This is Nate, my second cousin once removed (aged 4 months). He is all dressed up for a family wedding -- complete with tie and matching pocket square!

We saw this guy in the Gulf of the Farallones Visitors Center, Crissy Field, San Francisco. He looks so distressed! Whhhhhyyyyyy is life so terrible?

Keeper of the Keys

"You're not going anywhere, Mom."

Tulips in Biltmore Gardens

I love spring!

Daily Commute

This is a photo taken in Hanoi a few days ago. The pig is a stud who is being driven home after a busy day's work. He looks pretty contented, I'd say.

Strength in Tough Times

Through the dark night of the soul,
Bright flows the river of God.

-- Saint John of the Cross

Sunset on New Year's Day

From the parking lot on the California side of Heavenly.

Halfway Down Maggie

This was our favorite run, overall.

The View from Gondola # 35

Not a bad commute in the morning.

More Snowy Trees

Snowy Feets

More Nice Tahoe Pictures (by request)

Big hill, tiny people.

Hillary's Books

Tied with John McCain for most books in mass publication is Senator Clinton. She churned them out at the pace of one a year, for five years. Nothing since 2000, though.

It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us (1996) (much mocked, but actually a pretty interesting book)
The Unique Voice of Hillary Rodham Clinton: A Portrait in Her Own Words (1997) (a collection of quotes, compiled by someone else)
Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets (1998) (way cute!)
Living History (1999) (gigantic photo of author on the cover)
Invitation to the White House: At Home with History (2000) (the First Lady giving us a tour of her home. Not sure this is the same domesticated image she is currently espousing)

Courage

John McCain's definition of courage is: "acts that risk life or limb or other very serious personal injuries for the sake of others or to uphold a virtue." Quoting Admiral Lord Nelson, McCain writes: "'No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy.' . . . All problems, personal, national, or combat, become smaller if you don't dodge them." In short: with Eleanor Roosevelt, do the thing you think you cannot do.

(Excerpts are from Why Courage Matters.)

The Value of Presidential Candidate Autobiographies

Everything we hear/read/watch on the news has a perspective. That's not necessarily a good or bad thing -- it is simply the nature of the media. Any media -- not just the modern media. There's no way to avoid it. Unless you're getting your "news" from the horse's mouth, it's going to come to you through the filter of someone else's opinion.

For this reason, when I was trying to make up my mind in the 2004 presidential election, I benefited from carefully reading the candidates' autobiographies. It was wonderful to hear them say precisely what they wanted to say, and I enjoyed thinking about the different ways they chose to portray themselves. And all this, without having to worry about policing the filter. (Obviously the candidates write from their own biased perspectives . . . but how they go about constructing their own filters is, in itself, thought-provoking.)

We have quite a raft of presidential candidates this election year! North Carolina's primary is Tuesday, May 6. Since I'm registered as "unaffiliated," I get to choose which party's primary I want to vote in. That means extra books for my (aspirational) reading list.

Let's begin the list with one of the candidates who is tied for first in the "most books published" contest.*

Books by John McCain:
1. Hard Call: Great Decisions and the Extraordinary People Who Made Them (2007)
2. Character Is Destiny: Inspiring Stories Every Young Person Should Know and Every Adult Should Remember (2005)
3. Why Courage Matters: The Way to a Braver Life (2004)
4. Worth the Fighting For: A Memoir (2002)
5. Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir (2000)

Stay tuned to find out who is tied with McCain for the lead.

*For purposes of the contest, I am not considering such classics as McCain's 1997 bestseller, Impact of Emerging Trade Issues on U.S. Consumers: Hearing Before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation or his 1992 smash hit, Forging a Military Youth Corps: A Military-Youth Service Partnership for High School Dropouts: The Final Report of the CSIS Panel. We're interested mass-media offerings here -- i.e. books Lily might actually read.

Wantin' That Win So Bad!

Yeah Big T! Congrats on 23 points tonight against UNC-A!

No secret where Lily's loyalties lay in this game, despite her status as an Asheville resident. One's town of residence can change . . . but never one's Alma Mater.

Room Enough to Receive It?

Excerpts from an interesting Washington Post article today:

Why do people who get what they want rarely end up as happy as they expected, while people who fail to achieve dreams rarely end up as unhappy as they feared? Systematic experiments show that as strongly as we hold onto our dreams and fear setbacks, we are poor judges of what will make us happy and unhappy.

Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert has made it his life's work to understand why people not only make errors in predicting what will make them happy, but also why they make the same errors over and over again.

"For as long as anyone can remember," Gilbert once noted, "people have hungered for information about their personal futures, confident that if they knew their fates, they would also know their fortunes. Alas, knowing the future is not the same as knowing how much one will like it when one gets there."

--Shankar Vedantam, "C'mon, Get Happy? It's Easier Said Than Done," The Washington Post, Jan. 8, 2008, at A10.

This modern research reflects an ancient wisdom:

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory . . . . -- Ephesians 3: 20 (New Testament)

Or, even older than that:

Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out such a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. -- Malachi 3: 10 (Old Testament)

More Welsh Music

In researching yesterday's post, I wasn't surprised to find out that wonderful hymn had Welsh origins. There is so much beautiful Welsh music out there, such as the ancient lullaby Suo Gan, which is another one of my favorites. "Suo" means low, "Gan" means song or lullaby. Listen to it here. If anyone knows anything about the song's origins, please advise.

Hunan blentyn, ar fy mynwes
Clyd a chynnes ydyw hon
Breichiau mam sy'n dyn amdanat
Cariad mam sy dan fy mron
Ni chaiff dim amharu'th gyntun
Ni wna undyn a thi gam
Huna'n dawel, annwyl bientyn
Huna'n fwyn ar fron dy fam

Huna'n dawel hana huna
Huna'n fwyn y del ei lun
Pam yr wyt yn awr yn gwenum
Gwenu'n dirion yn dy hun
Ai angylion fry sy'n gwenu
Arnat yno'n gwenu'n lion
Titha'u'n gwenu'n ol a huno
Huno'n dawel ar fy mron

Paid ag ofni, dim ond deilen
Gura, gura ar y ddor
Paid aga ofni ton fach unig
Sua, sua ar lan y mor
Huna blentyn nid oes yma
Ddim i roddi iti fraw
Gwena'n dawel ar fy mynwes
Ar yr engyl gwynion draw

Er . . .

For those of us who don't know Welsh (such as me):

To my lullaby surrender
Warm and tender is my breast
Mother's arms with love caressing
Lay their blessing on your rest
Nothing shall tonight alarm you
None shall harm you, have no fear
Lie contented, calmly slumber
On your mother's arm, my dear

Here tonight I tightly hold you
And enfold you while you sleep
Why, I wonder, are you smiling
Smiling in your slumber deep?
Are the angels on you smiling
And beguiling you with charm
While you also smile, my blossom
In my bosom soft and warm?

Have no fear now, leaves are knocking
Gently knocking at our door
Have no fear now, waves are beating
Gently beating on the shore
Sleep, my darling, none shall harm you
Nor alarm you, never cry
In my bosom sweetly smiling
And beguiling those on high

Caption to photo: This land formation is known as the Green Bridge. It is located on the Pembrokeshire coast in South Wales.

Speaking of Heavenly . . .

This beautiful old hymn has been running through my head today. A friend of mine once called it the ultimate ode to hope. Something we can all use more of.

In heavenly love abiding,
No change my heart shall fear;
And safe is such confiding,
For nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me,
My heart may low be laid;
But God is round about me,
And can I be dismayed?

Wherever He may guide me,
No want shall turn me back;
My Shepherd is beside me,
And nothing can I lack.
His wisdom ever waketh,
His sight is never dim;
He knows the way He taketh,
And I will walk with Him.

Green pastures are before me,
Which yet I have not seen;
Bright skies will soon be o'er me,
Where darkest clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure,
My path in life is free;
My Father has my treasure,
And He will walk with me.

-- A.L. Waring, 1850

Background on the author:
Anna Laetitia Waring (1820-1910) was born in Neith, Glamorganshire, South Wales, where she spent all ninety years of her life. She began writing hymns in her teens, and in 1850 she published her Hymns and Meditations, a small book of 19 hymns. Though she was raised a Quaker, she was impressed by the sacraments of the Anglican Church and identified herself with that body in 1842. She was also an excellent scholar, having learned Hebrew in order to read the Old Testament in the original. A contemporary writes, "She had a gentle but merry spirit and did helpful work for the Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society. . . . Her hymns are marked by great simplicity, concentration of thought, and elegance of diction. They are popular and deserve to be so."

View Along the Von Schmidt Route -- Heavenly

This is a shot of the southern ridge of mountains bordering Lake Tahoe. Von Schmidt is the passage between the Nevada and California sides of Heavenly. It's a fun run, but well-traveled -- so watch out for the ice!

PS: How 'bout them Heels last night?! We beat Clemson 90-88 in OT . . . at Clemson. A real heart-stopper.

Frosty Tree on Heavenly Mountain

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry (1934—) is a poet, novelist, and environmentalist. He lives on a farm in Port Royal, Kentucky near his birthplace. I highly recommend his recent books, Jayber Crow and Citizenship Papers.

South Lake Tahoe from Heavenly Mountain

Highest peak at Lake Tahoe: 10,891 feet (Freel Peak)
Maximum depth of Lake Tahoe: 1,645 feet (second deepest lake in the USA)

Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep. -- Psalm 36

Lake Tahoe on New Year's Eve Day

I took this at the top of the Mombo run, on the California side of Heavenly. That lovely blue sky didn't last long. The Sierras are getting hammered by huge blizzards at the moment!

What Does the Title Mean?

Here are some passages expounding on this concept:

Florilegia: anthology. The Greek word anthos, "flower," provides the literal sense of the word: a collection of flowers. Anthologies (once also called florilegia, Latin for "a collection of flowers") were originally conceived as collections of "beauties."
--- Jack Lynch, The Guide to Literary Terms (1999)



Florilegia (Latin, florilegium, an anthology) are systematic collections of excerpts (more or less copious) from the works of the Fathers and other ecclesiastical writers of the early period, compiled with a view to serve dogmatic or ethical purposes. . . . Two classes of Christian florilegia may here be distinguished: the dogmatic and the ascetical, or ethical.

. . . .

The ascetical florilegia are collections of moral sentences and excerpts drawn partly from the Scriptures and partly from the Fathers, on such topics as virtues and vices, duties and exercises of a religious life, faith, discipline, etc. . . . An extensive Christian florilegium of the sixth century, entitled tà ‘ierá (Sacred Things), is probably the earliest of these anthologies.
--- Thomas Oestereich, “Fidelis servus et prudens, quem constituit Dominus super familiam suam,” Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. VI (1909)



And, last but not least:

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries fairies in England were fond of adding to their magic, exhortations to random collections of Christian saints. Fairies were baffled by Christian doctrine, but they were greatly attracted to saints, whom they saw as powerful magical beings whose patronage it was useful to have. These exhortations were called florilegia (literally, cullings or gatherings of flowers) and fairies taught them to their Christian masters. When the Protestant religion took hold in England and saints fell out of favour, florilegia degenerated into meaningless collections of magical words and bits of other spells, thrown in by the magician in the hope that some of them might take effect.
--- Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell 807 n.3 (2004)