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Everybody's wondering about this
weather. We've had a spectacularly warm and dry Autumn. What
does it all mean? Global warming? A pre-millenial gift? Not a
thing? Just now the wind is picking up. We've got a front coming
through, promising cooler temperatures. I don't like much about
the winter.
We got word the other day that Br.
Matthew Deffains has died at 94. Matt was one of the coolest
Carmelites I ever had the pleasure to live with, one of the most
talented men we've had - talented in the old crafts of the earth
involving animals and plants. He knew real things about flowers,
crops, and cattle. He had a beautiful smile, a twinkle in the
eye, and the great even temper of a man who knows that things
can be handled in time. Murray remembers watching him leading
a one-ton ox around by the nose. He could, on occasion, be heard
to sing a bit in the Isle of Jersey French of his youth. He was
one of the fellas who taught me that there was nothing ignoble
or second-class about being "just" a Brother. He set
a high standard for living the life. He lived "the little
way" in a big way.
Something on the radio last night
reminded me that it was the 22nd and not the 21st on which John
Kennedy was killed. I am such a moron. My memory is like a funny
little bird that will not stay put. Here, there, out the window.
I'm sure it will only get worse as I get older. Why is that?
Aren't the old ones supposed to be the keepers of the past? This
and future electrified generations may not have what it takes
to remember much of anything. Give me a minute; I'll download
it for you.
I finished the Whitman video with
the sophomores today. They were unimpressed. It's from the PBS Voices and Visions series
of many years ago. I will probably not use it again (at least
not with this grade level). Too many big words. The freshman
classes had a read-around of their finished papers. We sat in
what passes for a circle, read, and wrote comments under a blanket
of jazz. (We each had to contribute. I used a past entry from
This Journal and received so-so reviews.) I think it went well
- though I am frightened by what passes for "finished"
work in most of their minds. We have much to do.
It has been determined that Thanksgiving
dinner will occur at my sister's house this year (instead of
at Mom's). A new thing. Change is good. We'll see after this
whether or not she cares to get stuck with it from now on. Maybe
we could rotate. I've never had the pleasure of throwing a dinner
for anyone (maybe because I can't/don't/won't cook anything more
complicated than pasta). It might be something worth learning
in my older age. But who would I get to eat it? Would you like
to come over for dinner some night?
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