Video Meliora, proboque; Deteriora sequor

    Spanning the Globe to Bring You the Constant Variety of Posts

We'll be just outside of Orland, a town of about 6,000. Not too far from civilization at all. But you can't hear the freeway from there, and at night it actually gets real dark. Beautiful mountain ranges to the east and the west are in full view. If we stay there (and we may not if a smaller place nearby becomes available) I hope to plant a small fruit orchard, a vegetable garden, and some grapes or kiwi. We'd also like to keep some acreage in pasture for cows, goats, geese, and whatever else.. - Jeff Culbreath of ECR, inducing jealousy

He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative. - G.K. Chesterton on new "3 Streams" blog

are you high? i have a feeling that you were still reeling from the movie, so you are excused for your hyper-enthusiasm. that said, it's a great flick. - smockmomma of Summa Mama's to Victor on the movie "The Incredibles"

Deucedly few posts containing "qua." - Tom of Disputations on his new liturgical year's blog resolutions. Amen.

[Safire] endorsed Bill Clinton in 1992...on the grounds that George H. W. Bush was a liar. This was a bit like courting Helen Thomas because Cameron Diaz has bad skin some mornings. - Jonah Goldberg of NRO...(this blogger voted 3rd party)

On one of our two trips to the hospital the past couple of days for blood tests, I was, as you often are at hospitals, surrounded by the elderly. It always gives me great food for thought, to be sitting there with a newborn, in the midst of people at the other end of life. I marvel that someday, this little guy will be there, as well, God willing, with 80 years of life behind him, that started with us, right here. I pray that it is a good and blessed life, and in gratitude for my part in bringing it to be. And I also think, with not a little trepidation, of my own journey in that direction. I suppose everyone settles and everyone finds joy in whatever stage of life they're in, but it just seems so unimaginable to me to be in a stage of life where producing new life is no longer possible...oh it continues, with grandchildren and so on, and perhaps there will be a time when it fills me with relief to know that the role of procreation is on others' shoulders now. But while there is much gained as we grow old and are able to produce and share our wisdom in other ways, there is such a sense of sadness in losing this particular power, this particular, miraculous way of co-creating with God and nourishing life. - Amy Welborn

yes some day  
we just might meet
a king with names carved into his hand

until that hour for us wine’s pressed
a good vintage of blood
for parched lips
        -excerpt of poem by Thomas of Endlessly Rocking

Strange sometimes to think about dying... someone said somewhere how once a year we pass the anniversary of our death without knowing it.... - Alexa of "Frank-in-a-sense & Mirth"

All must imitate the holiness of God (Lv. 19:2). It is by loving others, explains Jesus, that the Christian does that, is distinguished from the gentiles, and becomes a child of God. But whence comes the strength to do this? The apostolic tradition reverses the situation and understands that it is because we are children of God that we can imitate God, for the God whose love becomes the principle of our activity. - New Jerusalem Bible note (1 Peter 1:22)

...I don't buy interpretations of Jesus as a total anti-institutionalist, who meant to replace formal connections with personal and emotive ones (or with no connections). Only in our modern society are family relations merely personal and emotive. Jesus' statement that his followers were his true brothers and sisters wouldn't have been taken as sentimental, but radical. - Camassia

The only thing I am upset about is I am still rather zoftig. I only can fit into my yoga pants these days and I do not look like I do yoga. - Pansy of "Two Sleepy Mommies", who recently gave birth.

You can't be a beacon if your light don't shine
You can't be a beacon if your light don't shine
There's a little light in all of us by God's design
But you can't be a beacon if your light don't shine - Donna Fargo song