Reflection

Make Your Own Garden

 A home garden - no matter the size - can improve the environment while providing food and comfort to the gardener.

 

I invite you to explore The Vitruvian Man's Book of Hours.  I produced this small book to encourage more people to pray.  It is simple to use.  Each day of the week contains 'collections' of spiritual thoughts to be read and contemplated three times each day... at sunrise, midday, and sunset or whenever the spirit moves you.  I hope you find it useful.

 Clarence runs like a bullet!

Nick Returns

Oldest son Nick returned yesterday from another six-month tour in harm's way, this time in Afghanistan.  It was Nick's sixth tour in a hostile environment during his 20-year Air Force career.

The Sixth Day

The reviews and comments continue to mount on my new publication, The Sixth Day: A 17,175-Word Novella About Creation and Prizefighting.  I was pleased -- but not necessarily surprised -- by the reception of my first four novels.  I suppose the one comment that set me back pleasantly on my heals is the comment that DWI: Dying While Intoxicated was "the perfect Greek Tragedy."  Whether or not it is, I appreciated the comment.  Frankly, I had no idea what to expect with my most recent work, The Sixth Day.  I've been delighted:

• "Parables have teaching or transformative intention that can work on hearers, and the resistant ones, covertly.  I believe The Sixth Day can act on its readers in that same, covert way."

• "Wow! What a beautiful book!  The writing was clean and simple."

• "Kraay can tackle any genre that involves character development, authentic dialogue and revolves around a story."

• "... a fascinating story that reminded me of The Green Mile.  Yes, we're all Jesus!  As dramatist and author William Saroyan wrote, 'If what is said about Jesus is not also true of us, what good is what he did?'"

• "Wonderful... by the 3rd day, I was able to 'speak' the words and found the language to be very important to the telling of the lovely story.  The old man's lingo and wisdom will light up your day."

• "Along with creative storytelling and wonderful dialog that kept a smile on my face for the 90 minutes it took to read the tale is a story about prizefighting that works wonderfully with what I viewed as the main story about Jesus.  At the conclusion, both story lines come together after brother Sam's big bout with 'the Polish Dropper' ends in stunning fashion, creating a sense of shock, and leaving the opportunity for the old man to prove if he is or is not in fact Jesus Christ."

• "... finished with an out loud chuckle, then just lay there with a smile on my face.  A very good story.  then my thoughts turned to it being a fine Parable.  What stays with me so much are the hidden 'quotes from Scripture' and explanations for the unexpected presence of Jesus Christ!  This short book is packed with 'to-the-point' themes of generosity of the really poor, sharing of food, friendship, and the right knit family of boys, the sacrifice of self by the oldest brother, Sam, and the good 'choices' of some humans making it all worth while to God for not 'quitting' midway through that sixth day!"

• "On a side note, the final line of the novella will go down as one of my all-time favorite lines from any book.  You'll have to read the book for yourself to learn what that eight-word sentence is.  Quick and wonderful read, masterfully done."

• "Hilarious!"

Spread the word.... The Sixth Day.... the day God almost quit!

Jupiter and Its Moons

With the NCAA Basketball Tournament a part of history, your Mom and I don't watch TV anymore.  Instead, we wait for the first star.  Last night, it wasn't a star, but a planet, Jupiter.  You can see it if you look West.  We don't have a telescope, but I was excited when we could see several moons -- all of the Galileans for sure -- with the binoculars.  By the time it got very dark, we could see seven moons of Jupiter.  You don't need a telescope.  Binoculars will do.  I was not able to see them with the naked eye.  Hope you take advantage of this.

One week without a computer

I just made it through a week without a computer.  I did not do it voluntarily although I might consider it in the future.  The "CHKDSK" function got trapped in a loop and I took it down to the shop.  They claimed they were stumped, and I got it back a week later.  The week had benefits ...

I still got up at 0400.  I spent no more than 15 minutes on Mom's computer, then I moved over to my desk and read The Bhagavad Gita until I left for church at 0600.  The time I spent on tBG alone was worth the computer crash.  I spent many more hours on my bike and hiking in the mountains.  I am well ahead of where I was in 2010 and 2011 on the same dates.  I built railings on the deck so my father could descend and come back safely.  I worked on the cactus garden I began behind the house.  I put in eight hours of consulting work I might have turned down if I had my computer.  I initiated daily 'passage meditation.'  I learned a new song on my flute, the Yaqui Deer Dance.  I played my piano more.  I slowed down.  I chose a mantrum.  I used the mantrum.  I prayed more.

Having said that, I am glad to have the computer back so I can get back to my blogs and the three book manuscripts I'm working on.  One of the first things I did when I loaded up Microsoft Office was to schedule monthly backups for

• my address book
• my saved email
• my photos
• favorite places on your browser

I do a good job of backing up my manuscripts, so that wasn't an issue, but losing the address book and the saved emails was a killer.  Fortunately I just transferred all 2011 photos to disk.  Also, the guys who fixed the computer recovered all the data in 'My Documents,' but its crucial to know that your address book and emails aren't stored in your documents.

That's it for now.  I survived the week and came out stronger for it.  As a reminder to you all ... BACK UP YOUR EMAIL AND ADDRESS BOOKS!

The Battle to Come from Carmina Gadelica

“The Celtic missionaries allowed the pagan stock to stand, grafting their Christian cult thereon. Hence the blending of the pagan and the Christian religions in these poems, which to many minds will constitute their chief charm. Gaelic lore is full of this blending and grafting--nor are they confined to the literature of the people, but extend indeed to their music, sculpture, and architecture. At Rodail, Harris, is a cruciform church of the thirteenth century. The church abuts upon a broad square tower of no great height. The tower is called 'Tur Chliamain,' tower of Clement, 'Cliaman Mor Rodail,' Great Clement of Rodail. Tradition says that the tower is older than the church, and the masonry confirms the tradition.

There are sculptures within the church of much originality of design and of great beauty of execution, but the sculptures without are still more original and interesting. Round the sides of the square tower are the figures of birds and beasts, reptiles and fishes, and of men and women representing phallic worship. Here pagan cult joins with Christian faith, the East with the West, the past with the present. The traveller from India to Scotland can here see, on the cold, sterile rocks of Harris, the petrified symbols of a faith left living behind him on the hot, fertile plains of Hindustan. He can thus in his own person bridge over a space of eight thousand miles and a period of two thousand years.”

Alexander Carmichael

AN CATH NACH TAINIG IOSA Mhic Mhoire eighim air th’ ainm, Is air ainm Eoin ostail ghradhaich, Is air ainm gach naoimh ’s an domhan dearg, Mo thearmad ’s a chath nach tainig,      Mo thearmad ’s a chath nach tainig.    Duair theid am beul a dhunadh, Duair theid an t-suil a dhruideadh, Duair sguireas an anail da struladh, Duair sguireas an cridhe da bhuille,      Sguireas an cridhe de bhuille. Duair theid am Breitheamh dh’ an chathair, Is a theid an tagradh a shuidheach, Iosa Mhic Mhoire cobhair air m’ anam, A Mhicheil mhin gobh ri mo shiubhal.      Iosa Mhic Mhoire cobhair air m’ anam!      A Mhicheil mhin gobh ri mo shiubhal!

THE BATTLE TO COME JESUS, Thou Son of Mary, I call on Thy name, And on the name of John the apostle beloved, And on the names of all the saints in the red domain, To shield me in the battle to come,      To shield me in the battle to come. When the mouth shall be closed, When the eye shall be shut, When the breath shall cease to rattle, When the heart shall cease to throb,      When the heart shall cease to throb. When the Judge shall take the throne, And when the cause is fully pleaded, O Jesu, Son of Mary, shield Thou my soul, O Michael fair, acknowledge my departure.      O Jesu, Son of Mary, shield Thou my soul!      O Michael fair, receive my departure!

Bicycling across America and Climbing Mt. Everest in 2011

Despite all of the athletic things I did as a young man, I end 2011 with the feeling that even though I am 62, I may be as physically fit and even more than I ever have been.  It's been eight years since a hip replacement and the end of smoking.  It's been two full years of bicycling with gusto and hiking with passion.  If the tale is in the tape, I covered 4,324.59 intentionally man-powered miles:

• 4,034.69 on my bike (Mom did 2,467.18)
• 40.19 swimming in the pool (Mom did an incredible 83.72)
• 249.59 hiking in the desert (we always hike together)

I started the year with a biking goal of 3,000 miles after doing 2,700 in 2010.  Once I knew I would get there, I wanted to knock of 3,500 so I could say I biked from Presque Isle, Maine to San Diego.  I'm pleased to have knocked that off and then some.  We hike with a Garmin Forerunner.  Over those 250 hiking miles, we climbed in elevation 35,189 feet, nearly 7 miles, some 6,000 feet higher than Mt. Everest, and we were on the trails for 73 hours in the process.

Mom turns 60 in January.  We're feeling pretty good about ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually.  Life is Grand, and it will get even better.

Christmas Hail from Carmina Gadelica

CHRISTMAS chants were numerous and their recital common throughout Scotland. They are now disappearing with the customs they accompanied. Where they still linger their recital is relegated to boys. Formerly on Christmas Eve bands of young men went about from house to house and from townland to townland chanting Christmas songs. The band was called 'goisearan,' guisers, 'firduan,' song men, 'gillean Nollaig,' Christmas lads, 'nuallairean,' rejoicers, and other names. The 'rejoicers' wore long white shirts for surplices, and very tall white hats for mitres, in which they made a picturesque appearance as they moved along singing their loudest. Sometimes they went about as one band, sometimes in sections of twos and threes. When they entered a dwelling they took possession of a child, if there was one in the house. In the absence of a child, a lay figure was improvised. The child was called 'Crist, Cristean'--Christ, Little Christ. The assumed Christ was placed on a skin, and carried three times round the fire, sunwise, by the 'ceannsnaodh'--head of the band, the song men singing the Christmas Hail. The skin on which the symbolic Christ was carried was that of a white male lamb without spot or blemish and consecrated to this service. The skin was called 'uilim.' Homage and offerings and much rejoicing were made to the symbolic Christ. The people of the house gave the guisers bread, butter, crowdie, and other eatables, on which they afterwards feasted.

Alexander Carmichael

3,000 Pounds

I am now the regular truck driver for the Marana Food Bank on Friday's.  Your mother is now my regular helper.  Today, we picked up 3,028 pounds of food from Walmart, Target, Sunflower, and three Fry's grocery stores.  Three thousand on and three thousand off ... your mother lifted three tons of food today in the name of God for the benefit of those more needy than we are.  Bless your Mom, and bless those stores like Walmart, Sunflower, Target and Fry's who give to the needy..

Man's Best Friend

As winter approaches the Sonoran Desert, my mind wanders back to days in the snow ... in the Berkshire Hills, Colorado, Alaska, Upstate New York, and with our first American Bulldog, Winston in Defiance, Missouri.  Sharing a winter's day with man's best friend is tough to beat.

Presque Isle, Maine to San Diego, California

This morning your Mom and I rode into downtown Tucson with our friends Barb and Gerry.  The ride was exactly 27 miles from our house.  It was an easy ride by our standards.  The Urban Loop is relatively flat, very smooth and well maintained, and we don't seem to experience the wind we do in the open range.  When we got home, I re-calculated all of my numbers with MapQuest.  According to MapQuest, the distance from Presque Isle, Maine to San Diego, California is 3,311.99 miles.  The 27 miles I rode this morning moved me to 3,312.35; I've made it from coast to coast in 2011.  With two months left in 2011, I may make it to Hawaii!  Your Mom capped 1,800 miles, 1,803.67 to be exact, and she's only been tracking miles since May! We enjoy riding with our friends Barb and Gerry as much as we enjoy getting the exercise.  Life is Grand.  May you all be blessed and motivated to stay fit and enjoy life with a passion.  That's why God put us here!

Morning Prayer from Carmina Gadelica

“'There were many sad things done then, for those were the days of foolish doings and of foolish people. Perhaps, on the day of the Lord, when they came out of church, if indeed they went into church, the young men would go to throw the stone, or to toss the cabar, or to play shinty, or to run races, or to race horses on the strand, the young maidens looking on the while, ay, and the old men and women.' 'And have you no music, no singing, no dancing now at your marriages?' 'May the Possessor keep you! I see that you are a stranger in Lewis, or you would not ask such a question,' the woman exclaimed with grief and surprise in her tone. 'It is long since we abandoned those foolish ways in Ness, and, indeed, throughout Lewis. In my young days there was hardly a house in Ness in which there was not one or two or three who could play the pipe, or the fiddle, or the trump. And I have heard it said that there were men, and women too, who could play things they called harps, and lyres, and bellow-pipes, but I do not know what those things were.'”

Alexander Carmichael

The Fountainhead

Friday evening is movie evening in our household.  We've been 'Netflix' people for years.  While we don't watch much TV other than sporting events, every Friday evening is reserved for our Netflix film.  Last Friday, we watched "The Fountainhead," a 1949 film starring Gary Cooper and based on Ayn Rand's novel of the same name.  I believe she also wrote the screenplay to the film.

Another extraordinary night for us.  The film is terrific.  We originally watched it to find Gary Cooper's/Roarke's immortal words, "I don't think about you anymore."  We picked them up easily, but the film is much deeper than a single scene.  This is a film about one man's commitment to what he believes in.

I strongly recommend this film.  By the way, the picture on the DVD box and the film poster has nothing to do with the film.  Gary Cooper is THE man, and no woman will ever reduce him to Jello!

The Soul Shrine from Carmina Gadelica

“The Soul Shrine is sung by the people as they retire to rest.  They say that the angels of heaven guard them in sleep and shield them from harm.  Should any untoward even occur to themselves or to their flocks, they avow that the cause was the deadness of their hearts, the coldness of their faith, and the fewness of their prayers.”

Alexander Carmichael

A CHOICH ANAMA   HE tabhair aithne da f ainghle beannaichte, Cairn a chumail air an staing-sa nochd, Comachadh crabhaidh, tabhaidh, teannachaidh, Chumas a choich anama-sa bho lochd.   Teasruig a Dhe an t-ardrach seo a nochd, lad fein 's an cuid 's an cliu, Tar iad o eug, o gliabhadh, o lochd, ''S o thoradh na farmaid 's na mi-ruin.   Tabhair duinn, a Dhe na fois, Taingealachd an cois ar call, Bhi coimhlionadh do Jagh a bhos, 'S tu fein a mhealtuinn thall.			THE SOUL SHRINE God, give charge to Thy blessed angels, To keep guard around this stead to-night, A band sacred, strong, and steadfast. That will shield this soul-shrine from harm. Safeguard Thou, God, this household to-night, Themselves and their means and their fame, Deliver them from death, from distress, from harm, From the fruits of envy and of enmity. Give Thou to us, O God of peace, Thankfulness despite our loss, To obey Thy statutes here below. And to enjoy Thyself above.

Being Happy

Earlier this week on The Vitruvian Man blog, I posted an article about Anne Frank.  The heart of the post was one of the last entries into her diary:

Wednesday, 23rd Feb 1944

“As long as this exists,” I thought, “and I may live to see it, this sunshine, the cloudless skies, while this lasts, I cannot be unhappy.”  The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God.  Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature.  as long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be.  and I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.

I took Anne Frank's advice this morning.  My wife, Marie was in Maricopa babysitting our granddaughters.  It was too windy for my bike ride, so I decided to take a hike into the Picture Rock Wash.  I was excited to find a new trail, The Prophecy Trail.  It was excellent.  I covered 6.5 miles in all.  Somewhere out there in the middle of the Tucson Mountains, I stopped intentionally to listen to the wind.  I looked all around me, and there was no sign of civilization, and no sound other than the wind and the bird that decided to accompany me up the trail.

Anne Frank was so right even though she could not do what was in her heart:  be alone with the heavens, nature and God.  You will be absolutely amazed at the peace and solace it will bring to you regardless of the troubled waters you may tread.

Self-sufficiency and Minimalism

"Minimalism" is a new catch word, and it has caught me.  I follow several blogs that offer good ideas for simplifying your life by employing simple tactics like removing the clutter from your closets, keeping a clean desk, etc.  I have been applying minimalism and self-sufficiency in some areas of my life for decades; I'm trying to apply it to all areas of my life today.  I believe minimalism and self-sufficiency have a lot in common, and practicing both can reduce your expenses.  This is particularly important when our government makes it difficult for the average Joe to make ends meet.

1,000 miles

The 1993 film "Benny and Joon" featured the song "I'm Gonna Be (500 miles).  Occasionally, I'll be riding my bike and the chorus repeats itself over and over in my brain:


              But I would walk 500 miles
              And I would walk 500 more
              Just to be the man who walks a thousand miles
              To fall down at your door

Well this week, your Mom hit that 1,000 mile mark.  On Thursday, she broke the 1,000-mile bike barrier and upped her annual total to 1,019.87[today it reached 1,035.02] NOT including the several hundred miles she accumulated before she started using the Forerunner.


WELL DONE, MARIE!