A Fun Night

The next couple of nights Athanasia is out of town so I am staying with the boys.

When I had that job as a pump and compressor mechanic a couple of years ago I was too tired to go for the nighttime walks the boys loved.  When I was selling cars I was always working at night.  So we didn't get to do the walks.  (Maybe, you remember me writing about them over the years?) Well, tonight, after supper, when Basil and Anselm had cleared the table and washed the dishes, we went on one of our night time walks again.  Much FUN!  Some flowers are blooming.  Snap dragons, cherry trees, tulip trees, but not the jasmine or the honeysuckle.  We walked around several blocks of the Willow Glen neighbor hood.  Came across a giant cork oak.  That was neat.  The boy enjoyed feeling the bark.  They swung on all the rope swings their neighbors have hanging on threes in their front yards.  We looked at stars.  Our old friends Orion, the dogs, and the twins were up in the sky. 




After we got home I thought it would be nice to read some Bible to them.  I thought I'd read that story in II Kings where God gets angry at the Syrians for saying he was a hill god but not a valley god.  I thinks it's one of the funniest stories in the Bible.  It is totally hilarious.  But, I thought, I should do a recap of the OT from creation up to that point so they would know where this story fits in to the history. 



So we started with Creation and Noah and went through the call of Abram, his name change to Abraham, how he had faith that all that land would be his even though he died only owning Sarah's burial plot. We covered Joseph, and Moses, and Jericho and Rahab, and then skipped all the Judges between Joshua and Samuel.  The boys were surprised when Israel said they wanted "a king like the nations around us" instead of wanting God for their King.  And we skimmed over Saul, the witch of Endor, David, Solomon, the Civil War, and eventually made it to the Story of Naaman.




There I stopped and opened the Bible and read to them.  I don't know why, and I wouldn't say it was God prompting me, but I did stop there.  And as I was reading (and I have to say to the guys who edited this part of the Bible, what is up with all the pronouns?  It was hard enough for me to keep straight who was saying what to whom, but poor Basil was totally lost until I broke it down for him.) the boys noticed something: Baptism is the easy thing God asks of us.  Anselm said, "Yeah, God makes it so easy I didn't even have to do it, the priest just did it to me!"




It didn't stop there.  It was like a switch in them had been flipped on and they saw the connection between Melchezadick and Communion and giving thanks. And they saw the connection between Rahab's scarlet cord and the blood on the doors at Passover, and that God didn't just use the Virgin Mary to be his mother but had used Rahab, "the opposite of a virgin" as Anselm explained to Basil what a prostitute is, to be one of his ancestors. And then Basil asked, "are any of these people our ancestors?"  I said, Noah and Adam .  "What about Abraham, is he my ancestor?" I said, "Yes. God makes all Christians children of Abraham.  He is our father in the faith". 




Basil said, " What? That doesn't make sense." and gave me a look like I wasn't being honest with him.  But Anselm said, "It's because of baptism!  'Whosoever has been baptised into Christ has put on Christ' and because Jesus is Abraham's descendant we are all Abraham's descendants!" 


Being a dad is the most fun thing in the world.  I can not describe how wonderful it is to hear my sons talking like this. 




One thing I noticed in our little tour through the OT tonight is how people of God turn down money.  Abraham would not split the spoils of war with the king of Sodom, and Elisha would not accept payment for healing Naaman.  It reminded me of the Didache, wherein the Apostles taught that if a prophet says "give me money", the Church should just send him on his way.  And I told the boys about Benny Hinn, who grew up in the Orthodox Church but became one of those lying prophets who just takes money from people.  I reminded the boys that just because they are growing up Orthodox Christians doesn't mean they can't leave the Church, that every day they must cling to Jesus.  Oh, I hope they do.

I never did make it to the story I had planned on reading to them but that's okay.  It was a good night just the way it was. 

A Lenten Sunday Supper: Farfalle, Spinach, and Garbanzo Beans

3 teaspoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1 pint  vegetable broth

1 15 1/2-ounce can garbanzo beans (chick peas), rinsed well and drained

12 ounces farfalle pasta, freshly cooked ( I like Barilla # 65)

Just about to add the farfalle to the boiling water

The Finished Product

Saute onion and garlic in 1 tsp of the oil until tender

Pour in broth and simmer until liquid is reduced by half,  4 or 5 minutes.

Add garbanzo beans and spinach and boil 1 minute. Transfer spinach mixture to large bowl.
Add pasta.
Drizzle pasta with 2 teaspoons olive oil and toss. Season pasta generously with pepper.


Both Anselm and Basil liked it .  I served it with garlic bread (baguette drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with fresh minced garlic), sauted broccoli and red bell peppers, and San Pellegrino water.

Trouble

I have one week to find a job or I am in serious trouble.
Why?  I have used up all of my unemployment insurance.
I am not hopeless but I've applied for more than 140 jobs since I was laid off in January and haven't got one yet.  I had an interview yesterday for a delivery driver job but I think they thought I was too old.  I walked into the office with a gray beard and wearing a tie.  Everyone else was 21 and wearing a t-shirt.
I'm just not getting any call-backs.

The Anathemas

A couple of days ago was the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy.  In the service is a list of anathemas but I have never heard them in person since they can only be repeated in a diocesan cathedral with the bishop presiding, but here is the English text of the service for the Triumph of Orthodoxy, including the dreadful, heart-breaking, and terrible Anathemas. 


If you read the whole service you will see a lot of beautiful things, but right now I am concentrating on the Anathemas, which most people never hear. 
(I don't understand Slavonic but the looks like the Anathemas start after the creed, at about 22 minutes)





"As we therefore bless and praise those who have obeyed the divine revelation and have fought for it; so we reject and anathematize those who oppose this truth, if while waiting for their return and repentance, they refuse to turn again to the Lord; and in this we follow the sacred tradition of the ancient Church, holding fast to her traditions.

To those who deny the existence of God, and assert that the world is self-existing, and that all things in it occur by chance, and not by the providence of God, Anathema!
All: Anathema! (...and after each exclamation.)

Deacon: To those who say that God is not spirit, but flesh; or that He is not just, merciful, wise and all-knowing, and utter similar blasphemies, Anathema!

To those who dare to say that the Son of God and also the Holy Spirit are not one in essence and of equal honor with the Father, and confess that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit are not one God, Anathema!

To those who foolishly say that the coming of the Son of God into the world in the flesh, and His voluntary passion, death, and resurrection were not necessary for our salvation and the cleansing of sins, Anathema! To those who reject the grace of redemption preached by the Gospel as the only means of our justification before God, Anathema!

To those who dare to say that the all-pure Virgin Mary was not virgin before giving birth, during birthgiving, and after her child-birth, Anathema!

To those who do not believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the prophets and apostles, and by them taught us the true way to eternal salvation, and confirmed this by miracles, and now dwells in the hearts of all true and faithful Christians, and teaches them in all truth, Anathema!

To those who reject the immortality of the soul, the end of time, the future judgment, and eternal reward for virtue and condemnation for sin, Anathema!

To those who reject all the holy mysteries held by the Church of Christ, Anathema!

To those who reject the Councils of the holy fathers and their traditions, which are agreeable to divine revelation and kept piously by the Orthodox Catholic Church, Anathema!

To those who mock and profane the holy images and relics which the holy Church receives as revelations of God's work and of those pleasing to Him, to inspire their beholders with piety, and to arouse them to follow these examples; and to those who say that they are idols, Anathema!

To those who dare to say and teach that our Lord Jesus Christ did not descend to earth, but only seemed to; or that He did not descend to the earth and become incarnate only once, but many times, and who likewise deny that the true Wisdom of the Father is His only-begotten Son, Anathema!

To the followers of the occult, spiritualists, wizards, and all who do not believe in the one God, but honor the demons; or who do not humbly give their lives over to God, but strive to learn the future through sorcery, Anathema"

A Fun Thing to do during Great Lent - Visit All Orthodox in the Bay Area!

I've been to several of the Orthodox parishes, missions, monasteries, and cathedrals in the Bay Area but haven't been to all of them.  So, this Lent I'm going to try and visit all of them for, at least, one service.  Here are the ones I know about.  Do you know of any others?


St. Nicholas Orthodox Church - Saratoga   DONE 
St. Herman Mission - Sunnyvale  DONE
The Other St. Nicholas Orthodox Church- San Jose
St. Basil the Great Orthodox Church - San Jose
Archangel Michael Orthodox Church - Saratoga
Orthodox Church of the Redeemer - Los Altos Hills  DONE
St. James Orthodox Church - Milpitas  DONE
St. Stephen Orthodox Church - Campbell  DONE
Protection of the Holy Virgin Orthodox Church - Palo Alto
St. Christiana Orthodox Church - Fremont
St. John the Baptist Orthodox Church - Berkeley  DONE
Ascension Cathedral - Oakland
Holy Cross Orthodox Monastery - Castro Valley
St. Innocent Orthodox Church - Livermore
Holy Resurrection Orthodox Church - Castro Valley  DONE
Archangel Michael Orthodox Church - Concord
St. Demitrios Orthodox Church - Concord
St. Xenia Orthodox Church - Concord
Orthodox Church of the Holy Cross - Belmont
All Russian Saints Orthodox Church - Burlingame
Nativity of the Virgin Orthodox Church - Menlo Park DONE
Holy Trinity Cathedral - San Francisco
Holy Virgin Cathedral - San Francisco
Annunciation Cathedral - San Francisco
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church - San Francisco
Our Lady of Kazan Orthodox Church - San Francisco
St, Nicholas Orthodox Church - San Francisco
The Other Other St. Nicholas Orthodox Church - San Francisco
Christ the Savior Orthodox Church - San Francisco
The Other Other Other St. Nicholas Orthodox Church - San Anselmo
Nativity of Christ Orthodox Church - Novato
St. Seraphim of Sarov Orthodox Church - Santa Rosa
Ss. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church - Santa Rosa
Holy Dormition Orthodox Church - Santa Rosa
Holy Assumption Monastery - Calistoga
St. Symeon Orthodox Church - Calistoga
Ss. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church - Ben Lomond  DONE
St. Lawrence Orthodox Church - Felton

A Hymn to Mary

We mention Mary and pray, at least, a short prayer to the God-bearer at every service, but last night, during the Great Canon I was struck by how much we Orthodox pray to her during Lent.  I got me to thinking about a hymn we sing all the time during Lent.  It is sung by the Orthodox every day during Lent, The Coptic and the Roman Catholic. I've read, also sing it but I do not know when.   While it probably isn't the oldest hymn to Mary, it is the one for which we have the oldest evidence:  A fragment, which scholars date to about A.D. 250, written in Greek that was found in Egypt.

Ὑπὸ τὴν σὴν εὐσπλαγχνίαν,
καταφεύγομεν, Θεοτόκε.
Τὰς ἡμῶν ἱκεσίας,
μὴ παρίδῃς ἐν περιστάσει,
ἀλλ᾽ ἐκ κινδύνων λύτρωσαι ἡμᾶς,
μόνη Ἁγνή, μόνη εὐλογημένη.

Beneath thy compassion,
We take refuge, O Theotokos:
do not despise our petitions in time of trouble,
but rescue us from dangers,
only pure one, only blessed one.

Camping and Forgiveness Vespers

Saturday night was the Cub Scout Pack camping trip.  Because of the job I had selling cars in 2012-2013, the divorce, and my bouncing around from place to place since last May I haven't been very involved in Scouting lately.  But for the last two months, since I've been unemployed and living in Sunnyvale I've become more active.   I helped Basil's Den earn the whittling chip, helped Basil make his pinewood derby car, judged the deserts at the Blue and Gold Banquet, and yesterday and today lead Basil's den (the regular den leader couldn't be there) during the pack camping trip.


The campground we stayed at had some really neat stuff.  There was a thing called The Mole Hole that was super cool.  It was a plastic pipe about 3 feet in diameter, 200 yards long, and tied to the side of a mountain.  The Scouts put on helmets, knee pads, gloves, and elbow pads and rode plastic sleds down the inside of the pipe.  The came out of the pipe at the bottom and landed on a pile of mattresses.  Of course, there was archery, arts & crafts, sports (Anselm took a vicious slice to the face from a hockey stick.), a campfire where the scouts entertained each other with skits and songs and where I told a ghost story.  Saturday night, after I and Basil and the rest of the Cub Scouts went to bed, Anselm stayed up late with the handful of other Boy Scouts who were there and played poker in the lodge.


This morning we broke camp, ate breakfast, and were going to go on a hike, but Basil fell into one of the rivers while he and some other Cub Scouts were trying to find physical evidence to corroborate the terrifying story I had told the night before.  I have no idea what they found, but they were all convinced the story was true by what ever they found.  So, since Basil was soaking wet we skipped the hike and just headed home. I got them to their mothers house about noon. and got them both bathed and into clean clothes. Then she got home from work, and I headed back to my sisters house for a nap before Forgiveness Vespers and the start of Great Lent. 


I have a friend who grew up Lutheran but now attends a kind of church I think of as a Rock & Roll church.  She always asks me if I get tired of tradition, and how I can stand being in boring irrelevant and unemotional services.  I always reply with something like "I find it very moving" and then tell her about the Gospel of the day or the life of the saint of the day, one or both of which I always find very emotionally moving and relevant.  Her responses make me think I am not a very good communicator. Tonight, at Forgiveness Vespers I thought of her.  The tradition is we prostrate before each other, one at a time (at my age and weight it isn't easy), ask for forgiveness, and give forgiveness with a kiss and a hug.  Is anything more relevant?  Jesus said if we don't forgive we will not be forgiven.  And with all that forgiveness can emotion not be coursing through our veins?  I don't know how many people were crying tonight, but I was one of them.  So, tonight, I was thinking about her and how, if there was any service that would disabuse her of her notions concerning Orthodox services this would be it.  But, it isn't my job to disabuse anyone of anything.  It's my job to repent.

Progress

This week my sons Basil and Anselm had off from school.  So we spent every day together.  We went to we played games, went to the snow, went to museums, and cooked together.  We even did something that I put on my list of things to do in 2014:  Made cinnamon rolls from scratch. I liked the recipe.  It was easy and the cinnamon rolls tasted good.  The only thing I didn't like is that they turned out too fluffy.  I don't know if that was the fault of the baker or the recipe, though.












14 Fun Things to do in 2014

1) attend the SJ Giants home opener on April 10

2) hike the entire Ridge Trail - 1/4 COMPLETE 

3) soak in a secluded natural hot spring

4) make cinnamon rolls from scratch (DONE)

5) climb Mission Peak - DONE (and I was sore for days!)

6) drink a bottle from each winery in the county

7) go to the Reno air races

8) read the Gapes of Wrath 

9) attend the Pascha service at the SF cathedral 

10) learn how to make cheese

11) spend a day at Raging Waters

12) take my bag limit of Spring turkeys

13) learn the Mambo

14) get the ring in the clown's mouth at the Santa Cruz boardwalk carousel

A barrier to understanding

A couple of days ago I put a picture of the relics of the Roman priest-martyr Valentine on my Facebook page.  I was surprised by the reaction.  An argument began between my Orthodox friends and my Protestant friends. They seemed to be talking past one another.  Each completely misunderstanding what the other was saying.  The Protestants accusing the Orthodox of clericalism and idolatry and the Orthodox accusing the Protestants of denying the resurrection. But underlying all of those specific disagreements is, I think, a greater and more fundamental issue: 


The immanence of the eschaton.   Orthodox believe it.  Protestants don't.  Without that basic belief nothing Orthodox do or say makes sense to Protestants.  Veneration of saints, the real presence of Jesus in the chalice, the blessings of water, candles, fruit, etc., all depend on the real (e.g. real) overlapping of the Kingdom of God with our everyday lives.  During the Divine Liturgy when the Orthodox say we remember the second coming of the Lord we can only say it because in God, where we are, time is meaningless.  It is just a temporary state, at the most.  But the things of the Church, because the Church is in God, are timeless.  Jesus dying on Calvary was the appearance in time of something that always happens, because Jesus was slain before there was time.  Likewise, the relics of saints are venerated because they are already resurrected, and Jesus is present in the Chalice because he is always being sacrificed, and water can be Holy because Jesus is baptized.  The eschaton is present and barely hidden, like a table top under a thin layer of dust.  Just wipe away some of that dust and we see much more than a table, we see the fire of God.

Avoiding Depression

Well, I lost my job back on January 3 (The firm I was working for lost the client. The whole east bay office shut down.) and have been looking for a job since then.  I've had a couple of interviews but nothing has come from them.  It is very discouraging.  I think to myself, "Do I have to live like this for the next 20 years? Am I ever going to get a job?  Am I ever going to get a job that is enough to live on and pay for a place to live?" That last part is the hard part here in Silicon Valley, where the average apartment rent is over $2,000 per month.

Let's say I get a full time job at $10 per hour. (Not that anyone is offering me one of those, but one can hope.)

That's $400 per week. Which is about $1,680 per month.

Take out about 20% for payroll and income tax.

Take out 25% for child support.

Take out car insurance and car payment.

That leaves $604 per month but the least expensive apartment in Silicon Valley right now is a 180sq.ft. studio in Alviso for $750 per month.  That leaves a $146 deficit before I even buy food and gasoline.

Thankfully, my sister and her husband are letting me live with them since the week before Thanksgiving and have made it clear that I can stay as long as I need to but, gosh, I'm 45 years old, a college graduate, and a father of two little boys.  I have to do better than that.  I just don't have any idea how. 

I found out about a school district that needs substitute teachers so I am putting together an application packet for that (waiting on transcripts) but even if they use me every day of the school year that is only $500 per week during the school year.

But the worst thing, from a despair point of view, is applying for a bunch of jobs everyday.  I apply but have no hope.  It can imagine the men who jumped out of trenches and ran across no-mans-land in WWI felt like this.  You do it because you have to do it, not because it is going to achieve anything. I can tell that depression is coming back because I just want to sleep all the time.  So, to combat that I made a list of fun things I want to do this year.  I've already done some of them.

14 Fun Things to do in 2014

1) attend the SJ Giants home opener on April 10

2) hike the entire Ridge Trail - 1/4 COMPLETE 

3) soak in a secluded natural hot spring

4) make cinnamon rolls from scratch

5) climb Mission Peak - DONE (and I was sore for days!)

6) drink a bottle from each winery in the county

7) go to the Reno air races

8) read the Gapes of Wrath 

9) attend the Pascha service at the SF cathedral 

10) learn how to make cheese

11) spend a day at Raging Waters

12) take my bag limit of Spring turkeys

13) learn the Mambo

14) get the ring in the clown's mouth at the Santa Cruz boardwalk carousel

And, maybe, while I am doing all of this, someone will offer me a job that pays enough to live on.

An Evangelism Idea

1/29/14  Update:  Thank you for your encouragement.  I just forwarded this plan to the priest.  I'll let you know as it develops.


Original post on 1/14/14:   I go to St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Saratoga, California.  Part of our mission is to be the Orthodox Church for all the people of Saratoga, even though most of us don't live in Saratoga.  So, I've been thinking about how to do that.  Here is one idea I've come up with.  What do you think?

St. Nicholas Day Fair for 3^rd grade and under

Purpose: To expose the people of Saratoga, especially the children to the love of Jesus as it shines through St. Nicholas, to let the Light of Christ shine on the people of Saratoga, and to convert non-Christians to the Orthodox Faith.

Concept: A parish festival where we ask for nothing but give what we have to the people among whom we live and worship.

Price of admission: A can of food for the needy

What each child gets: 2 game tickets, 2 craft tickets, 1 drink ticket, 1 bell ringing ticket, 1 ticket to Panikhida to St. Nicholas, one candle to light before the icon of St. Nicholas, a booklet about the life of St. Nicholas

Crafts:   Garland stringing, leather stamping, ornament painting, paper miter making, Christmas card making

Games: window coin toss  (Need more ideas for St. Nicholas themed games. Maybe something about catching swords or bobbing for pickles.)

Drinks for kids (price 1 ticket): Kinder punch, mulled cider

Drinks for adults (Free) All the kid stuff plus coffee

Schedule: 

2:45 P.M.  (or whenever school lets out on Dec. 6) Beginning of procession from Blaney Plaza to St. Nicholas Orthodox Church via Big Basin Way, 4^th Street, and Elva. (about a 15 minute walk at a kid friendly pace.)

3:P.M. (or when the procession arrives) games and crafts and drinks begin.

4:30 p.m. bell ringing begins. 

4:45 (or when the last child has rung the bells) panikida begins.

Event is over when the panikida is over.

St. Nicholas prayer cards given to everyone who stays to the end of the panikida.

Sin

Fr. Thaddeus at St. Lawrence Orthodox Church in Felton, California told this story.
--------


When St. Amphilochios was asked how to avoid despair over reoccurring sin, he answered with the following account:

“A certain brother, overcome by the passion of immorality, sinned every day. However, each time, with tears and prayers, he would fall before Christ and receive forgiveness from Him. And as soon as he had repented, the next day, being misled again by shameful habit, he would fall to sin again.

After having sinned, he would go to the Church, prostrate himself before the Icon of our Lord Jesus Christ and tearfully confess: “Lord, have mercy upon me and takeaway from me this fearful temptation, for it troubles me fiercely and wounds me with the bitter taste of pleasure. O my Master, cleanse my person once more, that my heart might be sweetened and thankful. My Lord, on my word, I will no longer commit this sin.”

And though his lips had just whispered these words, no sooner would he leave the Church than he would fall once again to sin. This happened not for one or two or even three years, but for more than ten years.

One day when all that we have described again occurred, the brother, having fallento sin, rushed to the Church, lamenting, groaning, and crying with anguish, to invoke the mercy of God, that He might have compassion on him and take him from the sin of immorality.

No sooner had he called on God, the lover of man, than the Devil, that destroyer of our souls, seeing that he could gain nothing, since whatever he accomplished by sin, the brother undid by his repentance, became infuriated and appeared visibly before the brother. Facing the Icon of Christ, the Devil said to our compassionate Savior: "What will become of the two of us, Jesus Christ? Your sympathy for this sinner defeats me and takes the ground I have gained, since you keep accepting this dissolute man and prodigal who daily mocks you and scorns your authority. Indeed, why is it that you do not burn him up, but, rather, tolerate and put up with him? To this fellow here, even though an immoral man and a prodigal, you calmly show your sympathy, just because he throws himself down in front of your Icon. In what way can you be called a just Judge, then?

The Devil said all of this, poisoned with great bitterness, while there poured forth from his nostrils a black flame.

Having said these things, he fell silent and a voice from the sanctuary answered him,"O, all-cunning and ruinous Dragon, are you yet not satisfied with your evil and destructive desire to gobble up the world? Now you have even the nerve to try to do away with this man here, who has come with contrition to entreat the mercy of my compassion to devour him, too? Can you offer up enough sins that, by them, you can tilt the balance of justice against the precious blood which I shed on the Cross for this man? Behold my murder and death, which I endured for the forgiveness of his sins.

"You, when he turns again to sin, do not turn him away, but receive him with joy, neither chastising him nor preventing him from committing sin, out of the hope that you might
win him over; but should I, who [taught my disciples] to forgive sins seven times seventy (Matthew 18:22), not show him mercy and compassion? Indeed, simply because he flees to me, I will not turn him away until I have won him over. I neither turn away nor reject anyone, even if he should fall many times a day and many times return to me; such a person will not leave my Temple saddened, for I came not to call the righteous, but to call sinners to repent. Look at this man who a few moments ago repented, having returned from sin and having fallen at my feet with a sincere resolution to abandon sin, has there by conquered you.”

While[all of] this was being said, the repentant brother had thrown himself before the Icon of the Savior. With his face to the ground and lamenting, he surrendered his spirit to the Lord. From this incident, my brothers, let us learn of the limitless compassion of God and of His love of man, that we mightnever again be disheartened by our sins, but rather look after our salvation with zeal.”

When I was a little boy: Saturday soundtrack

When I was a little boy, of 6 or 7,  I would get my Mom's Firestone Christmas record out of the cabinet and play this song over and over.  This isn't the exact recording that was on that old promotional record, but it's the closest I can find.

Man Made Global Warming

When it comes to man made global warming I am a skeptic.  In fact,when it comes to all claims by scientists I am a skeptic.  Why?  Because scientists are, most of the time, wrong.  For example, in the 1950s pediatricians and psychologists were saying kissing and holding babies was bad for them.  No one agrees with that now, but just 60 years ago it was a scientific "fact".  Many scientists today say life appeared spontaneously from non-living matter. They are completely convinced that this idea is true. However, no one has been able to produce life from non-living matter. Why is this important?  Because it shows that scientists are willing to ignore the rules of their profession in order to assert a conclusion they hope is true. And when it comes to weather, scientists are unable to predict the amount of cloud cover next week, or the number and severity of hurricanes.  Their predictions for the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season were laughably wrong.  So, when they predict droughts, and extinctions, and rising sea levels I am pretty skeptical.  Not totally skeptical, just 60% or so.  But when they go on to say people are responsible for global warming I am 99.99% sure they are just making stuff up.

Getting Ready For Christmas

The boys with their tree at the farm.

On the 6th of December I had to work so wasn't able to go to Church on St. Nicholas Day, but I made sure there was candy for the boys' shoes, and I made sure my god children found letters from St. Nicholas in their shoes.  I also prayed the Akathist to St. Nicholas.  I had never prayed it before.  I think I have a new favorite prayer.

On the 7th of December I went to see Anselm in the St. Nicholas pageant at St. Stephen Orthodox Church.  Basil, Athanasia, and I all sat in the same row. It was a very moving pageant.  Athanasia was in tears.

On Wednesday, or the night before last, I picked the boys up after school, and took them to the Tobacco Rd. Christmas Tree Farm up in the Santa Cruz Mountains. They picked out the tree and tied it to the roof.  While I went to pay for the tree the boys played on the farmers tire swing.  It was pretty neat.  It swung way out over the mountainside, and, I suppose, at one point there was about 40 feet of air between the boys and the ground.  It was quite a thrill for them.  The big sign read "WARNING! Swing at your own risk!"

There are several Christmas tree farms up there.  We've been to several of them, over the years.  Once the tree was roped to the car,I took them to their mother's apartment, made them dinner, and mulled some cider.  I read books to them while they decorated their tree.

Three of the books I read to them were Great Joy, Papa's Itchy Christmas, and The Remarkable Christmas of the Cobbler's Sons.  It was so much fun to read these books to my boys again.  The Cobbler's Sons book was given to us by a priest's wife the year when Basil as just a newborn. Athanasia bought Great Joy in 2009.  I bought Papa's Itchy Christmas at Hicklebee's in, I think, 20011.  Athanasia didn't get home from work until late, but she heard the last of the three books.  Then I went home to my sister's house. (I have had no chest pains since I've been there.)

Today Athanasia invited me over for Christmas Dinner.  I don't know what I'll make.  I'll have to think about it.

Jobs, children and scouting.

Since the 23rd of October I've had a job. It isn't very good.  It isn't the fast food job I mentioned in my last post but it is about the same as far as earnings and social strata are concerned.  I am a door-to-door canvasser for a solar energy company. It pays  only about 1/3 of what I need to live in the Bay Area but it is something. I am living with my sister until after Thanksgiving.  Then I'll go back to my friend Jeff's house for a couple of weeks.

I have to work on Saturdays, which is the day I had been spending with my boys. That really makes me sad.  But last Wednesday I had off from work so I picked the boys up from school.  At 2:30 I got Basil and we played chess at Peet's Coffee on Lincoln Ave until Anselm was finished with his robotics class at 5.  Then I got Anselm and we worked on the physical fitness requirement for Tenderfoot rank.  He doesn't seem very interested in progressing through the ranks to Eagle Scout, and his Troop is pretty laid back.  He loves the meetings and the games they play, and he likes the camping but very little of that is designed to help him advance to Eagle Scout.  I am worried he might not earn Eagle.  I need to find a way to work on rank advancement with him.   

I have a really good job prospect.  It is with a small liberal arts college.  They are flying me to meet with them in December.  I hope I get the job.

I Have a Dream

A long time ago, when I was a boy in Tampa I read an essay by Philip Yancey about the Prophets.  So I read them.  There was a description of life when Jesus returns that really appealed to me:

"And every man shall sit under his vine, and under his fig tree, and there shall be none to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken." Micah 4:4.

I know that when I looked at it I liked it because it indicated that God was going to preserve private property in the Millennium. (at the time I was a pre-trib pre-mil dispensationalist.)  Later, as I began thinking about this verse more I would sit around drawing maps of my future vineyard and orchard. I even tried to make it real, or as real as I could, given my circumstances.  For example, I planted grape vines at several of the rented places I lived. I tried to buy a farm once but my first wife opposed the idea. I still look at Landandfarm.com and listen to farm reports on the radio. I keep up with my local ag industry, too.   I tried to talk about owning a farm with Athanasia but she didn't like the idea either. 

This morning something occurred to me.  I am completely free to have a farm now.  So here is the plan: 

1.  Get a job
2. Get out of the San Francisco Bay area (eastern Oregon?  Michigan?)
2.  Get my student loans out of default (or maybe, move to another country and not worry about the student loans.)
3.  Buy a small farm close enough to a city so I can work a job during the week and take care of my vines and/or trees on weekends.

It might seem unrealistic, but at this point in my life, I think I'd rather have this unrealistic dream than my too real reality.  Oh, man, I start a fast food job for way less than I need in just a few days.  Who am I kidding?  This life is over.  I'll probably die in poverty, on a sidewalk, covered in an old cardboard box. But there is Micah 4:4  Someday, not in this life but the next, I'll have a farm.

Deficits and Lies

While driving to Concord yesterday, I listened to the President's press conference.  I wasn't surprised by anything he said.  However, near the end of the press conference he said, "You know, if you're concerned about long-term debt, that's a good thing to be concerned about, but don't pretend as if America's going bankrupt at a time when the deficits have been cut in half."  

Cut in half?  Really?


Here are the budget deficits for the last few years:

FY 2013     $973 billion (Obama)
FY 2012  $1,087 billion (Obama)
FY 2011  $1,300 billion (Obama)
FY 2010  $1,294 billion (Obama
FY 2009  $1,413 billion (Bush)
FY 2008     $458 billion (Bush)
FY 2007     $161 billion (Bush
FY 2006     $248 billion (Bush)
FY 2005     $318 billion (Bush)

So, here is my question.  How is the current deficit of $973 billion half of any of Obama's previous deficits?  How is $973 billion half of Bush's largest deficit? So, the President lied.  Or he's stupid. 

And quite apart from that, these deficits do not even include all the increase in our national debt. The federal deficit is the amount each year by which federal outlays in the federal budget exceed federal receipts, but the gross federal debt increases each year by more than the amount of the deficit each year. That is because an enormous amount of federal borrowing is not counted in the budget.

Cocktail of the week: Daquiri

I have a pet peeve.  It really bugs me that bartenders and their patrons are so unimaginative that they can't think of new drink names.  The adulteration of the name Martini is probably the most extreme example (The use of a cocktail glass does not make a mixture of apple brandy, crème de cacao, and vodka into an "apple-choca-tini".) but it happens with other drinks, too.  For example, there are mint Daiquiris, mango Daiquiris, strawberry Daiquiris, and Vanilla daiquiris.  And all these drinks have in common is rum, sugar and ice.   Dumb.  Why not call the mint daiquiri a Tropical Frost?  Why not name the strawberry Daiquiri after the place it was invented? (That is how the original Daquiri got its name.) Or why not call it a Plant City Cocktail, which is a semi-tropical Florida location famous for strawberry cultivation.  Well, I'll get down off my soap box and post the recipe.

The Daquiri (The way Hemmingway liked them.)
Squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime in to a glass.
Add simple syrup so the sweet and sour are balanced. (You have to taste to make sure.)
Add ice.
Fill to the top with rum. (I prefer Mount Gay)
Garnish with slice of lime.
Drink.

Napa, Friends, a Festival, and Music

Today is Tuesday. The job hunt continues.  Frustratingly, I have had horrible problems with unemployment insurance.  I worked a temp job for a day and a half in July and it messed something up.  I haven't received any unemployment insurance payments for the last part of August or any of September.  I thought I was broke before, but now I am really broke.  I have half a tank of gas and $4 in my wallet. I thought the unemployment insurance problem was fixed last week, but if it was I should have received money yesterday.   I will have to go visit their office today.

Basil chopping tomatoes

In other news, I had an interview at a restaurant today.  They asked me to come back for another interview on Thursday.  I hope I get it but, gosh, there is no way it pays enough for me to live.  When you have to make 3 dimes but the best opportunity you can find is only offering 1 dime what do you do? 

Saturday was fun.  I took Anselm and Basil to V. Sattui Winery.  It was a group outing.  My friends Jeff, Keith, and Brian and there families were with us.  The winery was beautiful.  It is harvest time and they were in the middle of the crush.  It was fun to take all the kids through the winery explaining how the process works.  (I know how because lived next door to the Parducci Winery in the Ukiah Valley for two years when I was a kid.)



Anselm and Basil helping in the beer booth

I can't believe it was my first time in the Napa Valley.   It is a beautiful narrow valley with one main road running the length of it; wineries and vineyards lining both sides.  I want to go back again.

After the winery we went to Jeff's house for supper.  Each family had a part to play.  Me and my boys made the salad. Basil chopped the tomatoes, Anselm cubed the avocado the right way, and even taught Jeff, who beats me 2/3 of the time in cooking competitions, how to do it.  I love that one of my sons is spreading culinary knowledge!

After supper we drove to my sister's house in Sunnyvale to spend the night.  In the morning we went to Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas in Saratoga and then worked in the parish festival.  It seems to have been a huge success.  I know that where I was working, the beer booth, we brought in an amazing amount of money.  (We sold Baltika #3, #6, #7, and #9)  A really neat thing was getting to see my brothers and sisters from other parishes, whom I do not often get to see.  It was a bit like a family reunion.  Much fun!

The festival was a lot of fun.  It's like an added benefit of Orthodoxy.  When I became Orthodox, I really only did it for two reasons: Apostolic succession and the real Body and Blood of Jesus.  I wanted real bishops and real communion.  I wasn't even aware of parish festivals.  Another really amazing thing for me is the music.  It, too, is like an added benefit.  Here are some of my favorite Orthodox songs:

This is my favorite short hymn.  If you love the Bible as I suspect you do, you will know the words: 

 

The final prayer sung at the funeral of Archbishop Dmitri of Dallas (several languages)

 

This isn't a church song, per se, but it captures I think the joy of Pascha as experienced by Orthodox, (translation can be found in the comments). 

 

This is, probably, my favorite hymn about Mary, notice how Mary, the Church, and Zion are all conflated in the song as we celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. This is typical of Orthodox theology; everything points to something else and is part of something else. This is, actually, a very small part of a long hymn called the Paschal Canon.

 

And this is probably my all time favorite.

 

Well, I have to apply for more jobs and get ready for tomorrow's court hearing.