Visit
I made a visit to an old folks home and I really liked it, so I felt like drawing some of the conversations. Here, and also here, which was really cute.
So great.
The last song on your latest album talks about forgiveness. And there is one line that is particularly interesting. “If you care to sing forgiveness songs, come down and join our band. And we’ll cut you like a sword and sing forgiveness songs.” Talk about that.
AW:
Yeah, well, thanks for…
Old sport,
When you read the fourth chapter of Trimalchio on your front porch, on an unexpecting summer evening, where Ms. Baker told Mr. Carraway of Gatsby’s past with Daisy, and Nick moved closer to Jordan, arguably a completely unrelated motion, did you wonder what drove him?
Unlike Gatsby and Tom Buchanan I had no girl whose disembodied face floated along the dark cornices and blinding signs and so I drew up the girl beside me, tightening my arms. Her wan scornful mouth smiled and so I drew her up again, closer, this time to my face.
“What would Atlanta’s rail map look like if voters approve?” This new map, created by Citizens for Progressive Transit, shows the prospective rail routes that would be approved if the T-SPLOST one cent sales tax for transportation projects vote succeeds in July.
Let’s vote y’aaallllll
new mewithoutYou song
So exciting! Very reminiscent of Catch for Us the Foxes! Exclamation points everywhere!
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Christ is risen!
He meets our eyes;
Savior, teach us so to rise.
Old English Lenten Traditions
Below is a neat article from a newsletter sent to me from Hermitage of the Holy Cross, a monastic community in West Virginia. Side note: they sell some really great soaps!
Above photo: ‘Lenten Lilies’ - Daffodils at the monastery
A great many traditions were and are connected with the Lenten cycle and Easter. The Saturday before Lent began, was and is called ‘Egg Saturday’, for then people started to use up their eggs, having already given up meat…
‘After every Christmas comes Lent’, reminds us that the Church’ s Year was set by a rhythm of feasts and fasts, and also induces in us a sense of sobriety. The daffodil is still sometimes called ‘the lenten lily’… Lent was also the marble season. This was so until a few years ago. The marble season finished at noon on Good Friday. The marbles were symbols of the stone that was rolled away from the tomb at the Resurrection of Christ.
Palm Sunday was also called ‘Fig Sunday’, for on this day figs, the fruit of the palm, would be eaten in pies and puddings. Donkeys were treated with special kindness on this day. Incidentally, the cross-shaped mark on the backs of donkeys is said to come from the fact that the Lord rode upon a donkey. Holy Thursday was kept with great piety, just as Good Friday. Even in my childhood all shops were closed on Good Friday - except the baker’s for hot cross buns. It was called ‘Good’ from the old meaning of the word ‘good’, signifying holy or spiritual, as is still the case when we call the Bible ‘the Good Book’. The elder was a tree never used by carpenters because it was said to be the tree from which Judas hanged himself and was called ‘the Judas tree’. On the other hand if the aspen tree is popularly called ‘the shiver tree’ it is because Christ was crucified on one. So to this day it shivers with shame and horror…
As at Christmas, Good Friday and Easter were marked by cosmic events. All Creation participated. Thus it is said that the hawthorn groans on Good Friday, because it was used to weave the crown of thorns. If the violet droops its head, it is because the shadow of the cross fell upon it at the Crucifixion. The robin has a red breast because he pulled thorns from Christ’s brow, thus staining himself with blood. The expression ‘touchwood’ comes of course from the custom of touching the Cross (wood) to protect oneself from the Evil One. To this day hot cross buns are eaten in England. Traditionally they have a healing power and are still eaten in some parts in much the same way as Orthodox eat prosphora or blessed bread from the Vigil…
Good Friday was also considered a day of blessing for certain activities. Thus if seeds are sown at noon on the day, flowers will come up double (a token of new life and resurrection). Also bread baked on Good Friday will keep fresh all the year.
- Fr. Andrew Phillips from Orthodox Christianity and the English Tradition
