The Christmas List

A couple of days ago my wife Kathleen asked me for my Christmas list. She asked me for the list because she found out that I have already started buying her Christmas presents.

Kathleen, you know I've taken up coin collecting and am currently working on the State quarters. But did you know I also want to collect the presidential dollars? It would be nice to have a book to keep them in.

Did you know that I really really REALLY like cookies? How often do you see me bake them? That's right. Almost never. They are a lot of work and then I have a house full of cookies, and you know I have difficulty with moderation. So, this cookie of the month club is perfct.

I know it must seem as though I have all the kitchen tools any man could ever want, but there is one thing needful. A paté mold. It can only be copper or tin-lined copper, not aluminum with a copper finish. I think a fish shaped one would be most useful as I could take it to Church for the potluck after Agape Vespers on Pascha. And when it is not being used for it's main purpose it can hang decoratively on our kitchen wall.

You know how I have that magnificent Smith and Wesson Model 19-9 Combat Magnum Revolver? Well, because it was made for the Canadian market the barrel is 4.25 inches. That is a quarter inch longer than all the mass produced holsters for Smith and Wesson k-frame revolvers. I need a custom-made holster with two pouches for speed loaders.

Right now, the only CD of Orthodox Christian music I have is Christmas hymns. I think I need more. Any of these three would be beneficial: Full of Grace, God is With Us, or Arise!.

You know how you are always trying to get me to dress more casually? Well, none of my shoes go with casual clothes so it stands to reason that two-tone wingtips are the way to start. Once I have a pair of these I can start wearing more casual clothes, such as tan flannel trousers and camp shirts.


Remeber when we caught those halibut in the Bay? Wouldn't it be nice to have a beautiful framed picture of one on the wall beside the picture of your salmon?

Cigars are expensive. To preserve them one needs a good humidor. Case Renzo and Solana make very good humidors but, I bet, on auction sites you can find a good used Diamond Crown or a Savoy.

I need a new holy water bottle to carry with me at work. (You know the kind of people I have to deal with.) I know for a fact that I would use it way more often than my gun, even more often than my hand sanitizer.

You know how I've been listening to Shrlock Holmes books when I go to bed at night? Well, it's instilled in me a desire to have a smoking jacket. No violin or cocaine, though.

Remember about 10 or 11 years ago when I had a fez? I think you gave it to me. Or, maybe, I bought it for my self. I think I bought them for my kids, too. Anyway, I haven't seen mine in years and I sure would like another one. Or, maybe, a smoking cap. They are similar, and the smoking cap would go with the jacket.

Two words: Cheese knife

I have bought these for other people but never one for myself. If I say The Three Stooges, is that enough of a hint? No? OK. Here is the link to the product.

I only have one corduroy jacket. It is old, beige, ill-fitting and patched where the elbows wore thin. Notwithstanding the garment's delapidated state, every time I wear it you say, "You look good in cordury." Imagine how I'll look during the twelve days of Christmas with this keeping warm as we jingle and dash from service to party to service to party for almost a fortnight! And, I think, for women the company sells dresses in complimentary designs! Oh, I like this idea!

Are you tired of burnt matches piling up all over the house? I think we could use two of these, one in the Icon corner and one by my chair.

I know, I know. We aren't Texans but, I think, it would be awsome to wire something like this to the front of the Camry.

You know how sometimes when we go the the range and the larger rifles knock my hearing protectors off my head? That problem can be solved with these.

Many years ago my Mother had this set. When I was a little boy, she said she would give it to me when she died. She forgot about saying that and sold it in a garage sale when I was in the Army. I have always wanted one. I know, we can't really entertain large groups of people at our house, but we could take this bowl and fill it up at all the Christmas parties we are invited to every year.

Sonia Henie's Tutu

All through the 1990s and early 2000s I listened to Click and Clack on KQED-FM out of San Francisco. Some of my happiest memories are of me and my boys, all four of them, driving in the car and listening to their show. At least, once a month Click or Clack would exclaim "Sonja Henie's Tutu" instead of swearing. I had no idea who Sonja Henie was but once in a while I would also hear her name in games of Trivial Pursuit but I didn't really know much about her.

About ten years ago Kathleen, who takes great joy in trying to stump me with trivia questions thought she had me when she asked me who won the gold medal at the 1928 Olympics. Well, I didn't know but I did know the name of one famous ice skater. So when I said Sonja Henie and it was the right answer Kathleen said in atitude of amazement, "Who are you?" I thought that was very funny.

Well, tonight I went to the Stanford Theater to see an old musical, Sun Valley Seredade. I got there a couple of minutes late so I missed the opening credits and I had no idea Sonja Henie was an actress but as soon as I saw her on ice I asked myself, could that be Sonja Henie? I stayed to the closing credits to find out, and it was! Wow! After all these years to see her face. I know it's a little thing but it made me happy. It was a pretty dumb movie, just an excuse to see Glen Miller, the Nicholas Brothers, and Sonja Henie but it was a lot of fun. I am so glad the Stanford Theater exists.

Pies

I've made two intersting pies in the last week. One is chocolate and the other is beef. They are both pretty easy.

In the past I used to buy Marie Calendar's frozen pie crust but I have discovered that I enjoy the work of making pie crust more than I enjoy a "perfect" pie crust. Also, my son Basil gave me a beautiful olive wood wolling pin a couple of years ago and I enjoy using it.


The crust for both is pretty standard:
-6 cups flour (I keep the flour in the refrigerator if I am going to make pie) -3 sticks of unsalted butter. (Yes, it bothers me that they got rid of Mia but Land o' Lakes still makes the best butter.)
-5 tablespoons of ice cold water
-1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
I know many people use a food processor to make their pie dough but I don't have one of those and if I did, I think, I would not want the hassle of cleaning it. It is more fun to just use a pastry blender to cut in the butter.

Once the butter, flour, water, and vinegar are mixed, I shape the dough into two disks, about 6 inches across, wrapt them in plastic food wrap, and put them in the freezer until the night before I want to use them. The night before I use them I move them to the refrigerator. They roll out easly. Oh, you can keep them in the freezer for weeks.

The Meat Pie
The day before you make the meat pie you need to prepare the meat.
1. Brown both sides of beef chuck roast. I salt and pepper boat sides, sprinkle with a little bit of garlic powder, and put it into a six quart pan with a little olive oil in the bottom over hight heat. I turn it over when the bottom side just starts to turn black. Then I do the same thing to the otther side.

2. Add flavor and cook. Once both sides have been browned I add to the pan 1/2 diced onion, 1 tablespoon beef base,
and 1 cup of water. Then I put the lid on the pan and put it in a 200 degree oven for 4 hours. When you take it out of the oven the meat will fall apart. Empty the contents of the pan into a tupperware container and put in the refrigerator.

3. The next day open the lid of the tupperware container and remove the fat that floated to the top. I throw it away but you might want to use it for something.

4. Then dump the meat and all the gelatin and liquid from the tupperware into a big mixing bowl. (My step daughter gave me some a couple of Christmases ago).

5. Pull the meat apart with a fork so all the chuncks are bite-sized.

6. Add 2 cups of mixed chopped vegetabels. Or do what I do and just add a can of Green Giant mixed vegetables.

7. Add 1 can of cream of mushroom soup and stir it all up.

8. Take one of your pie crusts and lay it in the pie pan.

9. Then you pour the meat and vegetable mixture into your readied bottom pie crust, smooth it out so that it evenly fills the crust.

10. Then you put on the top crust and crimp the crusts together around the edges of your pie pan. Then you poke lots of holes in the top crust. I just use the tip of a knife and make a spriral from the outside edge to the center of the top crust. It's easier than cutting fancy vents in the top crust.

11. Then bake at 400F for 30 minutes, reduce heat to 300 and bake another hour.

12. Then take it out of the oven and eat it.

The Chocolate Pie
Roll out one pie crust disk and lay it in your pie pan. Lay a sheet of parchment paper in it and then fill it with dry beans or pie weights. Your are going to blind bake it so it is nice and crispy and flakey when you fill it with chocolate custard.
The filling is a chocolate custard, and it is easy to make. (This is enough for 2 pies.)
-3 cups granulated sugar
-8 oz 70% cacao chocolate bar, chopped
-1 tablespoon Hershey's cocoa powder
- 10 egg yolks
- 5 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 corn starch
- 4 table spoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Add the corstarch, sugar, salt, cocoa powder together in a large pan and mix them all up completely.
2. In a mixing bowl whisk together completely the milk, cream, egg yolks, and vanilla extract.
3. pour the liquids into the pan of sugar etc and mix it all of together completely.
4. put the pan (I use a 6 quart all-clad) over medium heat and stir constantly.
5. once the custard starts to thicken remove from heat and add the butter and chopped chocolate, stir stir stir until it is completely mixed in.
5. pour into pie crust and chill in the fridge for 4 hours before serving. Most people seem to like whipped cream on top.

First Confession in a Long Time

You know Lot's wife? I have been a lot like her and until tonight hadn't gone to Confession because of it. (It seems wrong to me to go to Confession when you are miserably wishing you could go back to your sins.) Tonight I went to Confession and immediately was better. I didn't know I was better until afterward when I took my wife to dinner at Palermo, our new favorite Italian restaurant and blessed the food. For the first time in months I felt like God was listening to me.

Chili Verde at My Sister's House and Other Stuff

Today was difficult day. I suffered from insomnia Friday night and only got 4 hours of sleep. And the arthritis in my feet was bad today. And the lock on the front door broke and we can't get the door open. But I went to Home Depot and bought a higher quality door lock set, a Schlage to replace what is on the door now. I'll install it tomorrow after church. Right now we are going in and out of the house through the garage door.

I made chile verde today. (It was fun taking Kathleen to my little Mexican market to buy tomatillos and chilis. She had never been there and thought it looked dangerous from the outside.) I used, mostly, my mom's recipe.... Remove the fat cap from a pork shoulder roast and cut it into cubes of 2" to 3" in size. Salt them with not more than a table spoon of salt. Brown them in a big pan or dutch oven, 6 to 8 quarts will work. You can melt a little pork fat in the bottom of the pan or use a couple of teaspoons of oil. While the pork is browning wash and cut in half 2 poblanos and 3 jalapenos. (If you don't like the burning sensation remove the seeds from the jalapenos.) Put the chilis on a cookie sheet and put them under a broiler until the skin blisters and starts to burn black. Then turn them over and broil a few more minutes. When the pork is brown turn off the fire under the pan and let it sit there while you finish the sauce. Next remove the husks from a couple of quarts of tomatillos, wash them and halve them. Peel and halve 2 white onions. Then put the onions, chilis, and tomatillos in a blender. Add two tablespoons of granulated garlic. Then blend until it is smooth. Pour it over the the pork in the pan. (At this point I modifed my mother's recipe by adding 1/2 a quart of chopped cactus leaves to the pan.) Bring to a boil, cover, turn the heat down low, and simmer for 3-4 hours. Serve with lime wedges and chopped cilatro as condiments.

My sister made a really good and easy to make Mexican rice dish to go with the chili. I think she said all she does is cook Minute Rice in chicken broth (If you aren't making your own chicken broth, you should use Swanson. I think it is the best store-bought chicken broth there is.)and add a bottle of any salsa and stir it in before serving.

It was good talking with my sister and her husband for three hours, and hearing updates on all their children, grandchildren and great-grandgrandchildren. I'm not sure but I think it was the first time since my brother's funeral.

Oh, I almost died a couple of weeks ago. My blood pressure was so high that I had to go to the emergency room . They gave me an IV of some drug that brought it down to non-deadly levels, and my regular physician adjusted my prescription. No serious heart or brain damage.

This is the last semester of Kathleen's masters degree in counseling. After two years, it is nice to see the light at the endo of the tunnel.

The Navy moved my son Anselm Samuel and his family back to San Diego. I don't know exactly what he is doing (everything related to submarines is an official secret) but I know it has something to do with electronic warfare. The plan is for him to be there for four years. Also, the Navy is sending him to ILDC so they can promote him to Petty Officer 1st Class.

This is Basil's last semester at Cal Maritime. Like Kathleen, he'll have his degree just before Christmas. After that he will go to China where he will work in logistics for Panda Games.

In sad news, my friend of 24 years Reader John Simmons died about two weeks ago. He was the choir director at our little parish. His departure is very much felt by us all. Please, pray for him and St. Nicholas Orthodox Church.

Movie review

While the berry pie is in the oven I think I'll share with you my opinion of Christopher Nolan's new movie, The Odyssey.

But first, a joke. Two goats were in the back lot of MGM one day, eating old cans of film. One goat says to the other, "Oh, wow! Billy, you have to try this Gone With the Wind! It's amazing!" So, Billy took an bite, chewed, swallowed, then said, "Yeah, It's okay. But the book was better."

There are a lot of interesting things about Nolan's movie. I liked how the bard reciting Homer's poem introduced the story and reappeared near the end. I didn't like Penelope's angry speech at Telemachus; totally out of character with the woman we know from the poem. And the armor the Greek soldiers were wearing was not like the armor Agamemnon's solders wore. (But if you like the Gladiator movie that won't bother you.)

The actress who played the part of a man who wasn't in Homer's poem was an interesting thing. She pretends to be a man, plays a man's role from Virgil's version of the story, and the character was duped into into tricking the Trojans. Which is, I think, a pretty good way of expositing Odysseus's cunning and trickster nature. Lies upon lies upon lies.

There were a couple very jarring references to the Bronze Age Collapse. While it is historically true that the Greeks (and they didn't call themselves Greeks, that's what the Romans would call them centuries after the events portrayed in the movie.) would forget how to read and that the Bronze Age was coming to an end, there was no way for anyone alive then to know that was going to happen. But the most bizarre thing in the movie was how the ending was changed. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it, but the most beautiful part of Homer's poem, when Odysseus and Penelope were reunited in the bed/tree and all was right in Ithaca was changed to Odysseus dealing with is regret for all the killing. In the poem Odysseus did not regret killing anyone.

I will say this good thing about the movie: It dealt with the gods in a way that was better that that Troy movie from a few years ago. Now, I had better go check on that pie.

War in Iran

This war has been simmering since 1979. And I do not think President Trump is the right man to lead us in this war. He wants too much to make a deal and end the war. We need someone who will call up the reserves, expel all Iranian nationals (they are suicide bomber threats), crush the IRGC, kill all the mullahs and ayatollahs, and let the non-crazy Iranians take control of their country. We de-Nazified Germany, we can de-Shiite-ize Persia. Who knows, maybe a peaceable alliance of Zoroastrians, Christians, Sunnis(?!?!?), Jews, and Bahais can establish a stable Republic. Or even a constitutional monarchy under the Phalavi Dynasty. (The heir of that dynasty has lived in America since 1979 and has named his daughter, who is a U.S. citizen, his heir.) But whatever happens, the people who for almost 50 years have been chanting "Death to America" must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

Maybe, I am not "just" a gunslinger for the county.

Today was my first day on my first post-training assignment. The assignment is managing the VTA's "lost and found" and protecting the people who work in the downtown center. I am astounded by the hundreds of wallets and purses and iPhones our passengers find and turn in. A note on the wallets and purses: almost all of them are full of cash. Many of them contain hundreds of dollars. Today I had the pleasure of returning several purses and wallets and more than $300 dollars to the people who left them on our trains and busses. I almost wept for joy at the goodness of my fellow citizens. But I was also told which windows I could shoot through and which windows are impervious to bullets because not all of my fellow citizens are good people.

After work Kathleen and I went and voted. I feel sad for the people I voted for in the primary because not since 1988 has a person I voted for in the primary election gone on to win the general election in November.

Then we went to see this movie about the American Revolution. And, yes, I wept. And am resolved to go meet with my state senator next week to talk to him about that repugnant tax on homeowners.

I'm a Gunslinger for the County

My job is so strange. 8 to 12 hours a day I drive around to various places on the County's light rail system and make sure everything is okay. I visit a lot of stations each day, make sure the un-armed protective officers are doing their jobs, document any deficiencies I see, take pictures of any damage to the rail system, interview witnesses to criminal conduct, and deal with mentally ill/emotionally disturbed/substance addicted people at the stations or on the vehicles.

I carry a bunch of different weapons but have ABSOLUTELY NO INTENTION OF USING THEM. Why? Because, so far, all of the people I have to deal with are not criminal as much as they are sick, like the man I had to deal with tonight. He took off all his cothes on a train, and I had rush from one side of the county to the other to meet the train and convince him to put his clothes back on. Was he committing a crime? Absolutely, he was. Being naked in public is a violation of the California penal code. But he is crazy. Totally crazy. I could have arrested him. And he is a drug addict, and an alcoholic, and diabetic and, it smells like, he has gangrene in his leg. Oh, and the open wound on his abdomen and the swollen testes! I am sure he will be dead soon. So, I did not arrest him. I asked him if he wanted medical help. He said he did not want mediacal help. I asked him if he could get dressed. He swore at me for a couple of minutes but put his pants and shirt back on.

I asked him, "Are you going to behave?" He spewed some more profanity at me but said he would behave. The other passengers seemed relieved. I walked up to the front of the train and told the operator that the subject was dressed now but I would meet the train at the next two stations, and he should to call me on the radio if there was a problem. So that is my job. I never thought I would be doing a job like this. All I can think is life is weird.

In other news: My son, Anselm Samuel told me that his wife is pregnant with their second child and my youngest son, Basil Wenceslas told me he is in the running for a summer internship with the a company named Quarter Master Logistics in Florida. I hope he gets the internship.

Oh, should metntion that my wife, Kathleen is still working on her masters degree in counseling and will be finished with it in December of this year. It looks like she will immediately transition from being a teacher into being a counselor. Also, I am still taking classes in water resources management. I have been on a few job interviews in that field and all the other people are in their mid-20s to early-30s and I have had no call backs. Therefore, I do not suppose I will ever work in that field. I think I have enough resources for to buy a few acres and raise cattle and chickens. I hope I can do that for a few years before I die.

So Much Is New

Well, in December 2024 I resigned my job as a teacher. I thought I could make more money as a home improvement salesman for a really good company. I got my license went to work for them, and for a few months I did pretty well. Until March. That is when the layoffs started. It was brutal here in Silicon Valley. Apple, Intel, AMD and many others started letting people go. About 24,000 people lost their jobs, and that scared everyone else. No one was spending money on home improvements, at least not the ones I was selling (e.g. HVAC, windows, roofs, doors, and solar systems.) To survive I went back to working part-time at Bass Pro Shops. I liked it and was good at it but they do not pay commissions. So now motter how much I sold, and I sold a lot of very expensive guns, my income from that job was meager. About the only good thing other than my hourly wage, was that they paid for me to become a California-licensed firearms safety instructor. That got me to thinking: Maybe there is a gun-related career I could make money at for the last 10 years of my working life. I started looking for something else. I looked at a lot of things: bounty hunter, private investigator, repo agent, etc. But I settled on armed security guard.

I took the required state training, did the psych exam, qualified on a bunch of diferent guns, and got a job doing armed patrols for the Valley Transportation Authority. So far, I like it. Mainly, I drive around (Almost no standing and walking, which my knees and feet can not take.)and help distressed and mentaly ill people stay out of trouble.

Not often do I have do deal with the truely criminal, but almost every day I have to deescalate situations that could result in the county's sheriff's deputies hauling someone off to jail or the psych hospital. So far, I've been able to talk several mentally disturbed or intoxicated paeople into following my instructions (I always start by saying, "Hey, I'm going to be in a lot of trouble if you don't leave this train (or platform, or bus)and I know you don't want me to get into trouble...") and avoiding serious repercussions. Tonight, I did have to take out my handcuffs (A poor crazy woman had caused all kinds of problems on a train platform. As I was approaching the subject she lifted her denim skirt, squated, and urinated on the train platrform.) but just as I was about to cuff the subject (I need to remember to buy some latex gloves.) the sheriff's deputies arrived and took her. I've never had to touch my gun. I hope I never have to.

Well, that is what I do for a living now. I am 57 so I suppose this will be the last job I have before I retire, if I can retire.

I barely ever talk with my son Anselm. He knows I diapprove of his decision to raise his son Oliver as a Roman Catholic but I still love them both, and Tiffany my son's wife. I started something I call Granfather's Book of the Month Club. Each month I send Oliver a book. I expect that Anselm or Tiffany will read the book to him. Back a couple of months ago I sent Oliver all the Christmas books I read to Anselm when he was little, but there are very many more books besides the Christmas books. Just before she divorced me Athanasia gave away all our kid's books to the Lucille Packard Childrens Hospital Thrift Store but I am buying all those books new to send to Oliver. (Thankfully, she did not give away Anselm's first prayer book so in a couple of years, when Oliver is reading on his own, I will be able to send him his Dad's prayer book.)

Basil (AKA son # 4) is still doing well at the California Maritime Academy. He secured an internship at Panda Game Manufacturing, and travels around northern California promoting their services to game inventors. A couple of days ago he told me that after he gets his B.A. in December of 2026 he wants to do something to grow in the Orthodox Faith. I recommended that he go to a monastery for a year or to St. Tikhon Seminary. But tonight I remembered St. Herman Seminary in Kodiak, Alaska. They have a one year reader program. Also, they might be able to use my son's accounting skills. I'll talk to Basil about it when I see him on Holy Saturday. (I have to work most of that day so I can't go to church, but Basil is coming by to pick up his Pascha basket to ttake to church.)

Speaking of Holy Saturday.... This hear I was able to go to the first two nights of Bridegroom Matins. OH MY GOSH!!! It was so beautiful!!!! Because of the work I do the next service I will be able to go to is Agape Vespers, but, wow, I am so happy I was able to go to the first two nights of Bridegroom Matins. It is so funny to me that some people think that all Orthodox services are the same; Even the the Sunday Divine Liturgy, the most unchanging service in our Church, has parts that change every week. I am always floored and amazed by the words I hear at every service.


I saw my sister and her husband a couple of days ago. It made me so happy. I do not know why I do not see them more often. I do not know how long you have been reading this blog but if you were reading 10 or 13 years ago you know they gave me a place to live when my wife, Athanasia divorced me and had me evicted from our our house. (I hate California's laws. I do mean HATE.) My sister and her husband have a moderately-sized house but have always made their guest-bedroom available to the needy. In the last 30 years, I don't think,that guest bedroom has been vacant more than 3 weeks. I pray God blesses my sister and her husband.

Busy day and books

I woke up at 5 this morning and tried to go back to sleep but sleep did not return, so I prayed. Then Kathleen woke up, went down stairs, and discovered that the Christmas tree had fallen over less than 24 hours after we put it up. (Basil and I had brought it down from the Christmas tree farm in the Santa Cruz mountains on Thursday.) Many broken ornaments. She had a migraine (She's been getting them pretty often for the last couple of years.) and stayed home from the Divine Liturgy. After church I came home and worked on the fruitcakes. Basil came over to help me (He goes to church at St. Lawrence in Felton.) and take five of them to give to his friends. Then Kathleen stir fried some soba noodles and shrimp. Then I helped her grade her econ essays from last semester. Then I went to the jewler to have Kathleens cross chain repaired. Then I went to my work Christmas party. I only stayed for an hour. Then I went grocery shopping to buy ingredients for Christmas dinner. And now I am home.

A few days ago I mailed all the childrens Christmas books to my grandson. I kept all the books I read to his dad when he was a little boy. Many were destroyed in the flood of a few years ago but my sister had some of the same books and gave them to me when I told her what happened. Altogether they weighed but 51 pounds . I love the U.S. Postal Service's book rate. It is an amazing deal.

Books I've Read this Year

Dominion by Tom Holland

An Irish Country Christmas (I first read it about 10 or 11 years ago.) by Patrick Taylor

The War on the West by Douglas Murray

The Communist Manifesto (I first read this more than 30 years ago) by Marx and Engels.

The Devil and Karl Marx by Paul Kengor

And then We Hit a Rock by Greg Buenzli

My Gun is Quick by Mickey Spillane

St. Paul the Pharisee by Fr. Stephen de Young

The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray

Typhoon by Joseph Conrad (I first read this 6 years ago)

The Sea and Civilization by Lincoln Paine

The Sun Also Rises by Earnest Hemmingway

Pacific Crucible: War at Sea, 1941-1942 by Ian W. Toll

Getting ready for Christmas.

Kathleen and I have been reading aloud one chapter of the Gospel of Luke each day since first December. During this fast I have been making lots of soups. (Vegetable stock is very versatile.) All the presents have been bought if not yet wrapped. I'll get them wrapped and into the mail on Monday. I baked 12 more fruitcakes this morning. Athanasia and Basil will be here for Christmas dinner. I'm planning to make a crown pork roast.

Too Much Stuff

Since August I've been selling guns for Bass Pro Shops. It is okay for money. And I do think I am helping people make good decisions about guns. My son Anselm (I used to call him "the little boy") has a son. His name is Oliver Augustine. A couple of days ago Oliver was "baptised" in the roman catholic church. My son and I have not spoken for weeks. I wish God would kill me.

A busy week

Today is Friday And Hallowe'en. I went grocery shopping and almost fell. I caught myself on the shopping cart. But I am cooking a whole pork shoulder for church on Sunday and there were some things I needed to get. I am meeting with the surgeon on Monday. Hopefully she will tell me that she can fix my knee.

I do have to give thanks for the pain being much reduced by lidocaine patches. I didn't think they would work since all the damage is inside my knee joint and the lidocaine patches are on the skin, but they really do work. I am able to sleep without the pain waking me.

I had doctor appointments on a couple of days this week. Had a dental crown replaced. Got the oil in my car changed. I only worked one day this week because of my knee, and that day my knee gave out and I fell on one of my co-workers. But I'm going to work tomorrow because I need the money.

Oh, speaking of work, I am trying to become a private investigator. I had the first interview on Tuesday and had a second converstation today. They want me to go on a case with one of their people. It's nothing like TV show private investigators. Its 99% insurance fraud cases. But it pays well and will be easy on my knee so I hope I get the job.

On Wednesday I became godfather to a boy in our parish. WOW! The Baptism and Chrismation service is awsome. His name is David (for the Prophet-King). I'll take him to Communion on Sunday.

I carved my jack-o-lantern today. It is just a store bought pumpkin. Unlike past years, I did not go to Farmer Bob's over by the ocean. Hallowe'en isn't as much fun when there are no kids in the house. Son #3 sent me a picture of him, his wife, and my grandson, Oliver. They are Crayons. And my grandson's stroller is the box.

I did something to my knee.

For the past couple of months my left knee has been killing me. Last Sunday my knee started collapsing under me. I've been taking huge doses of ibuprofen and using lidocane patches. I've had two sets of X-rays and have seen three doctors but they don't know what's wrong with my knee. This week I have not been at work and have been walking with a cane and a knee-brace. An MRI is scheduled for 6 on Sunday morning. It is troublesome. About 12 years ago I realized I was no longer young and strong but, until this week, I never thought of myself as old and weak. And it is duck season but I am unable to go out to the blinds.

In other news, today Kathleen and her son, Maximo helped me with the first weekly "watering" of the fruitcakes.

A Fun Night

We don't usually make them this early but we made the fruitcakes tonight. My friend Jeff, with whom I started this blog more than 20 years ago and my son Basil helped me. We told jokes and stories. Drank mulled cider (no, it is not really cold enough), choped fruit, and baked the cakes. They just left. Now I have to do the laundry.

A Pilgrimage

Kathleen and I went on the pilgrimage to Fort Ross last Saturday. We rented a Chevy Silverado 2500 Heavy Duty 4x4 to pull our Yakima tent trailer. WOW! What a truck! It is the only vehicle I want to drive ever. The only complaint I have is that it has too many electronics. I prefer round analog dials, like an airplane or a old Mercedes-Benz, but this is 2025 and all vehicles come with lots of unnecessary electronics. But the truck drove like a dream. And it was great on the winding roads on the way to Fort Ross and back.

We spent Friday night at Stillwater Cove Regional Park and were at the Fort Ross for the Divine Liturgy on Saturday morning.

There were at least 6, maybe more, bishops present, including the metropolitans of ROCOR and the OCA. I got to see my old friend Fr. David Lowell and Kathleen and I had a chance to speak with our much loved retired Archbishop Benjamin (he baptised my youngest son). And I managed to get a picture of my Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Vasily of San Francisco and the West. I have never met him but I have been told he is very strict and full of love, exactly what a bishop should be.

After the Divine Liturgy (WOW! WOW! WOW! The two choirs were amazing!!! Someone told me that one came from an OCA parish in Sacramento and the other came from the ROCOR cathedral in San Francisco.) and lunch Kathleen and I went back to the campground at Stillwater Cove and took a nap. We woke up just before sunset and made dinner, and after dinner we made s'mores. That was fun. I hadn't made them since I was a Cub Scout leader more than a decade ago.

We came home Sunday afternoon and were at work this morning.

Another Year, Another Christmas List.

1. You know the hours he has spent looking at Swiss watches on Chrono24 but you also know he is way too practical for those. He just admires the workmanship, engineering, and artistry of automatic watches. Also, he is a hunter. When he's running from a wild pig because he's missed every shot and only annoyed the pig, or when he's running through brush chasing a pheasant that refuses to fly, well, he just doesn't want to worry about damaging his watch in situations like that. He needs something that can "take a licking and keep on ticking". He needs a Timex field watch.

2. Ever since he was a little boy watching KBHK TV-44 out of San Francisco on a Saturday afternoon and saw the three stooges he has wanted one of these. He bought one on eBay for his two youngest boys the first Christmas after the divorce but it was from eBay and didn't work. And a few years ago he bought one for his friend. But here he is 50 years after he first saw Moe, Larry, and Curly playing with them in old movies, and he still doesn't have one. He would, don't you think, love finding a seltzer bottle under the Christmas tree.

3. You and he have been shooting pheasants for a few years but have nothing to show for it. Yes, they were good eating and, yes, it is fun to make pate from their livers and share it at church, but the one time he tried to have a pheasant taxidermied, well, it was a very expensive horror. Wouldn't it be nice to just have a bronze statue of a pheasant to commemorate all the pheasants you and he have downed?

4. It was September of 2020 when he was last at the Indian Colony Tobacco Store. Well, guess what. That's right his can of Captain Black (the original blend with the white label) is empty. You know you love the smell so this would, really, be a present for both of you.

5. You know how he loves to make fancy food and take it to church to share at the meal after Agape Vespers on Pascha? Well, you might not know this, but he has always thought he could do better. The only problem is that he has never had all the right equpment. Yes, you gave him a KitchenAid mixer and All-Clad pans but just think of all the yummy salmon mouse the people of your parish could be eating at Pascha if only he had a fish-shaped tin(or nickel)-lined mouse mold. If you get it for him for Christmas he will, probably, use it to make you yummy good food on Twelfth Night. Oh! And when it's not being used to make food it can hang on the wall and be beautiful.

6. About 40 years ago his mother had an old black and white photo of his grandfather hand tinted and framed. She gave it to her husband on his birthday. He kept it on his desk in his office until he retired and no longer had a desk. His mother and father are dead now. But it might be the case that his oldest brother's widow or one of her children, or his sister, or his yet living brother has the photo. Maybe, if one of them does have it, they will loan it to you long enough to have a copy made.

7. The years his kids were Scouts were the happiest years of his life. He would be very happy to wear the Eagle Scout and Arrow of Light lapel pins if he had them. They commemorate the highst awards his sons earned.

8. He likes Italian tuna . He eats several cans a month. He appreciates gifts of food. You can't go wrong getting him this.

9. Since 1996 when he was living in San Francisco flop houses he has been eating Molinari Salami. He would love get one for Christmas so he can slice it up and put it on this year's Astro Weenie Christmas Tree.

10. When he goes hunting for big game he doesn't want to tote around a whole box of cartridges with him. Nor does he want to carry loose ammo in his pockets. What to do? What to do? It seems a Tourbon leather ammo wallet is ideal for situations such as this.

11. He doesn't understand it. Where do they go? Regardless of the answer, the need is real. Black socks from Gold Toe.

12. He has bought them for his kids. He had one when he was a soldier (They sold them in the uniform store and its inside was the only thing in the barraks that wasn't inspected every morning.) but he hasn't had one in many many years. And the last few voyages he was on; to the deserts of Nevada and Arizona, to Alaska and Cape Cod he really wished he'd had a leather dopp bag.

13. He wears Aramis. Not the Aramis 900 Herbal his dad switched to in 1981 but the original Aramis, the first designer fragrance for men. Maybe, delight him with a whole gift set!

14. He's had that leather club chair for a while now, and he knows you think it looks worn out. An easy way to get him to part with it would be to give him one of these for Christmas.


15. He would love to make more holodets (the old ladies at church love them) but he doesn't have enough little ramekins to ensure everyone can get some. Just imagine the glory as he walks into the hall at church bearing a platter of little holodets! (Shredded chicken breast with spicy mustard is his favorite but he knows some people who like minced ham with carrots and black pepper.)

16. Many times he has thought to himself, "Gosh, that's an amputation waiting to happen." And he is, genuinely, worried about it. That blade needs to be covered. So get him this razor head cover and ease his mind.

17. Sometimes, he has the feeling that too much of his shirt is exposed, and that his tie is having to do too much work. He really needs a vest.

18. Have you ever seen his tie fly away? He needs a tie tack. Or a tie bar. Maybe one in a duck or pheasant theme would be nice.

19. Because of that listeria problem that killed 9 people last year it has been hard to find liverwurst in stores. Thankfully, braunschweiger is still available. Imagine the joy when he makes everyone braunschweiger and red onion sandwiches with dark mustard on dense rye bread! Yummm!

20. When he was a little boy his mother and grandmother made pickles; sweet never dill. He loved those homemade sweet pickles but never really liked other pickles; not dill nor sweet. They always tasted chemically to him. But then, one day he tasted Bubbies, and WOW! That's all. Just WOW! They are the best pickles he has ever tasted and he would be thrilled to find a jar under the tree this year.

A Few Things About Architecture And Urban Planning

I. Tolkien's buildings

II. The California bungalow

III. The Arts and Crafts movement

IV. The Sears Mail-Order House

V. The 15-Minute City

VI. Bad Urban Planning

VII. Old Byzantine Architecture

IIX. New Byzantine Architecture

IX. Zoning in America

It Been A While Since I've Posted Anything, And Things Have Changed.

I have a grandson. His name is Oliver (of Ancona) Augustine (of Hippo). Kathleen and I flew to Boston and then drove to Kittery, Maine to meet him. He is beautiful.

While we were in New England we stayed at one of our time shares, The Breakers Resort on Cape Cod. We ate at three good restaurants: Red River BBQ (the best fish I had on the whole trip), The Union Oyster House (freshest and best tasting oysters I've ever had), and Parker's Restaurant in the Omni Parker House Hotel (The perfect early morning breakfast after getting off a red-eye flight from San Jose). We also took a boat out to Nantucket where we had fun, but it was not very much like what I was expecting. Everything I knew about Nantucket I learned from Moby Dick. It's not like that now. We learned that there are now 32 billionaires who have houses on the Island. Among other things we saw there, were Daniel Webster's house, Rowland Macy's house, and the whaling museum. When we first got to the island it was very early in the morning so we played chess outside the Athenaeum. Kathleen won. She played a perfect game.

We attended services at two churches while we were traveling: St. Nicholas in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Holy Trinity in Boston (WOW What a choir! You should hear them.).

I took and passed California's Water Treatment Plant Operator test and got my T-1 licesnse in the mail. I have started applying for water treatment jobs.

I quit my job 5 days ago. I really liked it and the people I was working with but sales really dried up starting in May, and no money coupled with 60 hour work weeks just wasn't cutting it. I don't know what I'll do next but I have some good prospects.

Yesterday, Basil and I went to the county rifle range and he zeroed the .30-'06. Then last night, Kathleen and I made two peanut butter pies. One we took over to Cyndi and Basil last night. Kathleen took the other to her Dad this morning. Right now I am applying for a job with CBP.

Yoo-Hoo

When I was 12 years old my Mom and Dad and I moved to Tampa, Florida. There was a little corner store near our house that sold Chocolate Yoo-Hoo. I had never tasted it until I moved to Florida. Once I tasted it, I think, I drank one or two bottles (YUM!) a week from 1981 to 1986, when I was old enough to join the Army.

That same corner store sold peach NeHi and blue cream NeHi. They also had a Galaga coin-op video game that spent $1 on every week. I also bought the Tampa Tribune (It seems to be out of business now.), there every morning and read it while drinking my morning coffee. Reading the Tampa Tribune - first to last page- every morning was, I think, one of the most important parts of being homeschooled. I had the BEST teen-age years.

One time, when I was home on leave from the Army, I think it was Christmas time in 1989, I was in that little corner store when a man got angry and yelled at the woman behind the counter. He left and the woman, whom I had known since I was 13, said through her tears, "Why didn't you do something?" I was ashamed for not having done "something" but I also knew that if I had done "something" one of us, either that angry man or I would not have walked out of there. I told her that but it didn't help. 40 years later I still don't know if I made the right decision. I wish I had done "something".

Memorial Day

Today Kathleen (my wife) and Basil Wenceslas (my 4th son) went with me to the cemetary in Paso Robles. We prayed the trasagion for the departed for my 1st son, Billy.

I wish son's #3 and #2 could have been there.

Where I have been

Last week I met a man who has never been out of California. I was astounded by that idea. By the time I was 16 years old I had been to more than a third of the States and to 3 foreign countries.

It is easier for me to list the States I have not been in than those I have been in. So, on my list of States to visit are: Iowa, Pennsylvania, Kansas, West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Connecticut, Maine, and New Hampshire.

In about a month, my grandson is going to be born at a U.S. Navy hospital in Maine, and I will be there. I'm going to fly into Boston and drive up to Maine. That means that I'll be checking New Hampshire and Maine off my list. If I have time, maybe, I'll motor over to Vermont, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, and therefore, be able to check all of New England off my list. It's weird to me, a Californian, how small those early States are.

Stock Market Picks

I have two followers who are always asking me what to invest in (I think you are nuts.) so I figure maybe other people care what I invest in. About a month ago I was kind of freaking out because of tarriffs (Since Sargon ruled Akkad we've known that tariffs, like almost all taxes, are destructive.) and sold everything except for the gold fund, GLD and iShares 1-3 year bond fund, SHY. I am still holdiing those two non-stocks but today, I went back into stocks. I am now long on the following comapnies:

1. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL)

2. Broadcom, Inc. (AVGO)

3. CSX Corp. (CSX)

4. Corning, Inc. (GLW)

5. Nvidia Corporation (NVDA)

6. The Boeing Co. (BA)

7. Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM)

8. Curtis-Wright Corporation (CW) We'll know in a year if I made the right decision.

Of Popes

The pope of Rome died. Already, people have asked me who I think the next pope of Ronme should be. I'm Orthodox so it doesn't, really, matter to me. Seriously, the last pope of Rome who was Orthodox was Damasus II (d. 1048) so, I suppose, the person who should be the next pope of Rome is the person who will bring the RC Church back into the Orthodox Church. But that isn't going to happen. The next best thing, I think, is to have a pope of Rome who can bring the RC Church closer to Orthodoxy. As far as I can tell, there are handful of RC bishops who might do that, including Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke (former archbishop of Saint Louis), Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Francis Cardinal Arinze of Nigeria, Archbishop Joseph Naumann (fomerly of Kansas City), and Peter Cardinal Erdo of Hungary. Well, I doubt the Catholics will choose any of these men.

Pascha and feeling better

I have been sick. I missed three weeks of work and four weeks of church. Yesterday, Holy Saturday was my first Communion since I got sick. I finally tested negative 5 days ago and I'll go back to work tomorrow morning. I'm not sure how that is going to work since my voice has not healed, but I need to make money.

Because I was so sick I did not make paskha and kulich this year. This is the first Pascha in decades that I have not had paskha and kulich for breakfast on Pascha morning.

I did make something to take to the feast after Agape Vespers later today: I boiled a corned beef brisket this morning, and together with, rye bread, saurkraut, and mustard shall turn it into urn it into sanwiches for the feast. I hope my fellow parishoners enjoy them.

Christ is risen! Indeed he is risen!

Max's Diner

Back in the 1990s and 2000s, when I worked in the advertising industry, I used to eat pretty often, maybe twice a week, at Max's Diner on Folsom Street in San Francisco. I always had what they called the "mini-Reuben" and a Martini. The "mini-Reuben" is just a Reuben sandwich cut into 8 bite-sizes pieces and held together with toothpicks. It was perfect: A bite of of sandwich, a sip of Martini.

Max's Diner did not survive the stupidity of our government's response to the Wuhan disease, but some of Max's resuraunts did survive. Among them Max's Opera Cafe. The mini-Reuben is not on their menu but, if you ask nicely, they will make one for you. A fun thing about Max's Opera Cafe is the singing. They have a grand piano and all the waiters and waitresses can sing. One tme, many years ago, a waitress there let me join her in a duet of The Way You Look Tonight. Neither of us was as good as Faith Hill or Tony Bennet, we were more like Ethel Merman and Buddy Hackett, but it was fun.

God is not an engineer

When I was a boy I read lots and lots of apologetical books; defenseses of Creationism, mainly, that attempted to show that only God could have made the world. I believed, and still believe most of those arguments. But most of them came down to this: Only an amazing engineer could have made the universe. So, when I heard this joke I immedeately laughed hard and loud.

Three engineers got into an argument about what kind of engineer God is.
The first, says, "God is a mechanical engineer. Look at how we manipulate our arms, legs, lungs, and how blood flows through our bodies. God is a mechanical engineer."
The second says, "No. God is an electrical engineer. Our nervous system, heart, brain. Everything is run by electrical impulses. God is an electrical engineer."
The third says, "Your both wrong. God is a civil engineer. Who else would route the sewage system through the recreation area?"

But I don't think God is an engineer. I think he is an artist expressing different ideas in a theme. Just look at the primates! We are all so similar to each other. How many versions of primates did God make? Only one is man but those that are not man are still amazing. Look at the eye! Insect, fish, reptiles, birds, and mamals all have eyes and all the eyes are different. Among humans, many women have an ability to see more colors than any man. All normal human eyes see more colors that canines can see. But the mnts shrimp sees more colors and kinds of light than any other creature we know about. It's like god said, "Hey, I know what I'll do. I'll put the best eyes in the universe in a little shrimp and let human beings try to figure out why. That'll be fun!"

It was when I saw Linnea in Monet's Garden (It came as part of an eductional program I got when I was homeschooling Anselm Samuel for kindergarten.) that I first began to think about God being an artist. Specificaaly, it was Monet's paintings of the Charring Cross bridge that got me thinking about it. Its just a bridge but Monet painted it over and over again, each time higlinting something in the bridge that he thought was important. Likewise, God has made millions and millions and millions of eyes. And each eye perceives light differently from all other eyes. Maybe, like Monet wanted us to understand that the bridge is not just a means for crossing water, God wants us not to be content with using eyes to see but wants us to understand something about light.

Meatfare

I made something new for Meatfare a couple of days ago. The week after Christmas, when all the hams were on sale for a reduced price, I bought a big spiral cut ham, and stuck it in the freezer. A couple of days before Meatfare I took it out of the freezer to thaw. The day before meatfare, Kathleen gathered some rosemary and lemons from outside our front door, and brought them too me in the kitchen. I sliced the lemons while she used a Braun cofee mill to mince the rosemary. Then, between the spiral slices of the ham I stuffed feta chese, lemon slices, rosemary, oregeno, and thyme. Then I put it in the refrigerator until morning. When I woke up early on Sunday morning I put the ham in the oven and cooked it until it was done. Then we loaded it into the car and went to church. When we got to church we put it in the oven in the church kithen to keep it warm. It turned out pretty good. I think I'll do this again next year.