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I read this article with a great deal of interest. It is tempting to dismiss this as the musings of some sort of conspiracy theorist, but I believe there is real substance to his criticism.

We have grown to accept uncritically the notion of a “population bomb” to use Paul Ehrlich’s phrase. It is, or claims to be a premise based on observation and analysis of impartially obtained data, except we rarely scrutinize the theory or challenge its conclusions.

There is a push back against the globalists occurring throughout the Western democracies. The nagging question, “What does globalism have to do with saving souls?” doesn’t seem to be echoing through the halls of The Vatican. That is a disturbing question., disturbing in its absence.

Our proclivity to sin, or concupescence, hasn’t gone away.

“Consider the lilies of the field,how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin, yet I tell you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed as one of these.” St. Matthew 6:28-29

This is the time of year when this passage particularly comes to mind. It is in that portion of St Matthew’s Gospel where much of Christ’s teachings, like The Sermon on The Mount, are found.

The power of the metaphor of lilies is compelling and broad in that nearly all of us can relate to the beauty of flowers.

The tradition started after the American Civil War of putting flowers and flags on the graves of the war dead. So the story goes, the graves of both Union and Confederate dead were “decorated” and this common gesture of remembrance helped heal the wounds of the most catastrophic war in American History. Sometime in the 1950’s Decoration Day became Memorial Day. And in the 1970’s the day celebrated moved from 30 May to the last Monday of May. We remember the dead from all our wars on this day.

At least we say we do. Mostly, we start “Summer” on this day. This weekend is when the public outdoor swimming pools open in the parts of the country where year round outdoor swimming is not possible, We start eating outdoors with backyard barbecues. All in all, the tempo changes to summer mode.

Virginia and particularly Richmond, where I live, has many sites of Civil War battles and, consequently, cemeteries for the war dead. Arlington National Cemetery is on the site of the Custis-Lee Mansion, seized by the Federal Government for just such a purpose.

In the Culture Of Fun which is America in the 21st Century, remembrance takes a backseat to Fun.

Yesterday, a wonderful picture composed itself. The first day lily of the season bloomed with the red roses on the trellis in the background.

And with Sunday being our 17th wedding anniversary, what a marvelous picture to text to Mrs CorC?.

She worked a late shift, arriving home after midnight. She was in no way ready to get to the 11:00 Mass. I went alone, a little begrudgingly. Church reaffirms my commitment to my marriage, the calling to live for something larger than myself, the bond between my wife and me.

Sunday was Trinity Sunday, wherein the Church reaffirms its teaching on the Three Persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) within the One Godhead. Father M said the interwoven nature among the Three Persons is all about relationship. OK. Enough on that.

After Mass, I head home. We go to lunch before she goes back to work. We share a tasty almond cream cake at an Italian restaurant.

Tonight, If you ask me to define Love, I will tell you that Love is the ability to transcend resentments, to aspire to a higher purpose, such as an enduring marriage.

A few years ago, before my surgeries, I went to the Indian/Halal grocery to get some goat meat. While there, I saw a bag of chickpeas that looked thick enough to stop a magnum round. It was 3 lbs. So I bought it, thinking I will make my own hummus and felafel one day. That day finally arrived. The pressure cooker makes easy work of cooking the garbonzos. And a good blender/ food processor makes the prep for the hummus easy. The Kitchen Aid stand mixer makes easy work prepping the felafel. I use Moosewood Cookbook for the recipes for both. ( Hint: If you don’t own a copy, acquire one. It is one cookbook worth owning.)

The felafel met with some push back from Mrs CorC?. She is not exactly a culinary experimenter. She did eat them and found them palatable. I experimented with how to cook them; I found cooking them on the convection setting at 350° worked very well. They browned up nicely. There was no fat used in cooking them in the convection oven. I ate them in a BIG salad (Seinfeld). Earlier I tried them stuffed in a pita half. That’s OK but the salad offers more flavors to complement the spicy felafel. Moosewood has a yummy tahini/lemon sauce that is fantastic with the felafel.

Other than cooking, straightening, organizing, and waiting for my government check, I’m keeping out of trouble.

I’m back. It was a needed hiatus to sort out what’s important in my life and hence what I should consider blogging about.

As a Lenten exercise, abstaining from a worldly thing or activity serves to direct one’s thoughts to God and to Eternity. (End of homily. More later. Maybe.)

Yes, I have spent this six weeks de-cluttering. De-Cluttering, I would define, as getting rid of the crap in your spaces, be that space a closet, a dresser drawer, a kitchen cabinet, or the space between one’s ears.

MrsCorC? and I had, more or less, been decorating with junk. We had been putting things away secretly hoping the cabinets, closets and drawers would magically “disappear” for us the things we didn’t use or need or want, but lacked the emotional ruthlessness to toss willfully. For example, we have a plastic cup from Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium commemorating the last season played there by the Oreos, err, Orioles. A treasure? Would my as yet unborn grandchild appear on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow in 2051 with said cup and discover that this little propylene gem is worth a Zillion Dollars?

Imagine that.

We have made several trips to the thrift shop with our stuff and it feels pretty good. We saved tins from crackers, cookies, candy, coffee, dishwasher pods. They lived on top of the kitchen cabinets, attracting grease and dust. Finally I said we’re putting them to good use or recycling them. And I did just that. And they actually look pretty good. They hold the baked goods or coffee or dishwasher cleaning pods and they look kinda cool doing just that.

Last night, however, I discovered whilst cleaning and dusting the exteriors and tops of the cabinets that said cabinets were held to the wall by long wood screws going through a strip of particle board. One tore off the wall when I touched to climb down from the step stool/ladder. Down it came, breaking numerous cups and glasses Oh Well.

Kitschy Kitchen Kontainer featuring Astro

Charming cracker tins attest to the homeowner’s commitment to adaptive reuse.

Cabinet on Floor, not wall. Tulips came from our garden.

Note particle board strip up top.