Psalm 19 (KJV) 1 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. 6 His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it: and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. 7 The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 8 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 9 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and right...

It’s A Long Way To Tipperary or Up Too Early. Much. Coming downstairs mornings, often as now much too early for normal , make coffee, almost always black but this morning with a teaspoon of Linda’s nice French Vanilla lightener. Drink while it’s hot, because cannot stand lightened coffee after it cools, it’s beyond gross, leaves a nasty, sour taste in the mouth. Ice coffee with a splash of milk is a deliciously different matter altogether though.  Open laptop, use Yahoo and Network Diagnostics to fight with wi-fi until it catches and holds. Used to open Apple Mail but it doesn’t work anymore because of a destructive Apple update a few months back, so check mail via Google, which is damnably inferior. Damnably is not a bad word, and if it is, stuff it. Used to check NYT news and WashPost news via Apple Mail, but now check Google news first enroute to Google mail because Google email program fouls the computer when wi-fi messes up as it often does, whereas Google news...

President Obama was sworn in while we were in church yesterday morning. The presidential oath of office used to be March 4, but Amendment 20 to the constitution moved it to noon January 20, and this was first in 1937 for the second term of President Franklin Roosevelt. The old four month delay between election and oath was appropriate in a time when news and travel were slow compared to the modern age.  Article [XX] 1:  The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, ... After President Roosevelt was elected to his fourth term, 1944, the constitution was amended to limit the president to two terms. My business law professor at the University of Florida maintained that if Roosevelt had not died that day in April 1945, he would have been president forever, president-for-life an interesting thought. Actually, he was just that. We could get around the two term limit as George Wallace did in Alabama by having his wife Lurleen ...

About eight o’clock this morning, Vice President Joe Biden will take the oath of office. At 11:55 in the White House, according to the timeline calendar on the web, Barack Obama will be officially sworn in for his second term as President of the United States. We are blessed to have a president who cries when children are murdered, as he did last month. May he, and we, never face that again. In our Scripture this morning we will be reading from First Corinthians 12, Saint Paul talking about spiritual gifts. A collect from our 1928 Book of Common Prayer seems especially suited to this day that is so important in the life of the nation. O LORD, our heavenly Father, the high and mighty Ruler of the universe, who dost from thy throne behold all the dwellers upon earth; Most heartily we beseech thee, with thy favour to behold and bless thy servant THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED SATES, and all others in authority; and so replenish them with the grace of thy Holy Spirit, that they may ...

Flat on my stomach, legs stretched out, right leg crook’d a bit. A favorite sleeping position and how I woke this morning at 6:19. Another favorite is lying on my right side, leaning back against one of my pillows such that there’s no weight on my right arm to make it go to sleep. Why the unusual late sleeping? Because supper last night was a bottle of Spaten, which is München Bier. Woke at 3:57 a.m. from a dream -- at a campground going frantically from restroom to restroom, but they were all occupied. Finally found one. Instead of Men or Women the sign on the door said Public . As I was standing there  (let the reader understand), a friend and his wife, a couple with whom Linda and I double-dated in highschool, came in. Behind him came his entire family, cousins and friends. While one said “It says Public ” they stood around talking as I stood there embarrassed but nevertheless ... he telling me that he was not accepted into the college we had planned to attend together ....

From time to time someone stirs something so dear to the mind that it becomes an obsession at least for a while.  Friends may not appreciate being named in places like this, so not;  but yesterday a friend emailed me a piece with pics of engineer Louis Chenot’s miniature functioning replica 1932 Duesenberg SJ.  My favorite body style, it’s a LaGrande dual-cowl phaeton, 1/6 size.  Taking Chenot years to build to drawings from scratch, everything works, even the tiny 8-cylinder engine and transmission.  It is beyond incredible. Duesenberg went out of production in 1937, but there are collectors’ cars around, sometimes for sale and fetching north of a million dollars.  Unlike most cars, one cannot tell the model year at a glance, because most were sold as chassis, engine, etc. ready for shipment to custom body works for building whatever body the customer wanted.  Apparently a batch wer...

Epiphany Season is time to pay attention to the Lectionary (C this year) for disclosure of things we hadn’t noticed, or long forgot and need reminding, or never knew. Though the Star of Bethlehem is classic epiphany by definition -- revelation in light shining down from heaven -- and so is the Baptism of Christ -- heavens splitting, Holy Spirit coming down as a dove, voice from heaven, “you are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” -- other lectionary readings of the season also are educational and enlightening, so called “light bulb moments.” There are at least two epiphanies to turn on lightbulbs this Sunday, the First Corinthians reading being one: Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jes...