mumby road
  • Manly
    "As I get older, I find that I care more and more about being a good man and less and less about career stuff. I think a lot of it is just a product of age. But the fact that I’m the last survivor of the family I grew up in plays a significant part. When my mom passed away last October, the only guide for how I behaved was asking myself how my parents would want me to deal with it..." -- Jonah Goldberg, ["In Defense of Manly Tears," Aug 4, 2023](https://thedispatch.activehosted.com/index.php?action=social&chash=7fb8ceb3bd59c7956b1df66729296a4c.1661&nosocial=1) 💬
  • depends
    Pinkish-red brick wall with a vertical grout seam in white-cream beside the corner of a black table and green chair.
    "so much depends upon a green chair beside the brick wall ... "
    WCW kind of morning. 📷

  • 0.5 oz gin (Tanqueray)
    1.0 mezcal (Del Maguey Vida)
    0.5 dry vermouth (Dolin)
    0.5 (or less) Cocchi Americano

    I don’t know what to call it. And it’s a weird mix of 2 vermouths and 2 spirits. But… it’s really tasty!


  • Mini Goldendoodle dog asleep on a vibrant blue couch with a toy lamb it its mouth

    Archie’s binky. 🐶📷


  • Less is more; Not.
    Per my true love (via Robt. Venturi), "Less is a bore." Archie (and I) like it!

    bedroom with giant green leaves and pink flowers on the wall, a blue flowered bedspread, an orange small blanket, blue pillows, and mini goldendoodle dog sitting on the bed
    🐶 📷


  • June Wildflowers - San Juan Mountains, Colorado

    brown hand-thrown pottery vase placed on a window sill and filled with wildflowers: yellow flowers, blue lupine, and one blue wild iris
    📷


  • Concrete
    ... the presentation of our bodies is our spiritual act of worship. It is a significant Christian paradox. No worship is pleasing to God which is purely inward, abstract and mystical; it must express itself in concrete acts of service performed by our bodies. [John Stott
    Romans](https://www.ivpress.com/romans-jsbs) 💬
  • Felix culpa
    God can make good use of all that happens. But the loss is real. [C.S. Lewis
    Perelandra](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100924.Perelandra) 💬
  • Football can be fun. Who knew?
    Spurs v. Hammers: Lots of fun in the West Ham box (plus, great game by Fabianski); lots of terror in our own (esp. set pieces). But, to return to point 1: "lots of fun" has been in very short supply lately, and this was a nice change. ⚽
  • Rufus, John, and Peggy
    Enjoying Rufus Wainwright's Folkocracy -- especially, Peggy Seeger's "Heading for Home," sung by Rufus and John Legend 🎵
  • New gifts every morning
    sunrise on clouds, Dallas TX USA

  • Of blessed memory
    Cowboys entering a barbecue restaurant - Painting by Jon Flaming (Am. 1962-), Peggy Sue BBQ, Dallas, TX Jon Flaming (Am. 1962-), Peggy Sue BBQ, Dallas
  • Teachout on Stoppard

    Two-and-half years after his death, I miss reading new essays (and reviews and blog posts and tweets) by Terry Teachout. Here’s a good piece about Tom Stoppard, whom I also will miss profoundly, someday. (He said, perhaps naively).


  • a reason for early rising
    sunrise and clouds on a dark suburban street
  • Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner
    David French on where to look for threats to Christ's kingdom: [www.nytimes.com/2023/07/0...](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/opinion/christian-right.html)
  • Two(+/-) for Three
    SCOTUS last week:
    (1) Affirmative action - yep.
    (2) Student loans - yep.
    (3) Refusing to sell services to folks you disagree with - nope.*
    A web-design service is just that -- a _service_; it's not an expressive act. You're a hired hand. If you offer services, you can't say, "but not for the gays." * update: nope-ish. For some fool reason, Colorado agreed to stipulate that the plaintiff was, in fact, engaging in personal expression in creating webpages for hire. I don't get why they agreed to that, but there it is. Makes the ruling less wrong. Maybe not right, but less wrong.
  • from "East Coker" | T.S. Eliot
    And what there is to conquer
    By strength and submission, has already been discovered
    Once or twice, or several times, by men whom one cannot hope
    To emulate—but there is no competition—
    There is only the fight to recover what has been lost
    And found and lost again and again: and now, under conditions
    That seem unpropitious. But perhaps neither gain nor loss.
    For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.

    Trite, perhaps. But true. Often, the “tried and true” is trite. But, so what? The truth is the point.


  • Panhandle scenes at 75 mph. XIT
    Cattle grazing in tall grass in the Texas panhandle. High plains and clouds in the Texas panhandle. Wind turbines in the Texas panhandle.

  • Henry Moore in the forest
    Rocks that look like sculptures by Henry MooreRocks that look like sculptures by Henry MooreRocks that look like sculptures by Henry Moore
  • The Watcher
    A dog watching out of the window of a log cabin

  • ECR 2023
    looking through an opened a weathered door in the mountainsa vase of flowers in a windowa chair with colorful pillowsNewly formed pine cones on a fir treea completed jigsaw puzzle

  • archie's world
    an image of a dog in a field compared to to an Andrew Wyeth painting

  • forty-three years

  • Pals or, maybe, Frenemies
    Basenji and Mini Goldendoodle dogs sitting in chairs

  • One of my favorite pieces at the Met
    Medieval Madonna and Child carved in wood. Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Medieval Madonna and Child carved in wood. Metropolitan Museum of Art

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