Bit humid but nice morning for breakfast out here on 7H porch.  Who knew that jellyfish have neither a brain nor a nervous system. So not only can they not feel pain, they are incapable of feeling remorse for the terrible burning stinging they inflict on people who are touched by their tentacles. Ross Whitley on Channel 13 said there will be jellyfish in the Gulf waters, so stay alert if you go to the beach today. Three leaves of one of Linda's porch plants showed up with long holes eaten through this morning. Searching, she found the culprit, a green caterpillar. What kind of animal will it morph into? Maybe a butterfly. She tossed it over the rail and watched until it landed in grass seven levels down.  Do caterpillars have awareness? Not "self-awareness," but are they conscious of what's immediately around them? What about dragonflies, are they aware of their surroundings as they dart about just off 7H porch these late summer early fall evenings? An answer has to b...

  The two saltines were stale, but the Skippy super-chunk was fine, and I’m still sipping excellent hot & black from the monster mug of September edition club coffee.  Light enough out here on 7H porch, a pleasantly cool autumn morning, full moon, clear, 68°F 83% wind NE 8 mph. Sound of a train locomotive, that I’ve not heard from here for ages. The raucous squawk of a wading bird followed by a dog barking, 3:38 AM is early for barking dogs at HV.  Why up so early? IDK, it was 2:14 then back up to stay at 2:3X. Sudden aching neck heralds arrival of a touch of carb coma from the PB & saltines. Maybe it will send me back to bed to finish my night’s sleep, eh? Linda says we need seven to eight hours of sleep - - bedtime is 9:00 PM, but last night Spider Solitaire had me dozing at 8:30, so I was in bed asleep at 8:45, six hours, so can look forward to resuming sleep with a pleasant nap starting maybe about daybreak.  Completed the card game easily this morning....

  Low-lying, thick black clouds. 71° 98% heavy overcast, intermittent lightning with response of distant rumbling thunder. It's clear, though, all the way to TAFB beacon. "Thunderstorm expected around 11 AM" says the Weather icon on my phone, now changing to "Thunderstorms expected around 7 AM" How's the tropical outlook? Not ominous, encouraging in fact. But wait - - moving west-northwest and 90% chance of formation - - as we move on into October, our deadly Time of year, eh? Maybe I should have known better than to book hotel accommodation in Apalachicola for the end of next week? Again and always, my place of the heart, not St Andrews, but close, very close. Why? it goes back to just after WW2, visiting there in the late 1940s with my father as he got his wholesale seafood business going. And early 1950s during my summer camp years. The most charming town imaginable, and this exquisite old church. I'd love to live here someday. And we did someday: fou...

The sky is not falling.  But is the Christian church collapsing in America? To the extent it is becoming Christian Nationalism, Deutsche Christen Redux, one might hope so. But this is about remnants who are struggling to maintain our institutions. Both denominational churches and local parishes are shrinking in numbers and attendance and combining with other churches and parishes.  Now exacerbated by cultural shifts that evolved as part of the Covid Pandemic, i t has been happening for decades. Panic Time? Are stars blinking out? Local churches cannot afford an ordained minister and are sharing or making other arrangements. For lack of students, the theological seminary system as the source of educated clergy has basically collapsed at least in some Christian denominations, ours included. Seminaries are going out of business and/or uniting with other seminaries to try and stay in business. Episcopal seminaries have been folding into that mold for several years now. Some years ...

  Yesterday's collect for the day prayed that we "not be anxious about earthly things, but love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, hold fast to those that shall endure." Included in our prayerbook for the first Time, Hatchett says* that, dating from the fifth and sixth century Leonine sacramentary, the prayer reflects the tumultuous times of the barbarian invasions.  I like the collect even though it also reflects the darkness of the Middle Ages, by which Time the church had given up on Paul's and Jesus' view that God was imminently to shake up earth and renovate humanity with the Second Coming, the general resurrection, coming of God's kingdom on earth, and all that; and shifted to what sadly still holds for most Christians, that things heavenly are pie in the sky, the kingdom of heaven is our next life reward for those who earn God's favor in this life.  With the church laying claim to Matthew 16, keys ...

  Good one! Friends and loved ones, and friends who are loved ones, sometimes send me pictures of old cars they come across here and there. Joe did especially when he lived in North Carolina and used to spot old ones, antiques and classics, on his Saturday morning breakfast runs or while riding winding roads on his motorcycle. Jackie does now and then. Mike challenges me with snaps of cars all over the place, including a 1957 Ford that was very like the new blue and white 1958 Ford Custom 300 that Linda and I bought from Cook Ford while we were home on Navy leave in December 1957.  From John this morning the above shot of a brass era Model T Ford touring car from 1909 to 1914. Dating a car model is as much fun as trying to date a Bible book, and similar sort of reasoning. See if you can establish any "not before, but not after" parameters. Mark's gospel, for example, has Jesus talking about the Jerusalem temple being destroyed, which leads many scholars to date it not bef...