It hasn't been, perhaps isn't,  possible to escape for very long; and that primarily into bravado, including such as panhandlestrong, with its keep a stiff upper lip wellmeaningness slogan of determination that in disciplines such as marital counseling may be called rugsweeping, ignore the problem, don't discuss it and it won't be there; or medically, ignore the cancer and it will go away; we will get through this, fix things, and everything will be better than ever. Probably. With planning and management, the appearance of things.  Some may see that we won't, that it's here to stay, our new reality that is more psychological, mental and attitudinal than the physical that we can fix. Coming from a war zone it's called PTSD in which sooner or later some want out. And are getting out: I don't at all know because I'm not involved in it, but recently I was told by someone in a position to know that an area law enforcement organization is experiencing de...

A car picture online this morning took me back more than sixty years to my first, best and all-time favorite tour of duty as a Navy officer. My first year was spent in Navy schools, and then, having asked my - "detailer" is the word - to assign me to a destroyer in Newport, Rhode Island, he gave me the closest he had available, a destroyer in Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk is no Newport, but I was pleased; μακάριος is the NT Greek word for it, makarios, blest, content, happy with life as it was dealt to me. My love of that first sea duty, and the  encouragement and imagination it gave me, easily persuaded me to "augment" is another word, from USNR to USN and stay in the Navy that I'd grown to love, when most of the other young officers I knew were getting out upon completing their three year obligation and starting their post-college, post-military obligation life in the civilian world. Some back to college for masters degrees, some to law school.  My good frien...

Sometimes, always surely unwarranted, one feels like the Christ, Christianity's self-sacrificing God on the Cross, from the way life is going in general and is being laid down in particular. As the wind blows, this post-hurricane season seems to sway in that direction at least as much as the other, such as to rob one's feelings and render one, what? cynical? one hopes not, but whatever. Another asks, "Are you okay?" and one responds, "No, I'm not okay, I'm XX" or however old or other detraction one might feel or be at the wiles and whims of the entitled, not okay. Resentment? no, not in the least, just in place, breathing, still all of that out here somewhere in the post-apocalyptic void of Vincent's  strange new world.  So, what's for lunch? Help me move a chair out here where I can wave at cars.

Now I'm really annoyed. The first clear morning we've had in ages, and it's cold outside: why? Because it's 49° in Panama City but only 40° here in Santa Rosa. That don't make no sense. Mind again, this blog is for me not you, so the blogpost don't have to make no sense neither.  Yesterday was good. There were more people squeezed in around the Sunday School Confirmation Class table than I had set places for or made handouts for, and the class was fun; at least it was for me. The best news was that, having been compelled to squnch into two sessions what normally takes me four sessions, I gave them a quick intro, then discussion time (epsicolopians are never shy about asking questions that challenge Tradition), then did a Bible study for the second half of the hour, and it was good. When the catechism says it is required of those to be confirmed that they ... are sufficiently instructed in the Christian Faith, I've seen (Mark 9:1,  ἴδωσι...

Good morning, ich heiße Tom, I am called Tom. I am NOT Tom, it's simply that at this stage of my life most people call me Tom, or Father Tom, or Father Weller. Mister Weller in a few cases by their choosing, not mine, don't be so formal. Commander Weller by defense-related organizations who may contact me for various reasons and think (it's true) that I appreciate being honored and remembered as a Navy officer, and over my years from 42 backwards, various ranks and my name down to Officer Candidate Weller, sir. Tom, Carroll, Bubba, your call. But again, at 83 mostly Tom. Why is this relevant to Sunday morning? Because this morning dammit I stubbed my toe. As I picked up my phone, and my empty coffee cup, and my sheaf of papers about Confirmation Class that starts later this morning, and my handkerchief, and a marking pen and a regular pen, and shed the blanket I had wrapped around me because some of us six (not I) like it cold, and slipped around behind the next ch...

Was it yesterday? No, it was the day before, Thursday we drove into town so I could print my Confirmation Class handouts at the church. While I was doing, Linda drove Malinda around town to have a look at hurricane damage, including to StAndrews, by the property and pathetic remains of the house we gave her about thirty years ago. Insurance covered total loss, and we sold the property two or three weeks ago, her there at closing and signing off on the sale, though she does not remember and insisted on stopping to "get her things", which of course they could not and did not. Life takes strange turns, and caring again after sixty years for the daughter we had and cared for sixty years ago is one of them for us, a literal instance of "what goes round comes round" and thank you, Carson Robison,  "life gets tee-jus don't it". That must have been three quarters of my life ago on a 78 rpm record and played over WDLP until we thought we'd scream. On...

The mind wanders incessantly including during sleep, including dreams. My only recollection of afterward being aware that that had not happened is waking from being anesthetized, totally under for several hours and realizing I'd not dreamed, that it was a lost time when I "was not."  Wandering this morning as I think about Sunday's confirmation class, which, time-condensed to 50%, will be quite different from what I've done in the past and finding myself hopeful about that; and on to this day in 1819 the United States acquired the rest of Florida from Spain and my thought that what was seized in 1810 and 1813 (see map above) is actually part of Florida, all the way to Baton Rouge. And we must insist that the governor call up the Guard and take that back, by threat of force and force itself if necessary, from the Perdido River to the Mississippi River, including Mobile, Florida to Baton Rouge, Florida. I'm willing to go along as Chaplain General o...

Exhausted by Tuesday evening I went to bed at 6:30, woke at 12 something, worked a few hours on my Confirmation package and prep. Back to bed and sleep, up  Wednesday morning to work on and finish the Cfn stuff. +Time blog didn't occur to me  until mid-afternoon as I relaxed during and after lunch with a glass of Cotes du Rhone 2017 bought cheap at Trader Joe's, Tallahassee a couple weeks ago. Anyone who is as cheap as I am needs to peruse TJ's wine offerings. There, I shop basically five dollars and under, and this short, squat green bottle impressed me. It's not too bad. In fact, as satisfactory as the Chateauneuf du Pape I paid ungodly for once and never again. What brought me to this musing is reading several online cases of young girls American and other European or Westerners who, with common teenage, adolescent romantic idealism, nobility, moral outrage at the world, leave home while parents are asleep or at work, and make their way toward a Mideastern country ...

Maybe, I dunno, maybe we need always to be mindful of the Bible readings for the upcoming Sunday, at least we preachers do even if, as for me, we are not preaching Sunday, as I'm not preaching Sunday, preached last Sunday, so not again. But reading and thinking on the lesson, contemplating, even meditating on.  So, the gospel for this coming Sunday, February 24, the last February in 2019 - - why Time is fleeing so, I dunno that either except that in my own Time I've noticed that whether Time flees depends on whether I am going to the dentist next month, week, day, hour at any age, or I am seven years old and it is December 24, let the reader understand - - is about Love. In the NT, both Jesus and Paul commend Love. Generally we may think of 1st Corinthians chapter 13, which is read at weddings so often even though Paul's NT Greek may be about another kind of Love altogether from the romantic love that is why we are gathered and is on the minds of the bridal couple and eve...

It doesn't matter, does it, not in the least. This morning I typed "n" then clicked "news" then scrolled down and opened BBC World Service because all American news services are t-star and I dislike reading, hearing, watching news that I know even as I click on it that I have to be on guard because newsmen and network owners have more agenda than news. BBC does too, but hail, hail, the gang's all here, what the heck do I care, got to watch something, don't I, and at least it's not American bias. Also arrive and I scan three news sites from the Middle East, biased in different directions, and used to receive AlJazerra but at some point it quit arriving and dropped from sight. Still available, though, I checked just now.  When I wish to know what's happening, I want several points of view, so make a point of at least opening both Fox and CNN, even knowing they're all messing with me. Naively, I used to think news was just the facts,  ma...

אַשְׁרֵי  הָאִישׁ  ash-re  ha-ish Happy the man    that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked ... for Adonai watches over the way of the righteous:    but the way of the wicked is doomed. Today’s Bible readings contrast good guys and bad guys, wicked versus righteous, blest & happy versus Woe be unto you - - Who, What, Where are you in this? I’m going there now, so listen up because I may need an Amen! Maybe made up, an urban legend originated online and making the rounds on social media, as the story goes, The airline agent at the boarding gate announces to those in the waiting area that Flight 718 has been cancelled and passangers will need other arrangements. Immediately, an irate business man storms up to the counter and shouts, "This is unacceptable! Do you know who I am?" To which the agent picks up her microphone and announces to the entire airport, "We have a lost person alert. Anyone who can provide assistance in identify...

Stopping by the church on Thursday after my doctor appointment, I picked up a copy of the Sunday worship bulletin for tomorrow, then sat at a table in Battin Hall and let my computer download a long software update while an HNES kindergarten class watched a movie. A long update won't take here where we are because the WiFi connection keeps cutting off and on, whereas that in Battin Hall stays reliably connected.  Done, I drove over to the school, which has a new roof, and some of the aluminum cladding that I had installed over the summer of 2010 has been ripped down, noticeable above, the raw wood at the roofline. Went inside and walked through to see what is going on. One is, the chimney in my first grade classroom, bricks showing, a touch of history. Showing in several classrooms in the old original part of the school building, I hope they still show after the restoration is complete, but not an issue if not. Another is that the oak floor is gone, hol...

Because immediately upon finding out that I had just retired they called from inside the Beltway and sought me out, and flattered me that my name on the proposal would help them get the contract they were bidding on, and their pay offer was decent, and my reasons for preferring to work in WashingtonDC instead of Harrisburg, and I said okay, my first job after Navy retirement was with a “beltway bandit” consulting firm whose contracts were with the Navy Department. The president of the firm, whom I grew to trust when I lost my naiveté trusting another retired Navy officer in the firm, drove a black 1967 Cadillac Calais (the base model) four door hardtop that he had ordered brand new. One warm, muggy spring day we went out for lunch together, he driving, and I asked him why he’d spec-ordered a Cadillac without air-conditioning. He said because he preferred the fresh air, and that from spring through fall he always drove with all the windows open, and the heater on in winter. Anyone who ...