Three great hymns. I could agree to any of these.

So many great choices. The Church’s One Foundation (Aurelia), For All the Saints (Sine Nomine), We’re Marching to Zion (in LEVAS), There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy (de Tar? Calvin Hampton version), The Strife is O’er (Victory).

I read all of Heinlein as a teenager and young adult in the 1960-70s (some multiple times) including all those weird early stories and it doesn't ring a bell with me, so I think not Heinlein. Unless it's something from Star Troopers which never really sank into my memory even though I read it twice.

It looks like you can buy single pdfs from RiteSong if your church doesn't have a license, although my experience has been that they don't have rights to everything digitally yet. It may be worth taking a look and seeing if what you need is available at a reasonable price.

Magnificat (King's College Service) by Joanna Forbes L'Estrange YouTube video by Joanna Forbes L'Estrange

And the Magnificat: youtu.be/-wzGwJJeTWs?...

Nunc Dimittis (King's College Service) - for SATB/organ by Joanna Forbes L'Estrange YouTube video by Joanna Forbes L'Estrange

We recently acquired Joanna Forbes L'Estrange's Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (King's College) which is beautiful. We sang the Nunc Dimittis on the 4th Sunday after Epiphany, but have not yet sung the Magnificat. Here's the Nunc sung by London Voices: youtu.be/V-tlDFtpJPA?...

My aunt gave me the first book in the Narnian chronicles in 1962 or 1963. I read them all when I was in elementary and junior high school. (She was a great book selector: when I was 20 she gave me Helter Skelter about the Charles Manson killings for Xmas, disturbing but illuminating and horrifying.

I look forward to investigating all these links, but I laughed out loud at the last one with the monopods, and immediately recalled C.S. Lewis's Voyage of the Dawn Treader where they stop at the island of the Monopods who lie down on their backs and shield themselves from the sun with their foot.

A few months ago, 80% of my contacts vanished from my iPhone and were not in my iCloud account. I reconciled to them being gone for good, and then a month or two later they all reappeared. I have no idea how or why . . . Just one of those computer/phone mysteries.

I still remember hearing the Berlioz at the NY Philharmonic when I was in junior high (mid-1960s). My mother prepared me well for what I would be hearing, and it was amazing. But I also truly love that 2nd movement of the Beethoven 7th. (p.s., love American Medieval!)

Early sunrise, a metal fence with a bush in front of it, half in shadow and half in sun, the wall is lit up by the orange glow of the sun, with the shadows of two people walking by against the orange glow of the fence.

Miso Leeks With White Beans (Published 2024)

I love this recipe from NY Times Cooking. I use large beans, like royal coronas, and use white wine while sauteeing the leeks, but is delicious. (I also skip the eggs: the beans and leeks with miso, dijon mustard dressing is fabulous.) Really good with farro. cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025...

I start my rice cooker on steam, and saute onion, garlic and cumin seeds in butter, olive oil, or coconut oil for about 4-5 minutes, then stir the rinsed rice into the pot, turn it off so it resets to the white rice setting, add liquid and turn back on. Not a full tadka, but some nice browned bits.

I chop and then mash with side of my knife a small garlic clove, put about 1/8 tsp of Dijon mustard, a little salt, pepper, basil and oregano, about 1/2 tsp of lemon juice and maybe 2 tbsp of olive oil and stir it together in the bottom of the salad bowl before adding lettuce and other ingredients.

When did they start embedding ads in the ice? It makes it so much harder to see what the skater is doing and also to see the ice tracks for various moves.

I'm happy to supply more details on rice and peas if you need them. One of my favorite dishes which I learned from my Jamaican mother in law.

Miso Leeks With White Beans (Published 2024)

I also ordered a pound of the Royal Cordoba beans (currently out of stock) and have twice made them with this leek and bean recipe with miso and mustard sauce. (Gift link) I skipped the eggs and just used leeks and beans. So good!

Love those Domingo Rojo beans! They are the best for Jamaican rice and peas (onion, garlic, scotch bonnet pepper, fresh thyme, grated dried coconut and coconut milk, with basmati rice). I've reached the point of ordering about 5 pounds every six months . . .

I think it was The War Game, 1967 BBC production about the aftereffects of a nuclear attack, done in the form of a documentary. I was 13 and way to young for the graphic effects. I lived in terror for many, many years thereafter.

Agreed! We sang this one at Lessons and Carols in Phoenix this past Sunday.

Pre-sunrise photo of the eastern sky in Phoenix AZ with brilliant orange and pink clouds reflected in the canal.

It was gorgeous this morning. I took this on my morning walk in Phoenix 13 minutes before official sunrise. Also no processing.

Three. I used to love the dark roast Ethiopian beans at Fairway in NYC, but in Phoenix I can only get light roast Ethiopian so I mix those beans with a French Roast and a slightly milder dark roast which does the trick for me. (Freshly ground in a burr grinder and then steeped in a French press.)

We had a lovely morning in Phoenix. The choir sang Palestrina's Alma Redemptoris Mater, we had a great sermon on the Magnificat as a call to action, and a small group of us made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for distribution to the homeless during the week, a simple ministry but one I enjoy.

A long way round of saying that a refusal to accept disrespect is a strength. (Hard for me to learn as a child of the 50s and 60s, but eventually I learned how to stand up for myself.)

When I was a practicing lawyer I was trying to negotiate with an attorney who continually yelled at me in phone negotiations. I talked to the partner I worked with who advised me to say 'you're yelling at me and if you continue I will hang up.' I did so (maybe 2x), and then he became reasonable.

Thanks for the recommendation - I just ordered it.

Sometimes on Sunday mornings I feel that I am not only part of my own church but part of a wave that goes around the globe time zone by time zone: churches up and down my zone are saying the same (or similar) things, those to the east are farther along (or done) and to the west of me still to start.

I also went through a period before law school when I thought maybe I wanted to become a priest, but when I became a vestry member and then warden, I realized that my church calling was definitely as laity.

Five and a half years into retirement, I am singing in the choir at the Episcopal Cathedral in Phoenix AZ and loving it. Feels like coming full circle in some ways.

Went to law school at night for four years (with a young child) and became a lawyer at 46. Practiced law for 20 years and loved it, then retired in the pandemic. If you had told me when I was young that I would become lawyer I would have laughed. (Daughter of teachers and knew no lawyers.)