bring child sexual predators to justice. He has been a driving force in getting Jessica's Law passed in many states, which has resulted in longer mandatory sentences for sexual predators. One of the disappointing states, however, has been Vermont - that liberal bastion of Howard Dean and Ben and Jerry's - which I can no longer in good conscience buy :(

O'Reilly just reported (a rerun from January 17, which I didn't see first time around) on another Vermont judge which passed out a truly ridiculous sentence against a man who sexually molested a four year old boy. The judge gave the man probation and treatment. Now, you might know about Judge Edward Cashman, who had given a man who sexually molested a little girl over a four year period 60 days in jail - SIXTY DAYS! Thanks to O'Reilly and his crew, the judge later extended the sentence to 3 years, still much too lenient in my opinion, but at least it's longer. Now along comes this judge and another ridiculous sentence - what is wrong with people???

Anyone who commits a crime like this should pay a HEAVY price - castration and life in prison. Of course, it would be better is prisons had no movies, no television, no weight rooms, and (maybe) an hour of outside time a week - in other words, no amenities (but that's another blog!)

These people prey on the most innocent, most defenseless in society, and I cannot imagine the horror that a parent goes through when their child is abducted, molested, and worse. The fact that these monsters are given such a light sentence is an abomination. What the hell is wrong with the people of Vermont that they keep judges like these?

Anyway, thanks Bill, and keep up the good work. I don't agree with you a lot of the time, but on this one, you're dead on.

Tonight

It's 8:30 on a Sunday night. The Super Bowl ended about half an hour ago and I actually got to see quite a bit of it - though I am by no stretch of the imagination a "real" football fan. I do like a game every now and then, though. Of course, we had a break of about thirty minutes while we all watched the rest of Ant Bully (Liss is working tonight). By 8:00 all of the kids were asleep.

As I write this, I can hear Meghan (13 months) breathing as she lays quietly on our bed. Checking Dylan (5) I see that he is on his side, his arm wrapped tightly around his Lightning McQueen pillow, blankets kicked off. Caitlyn (3) has worked her way down into the middle of her bed, her thick curly hair spread out across the pillow as she snores softly. They played hard today and all went to sleep easily. The rest of the house is dark, the fish are fed, and the tv is on to Fox News. I'll probably watch that and the History Channel for the next few hours, maybe read a bit, while waiting for Liss to get home about two in the morning.

It's cool being a Dad.

On Plants (and a trade offer!)

Well, it's that time of year again when I start thinking about what direction I want the gardens to go. No, no, no, I'm not content with things as they are, I have to change them. I guess most plant enthusiasts go through this! I was out in the cactus garden this afternoon, moving some stuff to make room for a storage shed we are putting in. The cactus patch really consists of two distinct areas, one of which is actually a cactus and arid garden, the other is, well, overflow. I go out and salvage plants, mainly cacti, from areas that are going to be bulldozed for development - a VERY large part of the backyard holds these planst and I really do need to find them homes. If you want a cactus from New Mexico please let me know and I'll send you one, just pay shipping!


Anyway, being the plant geek that I am, I recently bought Penstemons, The Beautiful Beardtongues of New Mexico, by Heflin, Heflin, and Ivey, and River and Desert Plants of the Grand Canyon, by Huisinga, Makarick, and Watters. No, I'm nowhere near the Grand Canyon, but the photographs are beautiful and there are a number of these same plants in this area, so...I have always loved Penstemons, ever since, in high school, I used to move them into the garden from the pasture where we kept the horses. Penstemon fendleri (the one I used to move) is below:

I love all of the Penstemons, and have managed to grow a few of them, but I'm looking to add a lot more this year, like this one below (I'll trade Echinocereus coccineus for your Penstemon plants!):

The "regular" garden off the patio has roses, a raspberry bush, iris, dianthus, yarrow, columbine, penstemons, lavender, sage, oregano, Monarda, gladiolus, (deep breath) cannas, zinnias, marigolds, margarita daisies, shasta daisies, Oenothera, hollyhocks .... okay, there's alot! But the native area needs a lot more. I have Echinocereus, Ferocactus, Lobivia, Echinopsis, Opuntia. Mammillaria, Parodia, Notocactus, and a bunch of others, altogether there are about 200 cacti, as well as sages, various native grasses, gumweed, Oenothera, Desert Marigolds, Nama and a few others. The problem is that there is still a lot of space. Now what does this all have to do with the books I have recently bought?

Well, going through them, I have begun to realize that while doing the cactus salvage, I have, for the most part, ignored the other plants. The desert is surprisingly lush when we have a bit of rain. Late last summer, in an open area just up the road, there were huge clumps of Dayflower (below)

An absolutely stunning plant which, unfortunately, did not transplant well.

As I think about the Spring and all of the areas which I will need to move plants from, I think I'll take another look at more than the cacti, as our native wildflowers are stunning, and I need to add a lot more of them!

A Great Book

As I was working toward my MA in History, one of the areas I was particularly interested in was exploration in the American West. From Lewis and Clark's beginning to the US-Mexican Boundary Surveys, to the US Army surveys for the transcontinental railroad - I have studied and written about many of them. They are fascinating and open a whole new world to how Americans looked at their newest lands.

In addition, as I have mentioned (and as my wife alluded to here) I love native plants. Again, while in high school, I thought I would be the next great American botanist! Didn't happen, but I'm still a wildflower geek. So imagine my surprise when I came across this book!

I was in Hastings (a new book retailer out here) today getting a few movies for the kids and Liss and I and, as always, perused their stock of remainders, when I found this book. I had to look again, could it be?

No.

Really?

Yep!

A book that combines the plant collections of the Corps of Discovery (Lewis and Clark) with beautiful photos, and even better text, of the plants the expedition collected, with a great historical prologue and information on where to see the plants in habitat today. What is really cool is that I have seen a great many of these and even have a number of them in my own herbarium (told you I was a plant geek!) Though the book was printed in 2003, I just now discovered it, and love it!

Anyway, it's a great book, not only for the wildflower lover or amateur naturalist, but for the historian of the American West as well. If you have either of these interests - find a copy!

Oh yeah, and about the cover illustrations - the top flower is a Lewisia sp., the bottom, a Clarkia sp. - pretty slick, huh?!?!