Space to Think

Nelson Atkins American Collection

2011-07-09T21:44:00.006-05:00

Enjoyed a couple hours today in the Nelson Atkins Museum American Collection.

These are my favorites...

The Sonata, Childe Hassam, 1893
http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase.cfm?id=18606&theme=american

Conference No 1, Charles Sheeler, 1954
http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase.cfm?id=27652&theme=American

Raphael West and Benjamin West Jr., Sons of the Artist, Benjamin West, c 1796
http://www.nelson-atkins.org/art/CollectionDatabase.cfm?id=18949&theme=American

The World’s Greatest Paintings

2011-07-04T12:43:00.006-05:00

Thoroughly enjoying The World’s Greatest Paintings DVD series taught by Prof. William Kloss.

A few of my favorites...

The Jewish Bride, Rembrandt, 1667

Luncheon of the Boating Party, Renoir, 1880-81

Portrait of Charles de Solier, Lord of Morette, Hans Holbein the Younger, 1534-35

In a Café, Degas, 1875-76

The Resurrected Christ

2011-06-26T18:11:00.004-05:00

“The Incredulity of St. Thomas”, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, 1601-1602
http://www.abcgallery.com/C/caravaggio/caravaggio34.html

Thomas, "Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing" (John 20:27 NASB).

Meditations on this image and others in Juliet Benner’s new book, “Contemplative Vision”.

She has chosen what is better

2011-06-05T13:21:00.006-05:00

Johannes Vermeer 1654-55

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things,but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:38-42, NIV)

Fordlandia

2011-05-26T20:16:00.003-05:00

United States and South American history in a fun-to-read package. If you enjoy history, check out this new book by Greg Grandin.

John Waller: The Blessing

2011-05-23T19:54:00.004-05:00

let it be said of us / by the fruit we leave behind / let it be said of us that our legacy is blessing for life

Listen here:
http://www.myspace.com/johnwaller/music/songs/the-blessing-28401897

Poignant history you don’t learn at school

2011-05-22T20:33:00.003-05:00

Dear Madam, Though a stranger to you I cannot remain silent when so terrible a calamity has fallen upon you and your country, and must personally express my deep and heartfelt sympathy with you under the shocking circumstances of your present dreadful misfortune. No one can better appreciate than I can, who am myself utterly heartbroken by the loss of my own beloved Husband, who was the light of my life, - my stay - my all, - what your sufferings must be; and I earnestly pray that you may be supported by Him to whom alone the sorely stricken can look for comfort, in this hour of heavy affliction. With renewed expressions of true sympathy, I remain dear Madam, Your sincere friend, Victoria.
Queen Victoria to Mary Todd Lincoln, April 29, 1865

As I thought about the Queen's letter, I was reminded of this Scripture:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.
St. Paul, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NIV

Psychology of Relationship

2011-04-24T10:41:00.002-05:00

Last weekend my bookclub discussed Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. Overall I was not convinced of the author's thesis, however, there were a couple of things in the book that greatly interested me.

This succinct gem is one that struck me during my reading a few weeks ago; I doubt I'll ever forget it:

Relationship development is often understood as a process of mutual self-disclosure. —Daniel M. Wegner, PhD, Harvard

http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~wegner/pdfs/Wegner%20Transactive%20Memory.pdf

Know thyself! Enjoy being thyself!

2011-04-22T18:12:00.001-05:00

Revenge of the Introvert in Psychology Today

Streetcar Named Desire Comes to Topeka

2011-04-22T18:11:00.003-05:00

A tremendous build-up of drama crescendoing into thunderous psychological tragedy. What a performance!

http://www.topekacivictheatre.com/productions/477/

Melodrama + Wit

2011-02-27T16:35:00.005-06:00

A great combination!

What is the matter with me? Am I too particular? … I can’t think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can’t talk to, or worse, someone I can’t be silent with.

[A couple months later…] Your questions regarding that gentleman are very delicate, very subtle, very much like being smacked in the head with a mallet. Am I in love with him? What kind of question is that? It’s a tuba among the flutes, and I expect better of you.

—Juliet writing Sophie in The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

A New Warsaw Taking Shape

2011-02-27T16:31:00.002-06:00

"As the war ground toward its final act, Hitler—enraged by the Polish Home Army’s general insurrection, during which more than 200,000 Poles were killed—ordered Warsaw to be physically erased. Over three months in 1944, the Nazis…leveled nearly all of what still stood: incendiary and dynamite squads moved from building to building, reducing them to rubble or, at best, charred shells. No other city in Europe—not even Berlin or Stalingrad—was taken down so methodically."

Warsaw on the Rise
Smithsonian magazine, February 2011

What a Word Picture

2011-02-10T18:16:00.001-06:00

"...an oak...with its huge ungainly limbs sprawling unsymmetrically, and its gnarled hands and fingers, it stood an aged, stern, and scornful monster among the smiling birch trees... Under the oak, too, were flowers and grass, but it stood among them scowling, rigid, misshapen, and grim as ever." -Tolstoy, War and Peace

Randy Travis: Forever And Ever, Amen

2011-02-02T20:19:00.004-06:00

That committed, forever, kind ‘o love, never goes out of style!

Watch the video on YouTube

That Universal Romantic Dagger

2011-02-02T19:26:00.004-06:00

Oh, that romantic dagger-to-the-heart, "but I love you as a friend", apparently transcends both time and culture quite splendidly!

Here it is between Nataly Rostov and Vasili Denisov in 1806 Moscow...

Vasili Dmitrich, I'm so sorry for you!...No, but you are so nice...but it won't do...not that...but as a friend, I shall always love you.
—Tolstoy, War and Peace

n-ary Exclusive-Or Solution via LINQ

2011-02-01T13:55:00.005-06:00

In mathematics and software, Exclusive-or is an important logic function. Exclusive-or is useful in situations where two options are available and one must be selected, but not both. For example: Yes or No, Left or Right, True or False. The symbol ⊕ or the shorthand XOR are commonly used to indicate Exclusive-or.

The truth-table for Exclusive-or is as follows, where C1 and C2 are the two available choices and R is the result of C1 ⊕ C2.

In the table, only the second and third rows yield a result of True, this indicates that exactly one choice was selected. The first row indicates that no choice was made, which is an invalid result (False). The last row indicates an attempt to select both choices, which is also an invalid condition.

Thus, when there are only two choices things are pretty straightforward. But what if you need to test “exactly one was selected” when there are three or more choices available? Here’s an example. You are required to file a federal income tax return. The IRS has several forms available: 1040EZ, 1040A, and 1040. You must choose the form that applies to your circumstances, and you make exactly one selection. (Or you hire someone to do that on your behalf.)

So let’s say that in some piece of software that you’re writing, you need to validate that the user made exactly one selection. Computationally, the question boils down to: what is the general algorithm to answer the question “was exactly one chosen” when “n” selections are available? I quickly discovered that this is not a mathematically trivial undertaking. My first naïve attempt tried chaining two Exclusive-or operators between three options: C1 ⊕ C2 ⊕ C3. I quickly learned that didn’t work! So I went out to Internet and found this scholarly investigation: Ternary Exclusive Or.

I was quickly humbled by the complexity of the solution and Mr. Pelletier’s intelligence… So I asked myself, how am I going to possibly thoroughly understand, and then properly implement that solution via software in a reasonable amount of time? Answer: I don’t think I can; what are my other options? And then a light bulb appeared over my head—leverage the power of a modern programming tool to do the heavy lifting!

One such feature in Microsoft .NET is LINQ (Language Integrated Query). The beauty of LINQ is that it is a declarative programming tool. This essentially means that for particular types of problems, a programmer can simply express what they want, rather than designing and coding longhand how to solve the problem. The language complier then writes the “how” code for you (C# is my language of choice). This frees up a business application programmer to focus on solving business problems instead of writing low-level computational algorithms. A few really smart people write good algorithms and software platforms, and then large numbers of business programmers are empowered to be significantly more productive. There are at least two tradeoffs to this approach though: 1) your LINQ code won’t run as fast as low-level-optimized C++ or Assembler code, and 2) you won’t get to do research and publish a cool paper. In many business scenarios like mine though, the LINQ trade-off is a “no brainer”.

So, here is my solution, coded in C#, to answer the “n-ary Exclusive-or” question. (XOR for any number of choices.) Even if you’re not a programmer, you’ll probably get the gist of how it works.

Confessions of a Logophile: Part 4

2011-01-26T20:56:00.005-06:00

In part one of this series I found myself referring to Pantone, “the world-renowned authority on color” as a definitve reference to hunter green. So I guess it’s no surprise that the following passage from the Secrets of the Tsil Café jumped off the page at me this past weekend.

Because it was her first trip to New Mexico, Ann kept remaking on the color of the sky, a blue like no other she’d ever seen. As a writer, she was used to finding the right word: “Turquoise, cerulean, azure, robin’s egg.”

“Quit it,” I said, “you sound like a paint chart.”

“I don’t care,” she said. “There is a correct word for everything, and I’ll find it.”

I cannot help adding one more synonym... Welkin. Eccentrics unite!

And now off to listen to some Sky.fm radio. And then read a few pages in Azure in Action. What a crzay series of coincidences huh? :)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

A Kansas City Day

2011-01-23T15:49:00.004-06:00

Had a great time with a couple of friends yesterday at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. We leisurely perused and discussed the ground floor exhibits (contemporary: painting, sculpture, and mixed media, nineteenth and twentieth century photography, and nineteenth and twentieth century African). We then viewed the Italian and Dutch Baroque oil paintings and sketches on the second floor and unanimously decided these were our favorites of the day.

Without realizing it, three hours quickly passed. Hungry for lunch, we headed over to a nearby restaurant called The Mixx, “Offering innovative sandwiches, delicious wraps, gourmet salads, sautéed pastas, and colorful soups that match any season”. I chose the Vegan Curry Sweet Potato Wrap with smoked tofu, pasta salad, and a glass of Argentinean Malbec. Fantastic!

Looking forward to an encore visit to the Nelson-Atkins soon to see the rest of the collection. On the second floor, the English and French paintings including an impressionist collection, an Italian sculpture collection, and an Egyptian, Greek, and Roman gallery. And the third floor: Chinese, South Asian, American, and Native American. The 22 acre outdoor Sculpture Park beckons a third outing, perhaps in May!

Gruesome, but the most memorable of the day for me was David With the Head of Goliath, painted by Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Il Guercino). It immediately reminded me of this CD cover art of the same scene. Goliath was approximately 9 feet, 9 inches tall. The crazy length of the sword in the painting emphasizes the fact! At this time David was a young man, the youngest of Jesse's eight sons, a musician, and a shepherd. But David was no ordinary shepherd, he so trusted his God's protection that he ran after both a lion and a bear, striking them down, rescuing sheep snatched from his father's flock. The recounting of David and Goliath’s battle can be read in I Samuel, chapter 17. Also see this story about Jesus from John, chapter 10.

Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, c. 1618

Helping people with microloans

2011-01-17T15:51:00.008-06:00

Help an entrepreneur with a microloan. You loan money at no interest and their life improves. This is my fifth loan through Kiva. Love this organization!

Komiljon lives in Tajikistan and has been dedicated to cattle farming for 7 years. He is married and the father of 3 children. He makes a great effort to meet the needs of his children and to bring sustenance to his humble home. His greatest need now is to buy young cattle to expand his business. For this reason, Komiljon turned to IMON International, in order to obtain loans that will allow him to purchase these animals and make his business grow.

Call to Greatness

2011-01-17T00:09:00.003-06:00

"He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness. The thing I like about it: By giving that definition of greatness, it means everybody can be great, because everybody can serve." —Rev Martin Luther King Jr, Feb 4, 1968, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta

Sometimes God works that way...

2011-01-16T13:04:00.002-06:00

Have you ever arrived at your intended destination even though that wasn’t where you planned to be? Sometimes God works that way…

Friday evening I made plans with a friend to worship at her church this morning. Got a call this morning at 7:45 that her little one was sick and that we would have to reschedule. I knew quickly that my home church wouldn’t be a good option today due to my Mustang being incompatible with the parallel parking on the snow-packed secondary streets there. I looked up the worship times of four other local churches that I’m familiar with and ended up selecting the one I didn’t expect to.

It turned out that their senior pastor was on vacation and so their staff pastor was preaching today. Early in his message he told us about a life-defining experience he had in Morro Bay California. Morro Bay, on the central California coast, also happens to be a very important place in my life’s journey. I visited there several times during my 7+ year chapter in Los Angeles and worshipped at the Nazarene church there each time I visited. Didn’t mention it yet, but the local Nazarene fellowship is where I was ended up today. (My Feb '08 Morro Bay trip.)

Without planning it—indeed stumbling my way through the final mile—I arrived just where God wanted me to be.

Oh, and I also ran into an old friend there in between services that I haven’t seen in a year. “With God, in every situation, there is always more, never less.” —Fr. Benedykt Pazdan

Everything Glorious

2011-01-04T22:59:00.004-06:00

You make everything glorious / You make everything glorious / You make everything glorious / And I am Yours / What does that make me?

Downtown Chicago for a day

2010-12-28T19:41:00.004-06:00

Had a fantastic day yesterday in Downtown Chicago with my friend Sherry. We started at the Chicago Cultural Center where we took in world’s largest Tiffany stained-glass dome (a two year refurbishing project just completed). We then lingered in an fabulous exhibit of the famous Chicago architect Louis Sullivan and his partner Dankmar Adler…it filled three exhibit halls (Topeka Book Club people, think “Devil in the White City), and then viewed a show of contemporary Cuban art.

After this we walked through Millennium Park on our way over to The Art Institute of Chicago museum where we had lunch. After lunch we enjoyed the Impressionism collection and American Art collections for about two-and-a-half hours, disappointed that they closed at 5 since we could have easily immersed ourselves for another couple of hours in additional collections on our “want to see” list.

Then we took a short stroll down The Historic Michigan Boulevard District, ducked into a couple shops, and then headed over to the historic Marshall Field and Company Building (now Macy's at State Street) to see the famous two-story Walnut Room Christmas Tree on the seventh floor.

I still had plenty more things on my want to see and do list including Reza’s Restaurant, The Polish Museum of America, and the John Hancock Observatory (94th floor). Definitely looking forward to another Chicago trip!

Christmas Gazing

2010-12-25T12:42:00.002-06:00

“Along with Mary and Joseph we have the privilege of gazing lovingly on the infant Jesus, and soaking-in the experience ourselves. And there is one simple question that we need to ask ourselves: Whom do we see? With God, in every situation, there is always more, never less. Who is this baby lying in the manger? He is more than we could ever imagine.” Fr. Benedykt Pazdan, 12/25/10

Saint Joseph and the Infant Christ, Giovanni Battista Gaulli, c. 1670-85, Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, CA

Classic Rock! Fleetwood Mac: Gypsy

2010-12-21T20:47:00.002-06:00

Classic Rock! Crazy Little Thing Called Love

2010-12-21T20:20:00.003-06:00

Linus: My Favorite Peanuts Character

2010-12-21T20:17:00.001-06:00

Litmus test of a true nerd: library paste trumps cute...

That’s in the Bible?

2010-12-05T20:49:00.001-06:00

I love discovering often overlooked gems in the Bible. Did you know there’s a two-verse account of Jesus celebrating Hanukkah? We know that Jerusalem was not His home town, yet in this passage we find Jesus at the Temple during Hanukkah. (John 10:22-23)

I like the clarity of this Jewish translation of the New Testament (B'rit Chadashah):

"Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, and Yeshua [Jesus] was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo's Colonnade." (from the Complete Jewish Bible)

Handel's yeast?

2010-12-05T16:19:00.003-06:00

"The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough."
—Jesus, Matthew 13:33, NIV

Since the fall of man in Eden, our home, the Earth, has become enemy occupied territory. But God is sovereign and he has not given up on His beloved—mankind. The mission of Christ's people is to sow the divine yeast of God's love, truth, and redemption in our everyday world. Our shopping malls are certainly places of thriving holiday commercialism, but in God's economy, even a food court can be a nexus of redemption...

(best viewed by changing the default video resolution to 360p or greater)

Abraham Lincoln: A Man for All Times

2010-12-05T16:08:00.002-06:00

Enjoyed the Abraham Lincoln: A Man of His Time, A Man for All Times exhibit at the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka today.

Giving Thanks

2010-11-25T09:11:00.000-06:00

Father in Heaven
Thank You
Thank You for family and friends
Thank You for work, for opportunities
Thank You for health of body and spirit
Thank You for freedom and liberty;
The many who have gone before to secure and defend it;
Those doing so right now
Thank you in the Name of Your Son, Jesus Christ
In the limitless power of The Holy Spirit
One and only God, from forever, to forever
Amen

1986 Flashback

2010-11-22T21:42:00.004-06:00

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39, NIV)

Romantic musings meet the real world

2010-11-20T11:33:00.003-06:00

This passage between a 50-something psychiatrist and his 90 year old father in The Swan Thieves brought a chuckle and a smile to me this week.

She’s not only complicated, but independent, unusual, beautiful…

I know Dad. But…not everyone is meant for marriage the way you and Mother were.

Everyone is meant for it…the problem is simply finding the right person. Ask Plato. Just make sure she finishes your thoughts and you finish hers. That’s all you need.

I know, I know.

And then you must say to her, ‘Madame, I observe that your heart is broken. Allow me to repair it for you.’

I wouldn’t have thought you had that in you, Dad.

He laughed. “Oh, I could never have said it to any woman myself.”

But then you didn’t need to, did you?

He shook his head, his eyes bluer than usual. “I didn’t need to. Besides, if I’d ever said such a thing to your mother, she’d have told me to pull myself together and take out the garbage for her.”

As You Like It (1599)

2010-11-20T10:01:00.005-06:00

Highly entertaining presentation of Shakespeare's 1599 comedy As You Like It last night at Cair Paravel Latin School. Fantastic artistic direction and some fine, heartfelt acting.

Some of my favorite passages:
Touchstone: The more pity that fools may not speak wisely what wise men do foolishly.*

Jaques: By my troth, I was seeking for a fool when I found you.
Orlando: He is drown'd in the brook; look but in, and you shall see him.
Jaques: There I shall see mine own figure.
Orlando: Which I take to be either a fool or a cipher.

Hymen to Phebe & Silvius: You to his love must accord, Or have a woman to your lord

* "The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness" (Proverbs 15:2, KJV). "This 'foolish' plan of God is far wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is far stronger than the greatest of human strength" (1 Corinthians 1:25, NLT).

To Play Is Human

2010-10-31T22:16:00.002-05:00

The desire, indeed the need, to play is one of those great common bonds of all humanity. Though the forms may vary, play is age-irrelevant, transcendent of social status, and culturally universal.

This was the count's favorite dance, which he had danced in his youth… "Look at Papa!" shouted Natasha to the whole company… And indeed everybody in the room looked with a smile of pleasure at the jovial old gentleman, who standing beside his tall and stout partner, Marya Dmitrievna, curved his arms, beat time, straightened his shoulders, turned out his toes, tapped gently with his foot, and, by a smile that broadened his round face more and more, prepared the onlookers for what was to follow. As soon as the provocatively gay strains of Daniel Cooper (somewhat resembling those of a merry peasant dance) began to sound, all the doorways of the ballroom were suddenly filled by the domestic serfs—the men on one side and the women on the other—who with beaming faces had come to see their master making merry.
—Tolstoy, War And Peace, trans. Louise and Aylmer Maude

The Young Victoria (2009)

2010-10-31T21:53:00.002-05:00

Exquisite. Dramatic. And you can't help learning some history along the way.

Intellectual Pleasures and Musings

2010-10-20T21:14:00.003-05:00

I’ve recently started into a new novel lent to me by a coworker, The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, a narrative of psychological fiction. See the book’s website for an excellent synopsis.

I am deeply enjoying Kostova’s descriptions and exploration of human psyche—inner thoughts, feelings, experiences, and motivations—while at the same time painting vivid pictures of the behavior of characters that have neither spoken nor whose thoughts have been revealed by an omniscient author.

One of the passages that grabbed me today was a vignette about the joy of running through fields of learning, unrestrained.

While I was searching my shelves for the myth of Leda…I learned about a couple of other classical figures who don’t enter this tale but whom I still think about from time to time. My wife tells me that this propensity to leaf through a volume instead of doing my research efficiently is one of the things that most dates me, but I’ve noticed that she handles books in the same way sometimes, looking through biographies and museum catalogs with a deep, aimless pleasure. (emphasis mine)

For me, this is a glimpse of the activity of Heaven. Pursuits, inexhaustible, always fulfilling, where both pursuer and object of pursuit can only overflow their own perfect beauty and purity. And all the aimlessness we now know is transformed into perfect freedom.

Listen, I tell you a mystery…we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. Then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. —St. Paul, 1 Cor 15:51-57, NIV

Nerd Humor

2010-10-17T13:16:00.007-05:00

The definition of lexicographer according to Samuel Johnson, author of the famous 1755 Dictionary of the English Language: a writer of dictionaries; a harmless drudge, that busies himself in tracing the original, and detailing the signification of words.

Ballet Magnificat!

2010-10-13T19:34:00.004-05:00

Ballet Magnificat at the Topeka Performing Arts Center last night was amazing! The opening Freedom ballet was so beautiful. Reminded me of olympic figure skating. And the dance impression of the burning bush was just incredible. Great night!

Confessions of a logophile, part three

2010-10-09T23:10:00.002-05:00

It’s been some months since I’ve worked on a vocabulary list... (Part deux posted here.)

I’ve been recently reading an excellent historical narrative by Erik Larson called The Devil in the White City. It’s actually two true stories woven together into a single book: the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and a serial killer who was lurking in the area.

Larson’s rich story-telling and choice of words easily coaxed the following list out of me. (I needed to investigate each of these words via the dictionary and/or Internet.) Some sprang back into consciousness after I looked them up, others were completely new to me.

Etymologies in parenthesis.

dotage: senility (Middle English)

capering: leaping about playfully (Latin)

valise: a small travel bag (French from Latin)

refulgent: radiant (Latin)

dray: a horse-drawn cart without fixed sides used to transport goods (Middle English)

mélange: a medley (French)

élan: with great enthusiasm (French)

cairn: a pile of stones built as a memorial or landmark (Middle English from Scottish Gaelic)

caisson: a construction chamber kept under high air pressure to keep water out (French from Latin)

miasma: a noxious vapor (Latin from Greek)

macadam: broken stone mixed with tar used to pave a road

alienist: psychiatrist, esp. one who is an expert witness (archaic) (French from Latin)

bonhomie: literally “good natured man”; geniality (French)

obsidian: a dark, transparent, volcanic glass (Latin)

excelsior: wood shavings used as packing material, literally “beyond lofty” (Latin)

acerbic: sharp and direct (Latin)

bon vivant: one with refined tastes, literally “a good liver” (French)

obstreperous: stubborn, difficult (Latin)

janissary: member of an old elite Turkish army unit (French from Turkish)

sirocco: a hot wind blowing from North Africa onto the northern Mediterranean coast (Italian from Arabic)

provenance: origin (French from Latin)

sang-froid: composure under strain, literally “cold blood” (French)

duck cloth: also known as “duck canvas”, commonly known as “canvas” (Middle English from Anglo-French)

cachet: prestige (French)

shirtwaist: a dress with a bodice resembling a dress-shirt

calumny: a slanderous statement meant to damage reputation (Middle English)

frippery: ostentation, frivolously showy (French)

meretricious: vulgar showiness, literally “of prostitutes” (Latin)

replevin: a demand for a return of goods, such as those never paid for (Middle English from Anglo-French)

factotum: jack of all trades (Latin)

slipperlick: a subordinate who might even be willing to metaphorically lick his master’s slippers

propinquity: in proximity (Middle English from Old French from Latin)

repartee: a quick, witty response (French)

fricassee: stewed meat served with a white sauce (Middle French)

troika: a group of three working in unison, literally “threesome” (Russian)

sylvan: wooded (Latin)

quotidian: ordinary (Latin)

redolent: having a pleasant aroma (Latin)

mucid: slimy (like mucus) (Latin)

gonfalon: a banner hung from a crossbar (Italian)

fete: a day of celebration, a festival (Middle English from Middle French)

dewy: youthful (Old English)

rictus: literally “an open/gaping mouth” (Latin)

infanta: daughter of a Spanish or Portuguese monarch

escarpment: a long cliff, esp. at the edge of a plateau (French from Italian)

syncope: a fainting spell caused by a drop in blood pressure (Latin from Greek)

schoolmarm: a country schoolteacher, stereotypically strict and formal

danse du ventre: belly dance (French)

aplomb: self-assured (French)

peritonitis: inflammation of the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity (Latin from Greek)

cerulean: deep sky-blue (Latin)

tableau: representation of an historical scene (French)

insouciance: laid-back indifference (French)

catafalque: an ornamental framework used to lie a body in state (French from Italian)

crenellated: furnished with battlements typical of a castle (French)

non-plussed: completely perplexed (Latin)

References:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/
http://oxforddictionaries.com/publicstart
http://dictionary.reference.com/

Celebrating Charlie Brown's 60th Anniversary

2010-10-02T11:00:00.003-05:00

Watch the TODAY show video here (4m, 6s)

Alan Jackson: Drive

2010-09-17T19:24:00.000-05:00

Amazing Menu

2010-09-16T22:10:00.008-05:00

Menu of the first banquet of the architects of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair:

Oysters.
A glass or two of Montrachet.
Consommé of Green Turtle.
Amontillado.
Broiled Shad á la Maréchal.
Cucumbers. Potatoes á la Duchesse.
Filet Mignon á la Rossini.
Chateau Lafite and Rinnart Brut.
Fonds d'Artichaut Farcis.
Pommery Sec.
Sorbet au Kirsch.
Cigarettes.
Woodcock on Toast.
Asparagus Sala.
Ices: Canton Ginger.
Cheeses: Pont l'Eveque; Rocquefort. Coffee. Liquers.
Madeira, 1815.
Cigars.

“It was the first in a sequence of impossibly rich and voluminous banquets whose menus raised the question of whether any of the city’s leading men could possibly have a functional artery.” —Erik Larson

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375725601/

The Power of Prose

2010-09-14T20:08:00.002-05:00

A miasma of cinder-flecked smoke blackened [the late nineteenth century Chicago] streets and at times reduced visibility to the distance of a single block, especially in winter, when coal furnaces were in full roar… In rain any street not paved with macadam oozed a fragrant muck of horse manure, mud, and garbage that swelled between the granite blocks like pus from a wound.

http://www.meetup.com/Topeka-Book-Club/calendar/13616536/

It's Saturday, Get Your Jive On!

2010-09-11T14:49:00.000-05:00

A Timeless Exhortation

2010-09-11T14:29:00.004-05:00

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Try to do what is honorable in everyone's eyes. If possible, on your part, live at peace with everyone.
St. Paul to the church @ Rome, circa AD 57 (Romans 12:17-18 HCS)

Do You Kiva?

2010-09-11T14:25:00.004-05:00

“Make a loan to an entrepreneur across the globe for as little as $25. Kiva is the world's first online lending platform connecting online lenders to entrepreneurs across the globe.”

http://www.kiva.org/lender/jeff4422

Beautiful Quirks

2010-09-09T20:45:00.001-05:00

Isn’t it curious how a unique quirk can be simultaneously becoming?

"The young Princess Bolkonskaya, her pretty little upper lip was too short for her teeth. As is always the case with a thoroughly attractive woman, her defect--the shortness of her upper lip and her half-open mouth--seemed to be her own special and peculiar form of beauty. Everyone brightened at the sight of this pretty young woman, so soon to become a mother, so full of life and health, and carrying her burden so lightly. Old men and dull dispirited young ones who looked at her, after being in her company and talking to her a little while, felt as if they too were becoming, like her, full of life and health." (Tolstoy, War and Peace, emphasis mine)

Phil Wickham - Divine Romance

2010-09-05T17:14:00.000-05:00

Fun with Homophones

2010-09-04T22:20:00.003-05:00

This evening I was reading the Annotated Alice notes about the Through the Looking-Glass scene where Alice meets the Fawn in “the wood where things have no names”. As I reread the passage, I recalled with a smile the scene in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe where Lucy meets the Faun.

Fawn and Faun… Lewis Carroll and C.S. Lewis… Yes I’m easily amused! :)

Alice and the Fawn
Just then a Fawn came wandering by: it looked at Alice with its large gentle eyes, but didn't seem at all frightened. 'Here then! Here then!' Alice said, as she held out her hand and tried to stroke it; but it only started back a little, and then stood looking at her again.

'What do you call yourself?' the Fawn said at last. Such a soft sweet voice it had!

'I wish I knew!' thought poor Alice. She answered, rather sadly, 'Nothing, just now…'

So they walked on together though the wood, Alice with her arms clasped lovingly round the soft neck of the Fawn, till they came out into another open field, and here the Fawn gave a sudden bound into the air, and shook itself free from Alice's arms. 'I'm a Fawn!' it cried out in a voice of delight, 'and, dear me! you're a human child!' A sudden look of alarm came into its beautiful brown eyes, and in another moment it had darted away at full speed.

Alice stood looking after it, almost ready to cry with vexation at having lost her dear little fellow-traveler so suddenly. 'However, I know my name now.' she said, 'that's some comfort. Alice—Alice—I won't forget it again…

Lucy and the Faun
He was only a little taller than Lucy herself and he carried over his head an umbrella, white with snow…with the other arm he carried several brown-paper parcels. What with the parcels and the snow it looked just as if he had been doing his Christmas shopping. He was a Faun. And when he saw Lucy he gave such a start of surprise that he dropped all his parcels…

“Good evening,” said the Faun “…should I be right in thinking that you are a Daughter of Eve?”

“My name’s Lucy,” said she, not quite understanding him…

“You are in fact Human?”

“Of course I’m human,” said Lucy, still a little puzzled.

“To be sure, to be sure,” said the Faun. “How stupid of me! But I’ve never seen a Son of Adam or a Daughter of Eve before. I am delighted…”

John Tenniel (1865)

The Chronicles of Narnia (2005)

Pilate therefore said to Him...

2010-09-04T20:10:00.002-05:00

Rex es tu?
—Pontius Pilate

(John 18:37a)

The History of the English Language

2010-09-01T22:46:00.004-05:00

“What is English? Where did it come from? Where is it going?”
Prof. Seth Lerer, Stanford Univ.

Embarking on a new DVD lecture series from The Teaching Company
The History of the English Language

Hearts in Spades

2010-08-28T19:21:00.006-05:00

Based on recent posts, it’s probably now painfully obvious that I’m an eccentric with no children. Read: where does this guy find all this time to research literary minutiae? :)

I've been having fun reading through the notes in Martin Gardner’s The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition.

This afternoon, my interest was piqued by the discussion about the “Off with her head!” scene of the Queen of Hearts and Alice. Gardner pointed out that Michael Hancher, in his in-depth work about the original 1865 John Tenniel illustrations, calls attention to the Queen of Hearts’ dress actually depicting that of the 18th century Queen of Spades, with the Queen of Spades commonly known as the “queen of death”.

So I did some research looking for photos of the two queens. These two pages were what I was looking for: Annotated Standard cards and Gibson A7, 1789-1801. ("Gibson A7" will easily allow you to see the queens next to each other.) Analyzing them, I found the following distinct Queen of Spades features in Tenniel’s drawing (hint: shift-click the drawing to open full-size in another window).

1) The large ermine panel covering the back of the dress (example of ermine on Queen Elizabeth I’s coronation gown)
2) The diagonal sash across the bottom-half of her robe (also note its pattern)
3) The V-shaped neck visually flowing into ties
4) The distinct earring

However, I also noticed that of the four queens, Spades is turned furthest towards a profile position. So, did Tenniel pick Spades as a model because it most closely resembles the Queen’s position in his illustration, or did he choose her because she’s the queen of death? You decide. :)

One more interesting note between hearts and spades… From the Oxford English Dictionary entry on "spades" (emphasis mine): one of the four suits in a conventional pack of playing cards, denoted by a black inverted heart-shaped figure with a small stalk. So, if the heart symbolizes life and love, then it does make sense that an inverted heart would symbolize death.

Come join the Topeka Book Club for an Alice discussion on Sunday, September 12th. I’m planning to be there unless I get barred for exceeding even the nerdiness threshold of a book club.

Franczak family trivia: Black Mariah is my Mom’s favorite poker game.

Is Faith Reasonable?

2010-08-25T19:48:00.001-05:00

Truth and reason are inseparable friends. So true spirituality always welcomes an open mind. If Jesus is who He claimed to be, then going “all in” with Him is the most rational thing anyone can do.

Fun with silliness

2010-08-25T19:42:00.006-05:00

Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and the sequel Through the Looking-Glass are filled with laugh-out-loud riddles, rhymes, and nonsense from beginning to end.

Perhaps though, Carroll’s “Anglo Saxon” poem Jabberwocky is the most famous.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Opening stanza, Looking-Glass, ch. 1

Highlight the invisible text below to see Carroll’s English translation:
It was evening, and the smooth active badgers were scratching and boring holes in the hill-side; all unhappy were the parrots; and the grave turtles squeaked out.

A thorough explanation of the translation here: Glossing the Jabberwocky

Illustration: John Tenniel

How He Loves Us!

2010-08-23T20:52:00.005-05:00

He is jealous for me, Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree, Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy...

Pickwick and Friends Christmas Eve

2010-08-20T22:33:00.003-05:00

Good friends, good snacks, and three more episodes of The Pickwick Papers tonight.

Below, Pickwick and friends celebrate Christmas Eve and sing one of my favorites, The Holly and the Ivy.

Here's a traditional English version by King's College Cambridge: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7eHtDtZ7hs

Wonderland Croquet

2010-08-17T21:35:00.005-05:00

Reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass with the Topeka Book Club this month.

Alice thought she had never seen such a curious croquet-ground in her life... The chief difficulty...was in managing her flamingo...just as she had got its neck nicely straightened out, and was going to give the hedgehog a blow with its head, it would twist itself round and look up in her face, with such a puzzled expression that she could not help bursting out laughing: and when she had got its head down...again, it was very provoking to find that the hedgehog had unrolled itself, and was in the act of crawling away.
--Lewis Carrol, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865

Illustration, John Tenniel, 1865

Ode to an Expiring Frog

2010-08-11T21:55:00.003-05:00

Watching Charles Dickens’ very British screwball comedy,The Pickwick Papers, with friends.

The dramatic recitation of the ridiculous "Ode to an Expiring Frog" in one of this evening’s episodes cracked me up!

Can I view thee panting, lying
On thy stomach, without sighing;
Can I unmoved see thee dying
On a log
Expiring frog!

War and Peace

2010-08-08T14:08:00.003-05:00

As a clever maître d'hôtel serves up as a specially choice delicacy a piece of meat that no one who had seen it in the kitchen would have cared to eat, so Anna Pavlovna served up to her guests, first the vicomte and then the abbé, as peculiarly choice morsels. (p. 11)

I started reading War and Peace yesterday. I believe I’m already hooked!

Going into it I knew the all Russian names would make for slow reading. I wasn’t, however, aware that there is also a lot of French dialog. This is going to be quite a challenge, but I’ve heard it will be well worth the journey.

Wikipedia’s plot summary: “delineates in graphic detail events leading up to Napoleon's invasion of Russia, and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society, as seen through the eyes of five Russian aristocratic families.”

maître d'hôtel: butler
vicomte: viscount: a rank of aristocratic society
abbé: French secular clergyman

Loving Prose

2010-08-07T15:06:00.003-05:00

I so enjoy a striking word picture in prose or a clever or dry turn of wit. Here are my favorites from Chris Bohjalian’s novel The Double Bind, Topeka Book Club’s August selection.

Someone told me when it’s warm they carry her onto the chaise on the terrace, and she watches the waves.

She’s that infirm?

No, she’s that wealthy. (p. 83)

[T]he drifter…had pale skin the color of cooked fish. (p. 8)

Merlin, was a sweet-tempered mutt from the Humane Society that was part springer spaniel and part—based on its size—draft horse. (p. 52)

They viewed Vermont as an outbacklike mountain range peopled largely by sanctimonious liberals in rusted-out Subarus who dressed exclusively in flannel and fleece. This was a misrepresentation that Talia tried to correct: She reminded them that a lot of her neighbors actually drove Volvos. (p. 57)

Man, heroin chic was never a good look on me… Someday I’ll show these [photos] to my kids to scare them straight. Then again, I might not. (p. 180)

Look, I hate to sound patronizing—
Oh, stop it. You love to sound patronizing. (p. 257)

Still, it wasn’t merely the nascent schizophrenia and paranoia that caused him to shed the skin of a Buchanan: it was also a desire to distance himself from the whole hollow, sullen, and morally insolvent little clan. (p. 295)

[B]ut which were clues and which merely aimless photos (or, perhaps, even the red herrings) taken by a schizophrenic who drank too much. (p. 316)

Mazel tov!

2010-08-04T23:00:00.002-05:00

Had an excellent time tonight with friends at Fiddler on the Roof. Enjoyed the acting, the singing, and the dancing. Thank you Topeka Civic Theater!

Another Scorcher

2010-08-03T18:51:00.004-05:00

Crazy Hot

2010-08-02T23:14:00.003-05:00

Wednesday a "cold front" is supposed to come through and cool us down to 95... Yikes!

One more for Gatsby!

2010-07-23T22:55:00.004-05:00

Getting quite a bit of mileage out of this Great Gatsby thing...

Gen-Xers out there, remember Taco’s reincarnation of Puttin’ on the Ritz? Uh oh, that's not a collective goan I hope? :)

Have you seen the well-to-do? Up and down Park Avenue?
On that famous thoroughfare, with their noses in the air.
High hats, and arrow collars, white spats, and lots of dollars.
Irving Berlin, 1929; As performed by Taco, 1983

Puttin' On The Ritz by Taco

More Taco music on iLike

You're So Vain

2010-07-22T22:45:00.007-05:00

Heard Carly Simon's famous classic on the radio this evening. It reminded me of the "pink suit" scene from The Great Gatsby yesterday.

You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf it was apricot
You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself gavotte...
You're so vain...

Death by Opulence

2010-07-21T23:29:00.005-05:00

Was transported into the roaring 20's this evening with friends. Thoroughly enjoyed this film of The Great Gatsby. The drama, artistic interpretation, extravagance, and costumes richly portray the spirit and story of Fitzgerald's novel.

Book Club Discussion Starters for Sherlock Holmes

2010-07-18T21:55:00.006-05:00

A few discussion generating questions for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first two Sherlock Holmes stories A Study in Scarlet (1887), The Sign of the Four (1890), and the well-known favorite, The Hound of the Baskervilles (1901-02)…

In addition, The Hounds of the Baskervilles SparkNotes guide is an excellent resource. I also have a group of additional posts that breifly overview some key aspects of nineteenth century British culture: currency, the peerage, and carriages.

1) What is your overall impression of the Sherlock Holmes novels that we read? Did you enjoy the stories? How about the writing, period, culture, etc.?

2) The story of A Study in Scarlet begins with Watson being wounded in the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-80). Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could never have known it, but this plotline is a powerful connection to us 130 years later. What are your thoughts about this?

3) A red herring is a something that diverts attention from what is really important. Do you remember any red herrings in A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, or The Hound of the Baskervilles?

4) Were there any page-turner scenes where you just couldn’t put the book down?

5) What is your reaction to the author’s Mormon storyline of A Study in Scarlet?

6) Were you surprised with the development of a romantic connection between Watson and Mary Morstan in The Sign of the Four that would soon lead to their marriage? With Watson’s constant involvement in Sherlock’s erratic lifestyle why do you think the author so quickly wrote Watson’s marriage into the story? (The Sign of the Four was the second story in the 60-story Sherlock series.)

19th Century British Culture: Carriages

2010-07-17T18:19:00.004-05:00

This is the third post in a series that highlights some key aspects of life in the United Kingdom in the 1800s.

Common English Carriages of the Nineteenth Century

El Pomar Carriage Museum Photos
Transportation in the 19th Century
Barouche
Brougham
Coach
Curricle
Gig
Hansom
Landau
Phaeton

19th Century British Culture: The Peerage

2010-07-17T18:11:00.002-05:00

This is the second post in a series that highlights some key aspects of life in the United Kingdom in the 1800s.

Peerage of the United Kingdom in the Nineteenth Century
Rank in Descending Order
Duke (Duchess), Marquess (Marchioness), Earl (Countess), Viscount (Viscountess), Baron (Baroness)

Privilege of Peerage
All hereditary peers had the right to sit in the House of Lords. All peers had the following rights: trial by fellow peers, personal access to the Sovereign, exemption from civil arrest, Scandalum magnatum (special defamation protections), and special heraldic devices on coats of arms.

Official Titles
Duke: His or Her Grace
Marquess: The Most Honorable
Earl: The Right Honorable
Viscount: The Right Honorable
Baron: The Right Honorable

Proper Address in Speech
Duke: His or Her Grace
Marquess: Lord X or Lady X
Earl: Lord X or Lady X
Viscount: Lord X or Lady X
Baron: Lord X or Lady X

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peerage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privilege_of_Peerage

19th Century British Culture: Currency

2010-07-17T18:05:00.004-05:00

This is the first post in a series that highlights some key aspects of life in the United Kingdom in the 1800s.

Nineteenth century British novels have become one of my favorite genres. I’ve been devouring BBC miniseries of many of these classics and reading as I’ve had time.

This month I’m leading a Sherlock Holmes discussion with the Topeka Book Club. As I was reading our selections, I put together some brief cultural overviews for my own benefit and the group’s.

19th Century English Currency
The British pound sterling and portions thereof formed the system of currency in 19th Century Great Britain. The three major denominations of the system were: the pound (£), the shilling (s), and the penny (d). (The plural of penny is pence.)

The symbols for these three denominations were taken from the Latin names of three ancient Roman terms: librae, the basic Roman unit of weight; solidus, a Roman coin; and denarius, a Roman coin.

Some common coins of the British system were the sovereign, guinea, crown, half crown, florin, shilling, sixpence, threepenny, penny, halfpenny, and farthing.

Sovereign = £1
Guinea = £1 1s (one pound plus one shilling) = £1.05
Crown = 5s = £0.25
Half Crown = 2s 6d = £.0125
Florin = 2s = £0.10
Shilling = 12d = £0.05
Sixpence = 6d = £0.025
Threepenny = 3d = £0.0125
Penny = 1d = £0.0042 (240d = £1)
Halfpenny = 0.5d
Farthing = 0.25d

Money in Victorian England
Pound Sterling
List of British banknotes and coins

Get Your Head in the Cloud

2010-07-13T18:54:00.000-05:00

"Windows Azure, sticking your head in the cloud since 2010"

...and thus ended my brief marketing career.

I realize it’s terrible form to explain your own joke, but for you non-techno-geeks out there, Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing debut.

Truth, Grace, and a Sure Hope

2010-07-11T13:44:00.002-05:00

My own experience repeatedly reminds me that my damaged humanity is utterly incapable of living a perfect (sinless) life. In my own strength and of my own determination, I can strive to walk with my God in holiness, but I’m completely incapable of sustaining it.

My only hope is Jesus’ perfection and sacrifice credited to my perpetually overdrawn account. My only hope of living a new (resurrected) way, is God the Holy Spirit living in me with His truth and power. I dare not even trust in my hanging on to God, my only hope is His promise that He won’t ever let me go. The only reason I have any of this is because God loved me first.

The following passages spoke to me during the worship gathering at Central Park Christian Church this morning. I hope they might touch your heart as well.

Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in Thee do we trust, nor find Thee to fail
Robert Grant, “O Worship the King”, 1833

To Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.
Jude 24-25 (NIV)

Thanks Alistair

2010-07-02T23:08:00.001-05:00

Ever been encouraged and stretched by Alistair Begg's teaching? He's been one of my favorite Christian teachers for a long time. I caught part of his Crossing the Barriers series on the radio during lunch today.

"Although our ministry is spiritual, we must be natural...
Play in the key of be-natural, not B-flat, not B-sharp, be natural!"
- Alistair Begg

"What the children of God needed was a holy worldliness."
- Canon Vidler

http://www.truthforlife.org/broadcasts/2010/07/02/masters-plan-evangelism-part-b/

Unique Blend

2010-06-24T20:54:00.003-05:00

Ingredients: United Way coordinator, clinical laboratory manager, law student, cytotechnologist and anthropologist, retired advertising sales and construction manager, nurse, Coast Guard pay services chief, database programmer, software developer, lawyer, sociologist and author, and one work of historical fiction set in 19th century America.

Directions: mix for one hour.

Yields: a spirited, fun, inspiring discussion.

Topeka Book Club

Topeka Microburst

2010-06-14T20:49:00.009-05:00

Central Topeka endured some serious weather at 11:30 PM yesterday. During a severe thunderstorm, circulating winds detected by radar at SW 21st St. just east of I-470 prompted a tornado warning for 23 minutes. Where the event began on the west-side of the city where I live, we had essentially no warning with the storm moving east at 45 mph. Thankfully nobody was hurt and the damage was essentially limited to trees and power lines.

A local storm-chaser at SW 21st St. and Topeka Blvd. clocked 83 mph winds. An in-person investigation by the National Weather Service today determined that the event was a downburst and not a tornado.

The photo below shows an extremely isolated event. In my entire neighborhood, this tree and 2-3 others within a 100 foot radius were the only ones that sustained noticeable damage. The official area of the event began about a mile east of me and continued for another 1.5 miles. The strongest area of rotational winds occurred just east of Topeka and then dissipated.

National Weather Service story here.
Toepka Capitol-Journal story here.

A Trinitarian Meditation

2010-05-30T15:21:00.004-05:00

The triune being of God is a difficult concept to grasp. Metaphors are only able to take us so far. The fullness of who God is simply exhausts our human capacities. Yet, God is knowable, and present, and deeply desires a right relationship with every human being.1

In the New Testament there are a handful of places where all three Persons of the Trinity are revealed in a single verse. To me, these are special encouragements that make me want keep pressing on in my understanding and growing.

Thus, in my reading this morning Ephesians 2:18 jumped off the page at me: Through Jesus, both Jew and Gentile have access by one Spirit to the Father.2

About an hour later at church, the pastor read Ephesians 2:11-12 in his teaching about the healing of divisions and misunderstandings. These just happen to be the verses that set up the context for “both Jew and Gentile” in verse 18. Coincidence? Or God-incidence? I suspect the later, so I'm writing this blog post.

He is one God, Who longs to gather unto Himself every person from every nation—in perfect, eternal unity with Himself and with one another.

Beloved reader, do you know God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit?

1. 2 Peter 3:9
2. my paraphrase and emphasis

Confessions of a logophile, part deux

2010-05-24T22:55:00.008-05:00

Part two in a possible series…

Today is Geek Pride Day. How fitting! Honest...it's not a joke...

In my previous post I was discussing the descriptive power of words and how I enjoy the vocabulary-expanding power of reading well-written literature. This weekend I began investigating Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous Sherlock Holmes series as a possible Topeka Book Club selection. (This recent article in Smithsonian Magazine is what piqued my interest in Holmes—I’ve not yet read any of the series.) I started my research at Wikipedia.com and learned that the Holmes canon consists of four novels and 56 short stories. Searching Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com led me to an affordably priced Sherlock Holmes collection that contains the first three novels along with a host of the short stories. (I highly recommend the Barnes & Noble Classics series for their scholarly extras which include an historical timeline, in-depth introduction, generous end notes, and more.) My next stop was Gutenberg.org to see if the novels were in the public domain, i.e., available online for free! They were indeed and so I decided to print out the first two chapters of the first novel, A Study in Scarlet (1887).

Those of you who know me well know that when I settle into a comfortable reading session this will almost always include strategically placing a dictionary within reach. As I encounter words I’m unsure of or completely unfamiliar with, I’ll underline them and look them up. The first couple Sherlock Holmes chapters didn’t disappoint. I found myself opening the dictionary 18 times. Rewarding for sure, but not exactly easy work either. So I wondered, how unusual are these words I find myself looking up? I did some searching on the Internet and found out that what I was essentially asking was this: what is the rank of each of these words in a large, contemporary, word frequency list. In linguistics parlance: what is the frequency of a given word within a standard text corpus.

To my delight, I discovered The Corpus of Contemporary American English which allows online access after a free registration process. After experimenting with a few lookups I also learned another linguistics term: lemma, which is basically the “dictionary entry word” for a collection of related words. For example, “study” is the lemma for “study, studying, studies, and studied” (this family of words is called a lexeme). By using a lemma you can obtain a usage frequency for the entire lexeme. In addition, wildcard searches allow you to do things like find a related adjective, noun, and adverb, e.g., “desultor*” will find instances of desultory, desultoriness, and desultorily. There are many other search options as well as other types of corpus queries, for instance searching for words that appear together (collocates).

Having learned some elementary search basics I was now able to obtain the usage frequencies of the words I was interested in. So without any further ado, here’s the list of words I searched along with their frequencies in the entire 2005-2009 corpus. The frequency is expressed as the number of times that word occurred within a million words. As a comparison, the word “restaurant” had a frequency of 102.21.

word: frequency (special search expression)
rusticate: 0.02
desultory: 0.48 (desultor*)
dun: 0.93 (dun-Ard)
bodkin: 0.04 (bodkin*)
guaiacum: 0
portmanteau: 0.21 (portmanteau*)
belladonna: 0.26 (belladonna*)
singlestick: 0 (singlestick*)
sonorous: 0.42 (sonorous*)
sallow: 0.75 (sallow*.[j*])
petulance: 0.94 (petulan*)
puerile: 0.12
ineffable: 0.66
chimerical: 0.21 (chimeric*)
sardonically: 1.36 (sardonic*)
querulously: 0.17 (querulous*)
bumptious: 0.07 (bumptious*)
Commissionaire: 0.04

Charles Dickens' Bleak House

2010-05-16T20:39:00.003-05:00

Everything that Mr Smallweed’s grandfather ever put away in his mind was a grub at first, and is a grub at last. In all his life he has never bred a single butterfly.

Just started watching a new miniseries with friends. We’ve chosen the BBC’s third and latest television production of Bleak House, one of Dickens’ most complex and intricate Victorian novels (1852-1853). A contested estate, confused by several changed wills, drags on for over a generation consuming £60-70K in court costs, and is ensnaring and ruining people and relationships far and wide. In true Dickens’ style, the creepy and conniving characters make your skin crawl and the altruistic ones inspire and might just melt you to tears. And of course, you can't help chuckle when you hear some of those great Dickens character names like “Smallweed” and “Krook”.

Mr. Guppy proposes to Miss Esther Summerson

Get up please Mr. Guppy. I won’t hear any more unless you do.

And a dash of levity...

2010-05-15T19:11:00.001-05:00

Two silk worms had a race.
They ended up in a tie.

(author unknown)

Spring Thunderstorm: Central Plains Style

2010-05-12T22:39:00.003-05:00

FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TOPEKA KS
1036 PM CDT WED MAY 12 2010

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TOPEKA HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
NORTHWESTERN DOUGLAS COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS...
NORTHWESTERN OSAGE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS...
SHAWNEE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL KANSAS...
SOUTHEASTERN JACKSON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST KANSAS...
WESTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY IN NORTHEAST KANSAS...

* UNTIL 130 AM CDT

* AT 1031 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
VERY HEAVY RAIN HAS FALLEN FROM THUNDERSTORM OVER THE WARNED AREA.
RAINFALL AMOUNTS AROUND TWO INCHES HAS FALLEN THIS EVENING.
ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE OVER THE AREA AND BRING
ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL WITH AMOUNTS APPROACHING ONE INCH.

Taming of the Shrew entertains Topeka

2010-05-10T20:50:00.003-05:00

More than 400 years after its debut, Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew (c. 1592) continues to delight audiences far and wide.

Last week my friends and I thoroughly enjoyed Topeka Civic Theater’s lively production of this outrageous comedy. We laughed, and chuckled, and laughed some more as the antics, scheming, sarcasm, and shouting unfolded. The vibrant, lush, costumes were absolutely beautiful. The entire production was well-done, but my favorite part just might be Angela Davis’ performance of Kate’s famous Act V, 44-line reflective-monologue.

The dinner-theater layout of the entire Sheffel Theater is well-designed. Most of the tables seat four (some two or six) and the online virtual seating-chart allows you to see the actual view from the perspective of any available table. Lamps at each table can be left on to follow-along in the program or clicked off.

Did I mention the service was excellent from the moment we were ushered to our tables until we received our checks? Our particular show did not serve dinner, but the kitchen was definitely busy serving drinks, Panini sandwiches, and their popular desserts. They also have an extensive wine list and we were pleased with the bottle of the Spanish red they were featuring.

Just saw that Fiddler on the Roof is coming this July/August... To life, to life, L'Chaim! L'Chaim, L'Chaim, to life!...

Topeka Autosound

2010-05-08T21:17:00.002-05:00

I’ve been shopping for a replacement in-dash CD player for my car (the eject motor on my old one had given out). I wanted something similar with one of the new HD radios. Since I’ve had some past issues with different brands of car CD players, I decided that I’d like to try a brand I hadn’t tried before. So I checked out Best Buy’s website and narrowed my options down to a few JVC and Panasonic models.

Next, I did some research on how to disassemble my Mustang’s center console. After giving it a try I decided that it’d be worth my money to have someone who knew the tricks do the installation. Best Buy’s website showed a typical installation price of $49.99 which seemed a little high. Also, my situation was slightly atypical because my current CD player was already an after-market replacement of the factory unit. But the good news about that is I already had a universal radio mounting kit and wiring harness installed—this is often an additional installation cost.

After thinking about it further, I decided my best option might be to talk with one of the car audio specialty stores in town. So last Saturday I went into Autosound and explained what I was looking for and what I currently had in the car. The gentleman at Autosound listened to what I had in mind. He then politely explained that Topeka radio stations are not broadcasting in HD yet. That was disappointing news but a non-HD unit would be less expensive. He then made some good suggestions, answered my questions, and then gave me time to peruse the manual. I was particularly happy that he did not attempt to up-sell me a more expensive product than I wanted. Additional good news was an installation price of $35 and I shouldn’t need any additional installation parts.

In 45 minutes they had it installed and I left a very happy customer. Thank you Topeka Autosound!

Gregg Tire Topeka

2010-05-08T19:05:00.003-05:00

Finding a good mechanic in a new neighborhood isn’t always easy, but very soon after moving to Topeka I was blessed to find Gregg Tire.

Over the past several months I’ve taken my Mustang to them for several normal maintenance items: oil change, tire rotation, alignment, serpentine belt, coolant service, and transmission fluid service.

Their prices are fair and I’ve saved additional money every time using coupons from their web site. Every time they’ve done a good job and they’ve never tried to sell me additional things that I didn’t request/need. When I had the alignment done, they only charged me half their standard/quoted price because only some of the alignment adjustments ended up being necessary—I’ve never had a mechanic offer to do that!

As far as convenience, they have a location that’s walking distance from my home and another that’s within walking distance from my office.

They post specials on their Facebook page and you can sign up for coupons on their web page. If you live in Topeka, check these guys out.

Ruddigore brings laughter to Topeka

2010-04-18T19:52:00.006-05:00

The Cair Paravel Latin School theater troop filled the house with laughter this weekend with their presentation of Gilbert and Sullivan’s 1887 British comic opera Ruddigore.

I dare say it was a wonderful operatic farce. Which is not at all to imply that the singing was bad. Except in the scene where it was intended thus! They cracked us up with slapstick antics, silliness sprinkled into the music score (think slide-whistle), and one hysterical “Mad Margaret”. And if that wasn’t enough, they also found a way to smoothly work The Macarena dance into the script!

More information in this Topeka Capitol-Journal article.

And finally, I must needs share with you CPLS' Mission: To cultivate classically trained, lifelong learners, committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, who will enrich their community and God's kingdom. Bravo!

April in Mid-America

2010-04-11T17:19:00.008-05:00

Click a thumbnail to see the full image

Confessions of a logophile

2010-03-28T19:44:00.002-05:00

You know that great feeling of being able to find just the right word? Today I found logophile, a compound Greek word that means “a lover of words”: logos meaning “word” and phile, “friend/lover of”.

Words are our primary means of effective human communication. We use words to express both concrete things (warm sunshine) and abstract concepts (seven).

I can tell you that my favorite color is green, but if I tell you that I especially like hunter green, you probably have a more vivid mental image now.

As I was taking a walk this afternoon I also became aware that words also seem to be essential to self-communication. If I didn’t have words to label things or ideas, to put a “mental handle” on them, how would I think about them or manipulate them in my mind? Mental pictures might work fine in simple cases (ripe, red, heirloom tomato), but without words it would be hard to think about “$307” or “the area of a circle is equal to pi times its radius squared”.

Ok, back to the thrill about finding the right word. One of things I really enjoy about reading is learning new words (and hopefully adding some of them to my vocabulary by remembering them). As I recently read Jane Austen’s Emma, I underlined words that sent me to the dictionary or a footnote. In some cases I hadn’t a clue, in others I could basically figure it out with the context but still wanted to look it up, and in some others I thought I knew but wanted to check it out. This afternoon I began working my way through the list by typing up short definitions of each word as it was used. The 79 page scholarly introduction to Emma by Prof. Steven Marcus provided me over twenty words to start with…
(Etymologies in parenthesis.)

▫ torpid: lacking activity (Middle English fr Latin)
▫ postprandial: something done after a meal, esp. dinner
▫ exogamous: pertaining to a marriage where the individuals have decided to ignore cultural barriers against their union
▫ somnolence: drowsiness
▫ propinquity: in close proximity (Middle English fr Latin)
▫ manqué: desire or ability for an art/job/vocation that remains unfulfilled (French fr Latin)
▫ locution: a particular style of speech (Middle English fr Anglo-French fr Latin)
▫ dyad: a group of two people (Late Latin fr Greek)
▫ avant la lettre: purposely using a term in a context before it existed (French)
▫ portentously: providing a foreshadowing
▫ perseverated: something continued beyond what is normal (Latin)
▫ confutation: an opposing argument in response
▫ interdictions: actions to block or stop someone or something
▫ affectation: behavior that is perceived as intending to impress but is not genuine or not natural
▫ endogenous: something resulting or happening internal to an organism
▫ reification: depersonalizing a human being by representing them as an impersonal object (Latin)
▫ concomitantly: something of lower importance that accompanies a primary issue (Latin)
▫ descried: to visually notice (Anglo-French)
▫ virtuoso: something displaying a particular excellence (Italian fr Late Latin)
▫ obverse: the opposite of (Latin)
▫ pirouettes: rapidly twirling the body
▫ palaver: idle chatter (Portuguese fr Late Latin)
▫ disabuses: to enable someone see their misconception (French)

References:
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.
Google English Dictionary: http://www.google.com/dictionary?hl=en

A God-incidence?

2010-03-14T22:02:00.003-05:00

I’m currently reading the books of First Corinthians and Exodus. A few days ago I read the following passage in Corinthians, “And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play’” (1 Corinthians 10:7, NKJV). A few verses prior, Paul had set up the context that the God of Exodus is the Christ of the new covenant. And that verse is a direct quote from Exodus (Exodus 32:6). I thought to myself, “that’s kind of a strangely worded verse, and I don’t remember reading it in Exodus yet, but I’m reading from an old translation; I wonder how that reads in a modern translation.”

That evening wouldn’t you know that exact verse was in my Exodus reading. I’m simply reading both books straight through… What are the odds of that happening? Possibly a coincidence because the New Testament frequently refers back to the Old Testament, but I’m thinking not…

Here’s how the verse reads in a modern translation, “Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.’”

Jane Austen's Emma (1815)

2010-03-14T20:43:00.005-05:00

Emma is Jane Austen’s celebrated comedic novel set in the countryside of London at the end of the Georgian period. Emma is twenty and one and fond of matchmaking, but does she have enough sense and experience to be providing such advice?

The purpose of satire is to point a humorous finger at what is wrong, thereby indicating by implication what is right. (Thomas J. Rountree, PhD., Cliffs Notes on Emma)

Questions to ponder or discuss
1. Did you enjoy the story? How about the setting? The writing style?

2. One of the most in-your-face instances of satire is the obnoxious behavior of Highbury newcomer Augusta Elton. Her constant references to “Maple Grove”, her “barouche landau”, and her bother-in-law “Mr. Suckling” wear everybody out. Have you ever caught yourself in such a pattern in a less exaggerated manner?

3. How would you describe the relationship between Emma and Harriet? Is there reciprocity in their friendship?

4. How do you feel about the way Emma handled Harriet’s request for advice regarding Mr. Martin’s marriage proposal?

5. Mr. George Knightley is Highbury’s man of steadfast goodness, reasoning, and sense. Can you think of any lapses in his kindness or honorable behavior?

6. Social intercourse and relationships are a dance where missteps sometimes occur. Consider the misinterpretations and miscommunications involved in some of the key social and relational disasters in the story. For example, Mr. Elton’s clever charade was intended for Emma but he delivered it through Harriet, or, Emma believing that Harriet’s romantic disclosure immediately after her rescue from the gypsies was about Frank Churchill, not Mr. Knightley.

7. Almost everybody kindly overlooks Mr. Woodhouse’s socially incapacitating worries. Is this really in his best interest; are there any other good options?

8. What were some of the more serious consequences of Frank Churchill’s secret engagement? For example, not knowing Jane Fairfax’s situation, Emma (and possibly others) considered her constant reserved behavior a character defect. Could Frank have handled his affairs in a better way? How?

9. How does the timing of Mr. Knightley’s declaration of love to Emma coincide with Emma’s growth of character, her emerging realization of his good advice, and then the jarring realization how much he means to her?

10. Some of Emma’s most attractive attributes are her optimism, spirit, and imagination. Mr. Knightley is known for his sensibility, grace, and maturity. How will they complement each other as husband and wife and what are some potential points of friction?

Additional Resources
Family trees: http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/emma-gen.html

Hugh Thomson 1915 line drawings: http://solitary-elegance.com/emma-03.htm
(Hint: click a picture to enlarge, and then click once more to zoom.)

Read and search the entire book free: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/158

Mad as a hatter...

2010-03-11T21:08:00.003-06:00

"The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi." - unknown

'Have you guessed the riddle yet?' the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
'No, I give it up,' Alice replied: 'what's the answer?'
'I haven't the slightest idea,' said the Hatter.

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit

2010-03-07T18:36:00.019-06:00

His Relatives, Friends, and Enemies.
Comprising All His Wills and His Ways:
With an Historical Record of What He Did and What He Didn’t:
Shewing, Moreover, Who Inherited the Family Plate, Who Came in for the Silver Spoons, and Who for the Wooden Ladles.
The Whole Forming a Complete Key to the House of Chuzzlewit.1

Had fun with friends watching the first couple of episodes of the BBC miniseries adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 1843-1844 masterpiece Martin Chuzzlewit.

We chuckled over colorful names like Chevy Slyme and Mr. Pecksniff.2 We wondered about the true nature of characters as the story began to unfold. Does the eccentric Mr. Pecksniff have some good in him or is he simply a self-serving smooth-talker? How about his daughters Miss Charity and Miss Mercy? Will they live according to those graces by which they have been named? Who will the sometimes brusque Young Martin Chuzzlewit really turn out to be?

Mr. Seth Pecksniff, Miss Mercy, Miss Charity

1. from the 1843 cover

2. “Dickens used to keep a note-book in which he jotted down odd names as he saw them on signboards or elsewhere, and then, by combining syllables of different names among those found in his note-book, he made the wonderful variety of names which he has given to his characters.” (The Writer, Vol. V, p. 201, 1891, eds. William H. Hills and Robert Luce)

Washburn Symphony Orchestra

2010-02-24T22:08:00.002-06:00

Just returned from a delightful evening at Washburn University’s White Concert Hall where the Washburn Symphony Orchestra performed their “Tragedy and Triumph” concert.

The Olathe North High School string orchestra did a wonderful job opening the concert with two classical pieces followed by a fun jazz number. The skill and professionalism of these young artists really shined.

Washburn Symphony Orchestra then took the stage with Brahms’ Tragic Overture, Op. 81 which caught me off guard as tears welled up. The next selection was Ravel’s final composition, Don Quichotte à Dulcinée—a series of three songs for a baritone soloist and orchestra—written for, but not ultimately selected, as the score for the 1933 film The Adventures of Don Quixote. The final piece was Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, Op. 96 which couldn’t have been titled more appropriately.

An excellent performance and a joyful evening indeed.

Capital Journal photos from the rehearsal
Capital Journal article

Late February Snow Storm

2010-02-21T11:29:00.004-06:00

Topeka forecast for this weekend was for 4-7 inches of ice and snow. Looks like we’re well on our way and not done yet!

My back porch @ 11 AM

Video from my front porch @ noon

Baroque in Topeka

2010-02-15T20:36:00.005-06:00

I attended an excellent classical Baroque concert this past Friday. It was an intimate recital by The Spencer Consort, five professional Kansas musicians playing at Grace Episcopal Cathedral, a Gothic architectural treasure located in downtown Topeka.

The performance included harpsichord, cello, wood Baroque flute, recorder, an opera soloist, and a selection of solos played on the cathedral’s immense pipe organ. Music selections were Italian and French, ending with a piece by Handel.

I enjoyed watching the musicians as they joyfully and expertly combined their instruments. The opera soloist confidently wove her voice, emotion, and expression together to a most pleasurable effect. The, rich, powerful resonance of instruments and voice sans any amplification was such a treat.

As I listened, I surveyed the grandeur of the architecture…the tall, thin columns, impossibly holding up massive wooden arches. And I closed my eyes and just let the music wash over me… A wonderful, wonderful experience.

Valentine's 2010

2010-02-14T19:15:00.009-06:00

Today I’m celebrating a joyous occasion—on Valentine’s Day 2004, I was baptized with six other people in the Pacific Ocean in Malibu, California. I wanted to be baptized in a natural body of water, but because lakes and rivers are a rarity in Southern California, I chose the ocean.

My baptism is a public identification with Jesus—my trusting in Him to forgive all my sins and for the Holy Spirit to recreate me into all that God intended me to be. Being immersed under the water is a symbolic and mystical union with the real and actual death of Jesus and being buried with Him (death of my old self). Coming up out the water symbolizes Jesus’ resurrection, my new life in Him right now, and my future resurrection into eternal life with Him!

Psychology of Words

2010-02-07T21:53:00.007-06:00

This month my book club has been reading a story called The Giver about a utopian society. It should prompt some great discussion on a variety of related topics. Because it’s a quick read, I’ve been reading it a second time in preparation for our discussion next Sunday afternoon…looking for discussion points and marking up the text.

Something very important (and rigorously enforced) in the story is the precision of words in all communication. As you read the story it quickly becomes apparent that they have deliberately chosen some alternative words for some commonplace terms. As I read, I began marking these words and then collected them into the list below.

Even without filling you in on the plot, I think you might also experience an emotional/psychological reaction to this list of substitutes. The words are just as accurate and precise, yet they “feel” different. Is this simply the reaction to an unfamiliar dialect or do these words actually connote a different shade of meaning? Would they still have that effect outside the context of this particular story? In other words, what’s really going on here?

Thanks for listening to me ramble… :)

the midday meal (lunch)
the evening meal (dinner)
a male/female (a boy/girl)
newchild (infant)
family unit (immediate/nuclear family)
dwelling (home)
nightclothes (pajamas)
sleepingroom (bedroom)
birthmother (biological mother)
[Community of] Childless Adults (exclusive community of “empty nesters”)
House of the Old (assisted living community)

English Party?

2010-02-07T14:36:00.003-06:00

Another fun game night this past Friday. We tried a new game called Origin of Expressions. The pleasant result was a mental workout, silliness and laughs, and frustration all mingled (and sometimes mangled) together.

The essence of the game is drawing an expression from a deck of cards, for example, aboveboard (pun intended) or as the crow flies. Each player then writes down on their own pad what they believe is the historical origin of that expression. After the round’s time limit, the designated reader for the round collects the answers and reads them aloud in random order including the actual answer (which the reader wrote down). Then, each player makes their final selection from the available options. If you select the correct answer you are awarded a point, but even better, for each of your opponents that chooses your answer, you get two points. This twist gives the game a great two-pronged strategy: if you don’t know the answer, you make up a believable story to get votes from the other players.

I also have to make mention of Via’s Pizzeria’s excellent Orto pizza: thin wheat crust topped with mushrooms, red and green peppers, Roma tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, and black olives. Magnifico!

Art in the December Smithsonian

2010-01-30T14:30:00.002-06:00

My favorite articles from the December 2009 issue of Smithsonian magazine feature mid-twentieth-century Americana through the eyes of Norman Rockwell and a history and biography of Baroque composer George Frideric Handel.

Norman Rockwell's Neighborhood
The Glorious History of Handel's Messiah
Handel Slept Here

Dinner & Trivial Pursuit

2010-01-30T00:58:00.003-06:00

Had a great Friday evening with friends. We enjoyed good food, laughs, and a well-matched game of Trivial Pursuit—guys vs. gals.

Jeff’s Vegetarian Curry Chili
12 oz bag MorningStar Meal Starters Grillers Recipe Crumbles
3 fresh medium zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 can pinto beans (15 ounce)
1 can cannellini beans (15 ounce)
2 cans no-salt added diced tomatoes (15 ounce)
1 can chopped green chilies (4 ounce)
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
¼ tsp salt

Preparation
In a large pot, add beans, tomatoes, chilies, and crumbles
Bring to a slow boil
Mix in spices
Add zucchini
Reduce heat and simmer for 60 minutes, occasionally stirring to prevent from sticking

Serving Suggestions
Serve in bowls and generously sprinkle with shredded sharp-cheddar and a dollop of sour cream
Enjoy with a glass of Zinfandel, Shiraz, or Pinot Noir

Sunday Scrabble

2010-01-24T19:50:00.002-06:00

Met a friend at The Classic Bean this afternoon to sip a latte and enjoy a couple games of Scrabble.