Category: Pray

Mark Twain is still speaking…

When I’m need of a little bit of inspiration, I can always count on Mr. Samuel L. Clemens.
Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.
&
Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
but never one to remain too pious for too long,
Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.
and so,
All generalizations are false, including this one.

Amen.

Discussing fasting with Kathleen…

flunking sainthoodYou never know what other people truly find important until you find a way to ask. Kathleen M. and I found we have a common interest in the benefits that come from “doing without” because we have so much.  She is a cool librarian and recommends these reads:

Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor by Jana Riess (Nov 1, 2011) (Kindle ready)

The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle (Sep 19, 2006)

The Rule of St. Benedict by St. Benedict, PlanetMonk Books and Boniface Verheyen (Apr 30, 2011) (Kindle .99)

So read, eat – (or not), and it may lead to whatever you call prayer.

Dinner at Libertad – a gift from Ann & Joe

We Pray.  My Aunt Ann & her husband Joe came to Chicago in March for my mother’s Mass & Memorial Luncheon. We celebrated mom’s life with her other sister, Kay, my cousin Eileen and family and friends from near and far.

We Eat.  At some point, my son Chris was asked by Ann & Joe to get a gift certificate to a restaurant that Mark & I would enjoy.  As James Taylor sings in Nobody But You, “What you gonna do with folks like that?”

Well, on a recent Saturday in June, we felt like we could finally exhale for an evening and so sauntered over to Skokie’s gem of a spot for a meal that simply must be documented!

  • Libertad Manhattan ~ libertad house oak infused tequila, la pinta pomegranate tequila (insert Mark smiley face here!)
  • Libertad Real ~ garbel prosecco brut sparkling wine, la pinta pomegranate tequila liqueur, cinnamon bitters (insert Ann smiley face here!)
  • Albondigas ~corn fritter, wild mushrooms, turnip, tomatillo-basil sauce
  • Aguacate ~ frisee lettuce, avocado, croutons, manchego cheese, radish, jerez vinaigrette
  • Venera ~ scallops, black rice, long beans, yuzu-habanero butter sauce
  • Salmon ~ mezcal-range-chile de arbol glazed salmon, aspargus rice, jicama, lemongrass beurre blanc
  • Exotic Custard* ~ passion fruit-mango-banana custard, prickly pear anglaise, banana sorbet

*can be known to compel one to want to announce to entire restaurant that “Everyone here MUST try this dish!”

That’s it! Simple, elegant, perfection!  Gracias mi familia!

Hey, America! Who’s Militia is this?

Are  our guns warm enough? And are we happy?

Rest in peace dear victims of  the Second Amendment.

As passed by the Congress:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

As ratified by the States and authenticated by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.[8]

The original hand-written copy of the Bill of Rights, approved by the House and Senate, was prepared by scribe William Lambert and resides in the National Archives.