Jesus Did Say "This Too Shall Pass" But He Wasn't Talking about Estimated Taxes

I stop myself. Before I even begin typing. The thoughts in my head may not be appropriate even for a stream of consciousness rant.

Ranting on the Internet, even if it is a like-I-am-in-my-therapist's-office-just-free-associating kind of rant, is rarely beneficial to humanity.

Yet. Here I am. Ranting. Here's one rant I am sure you heard: estimated taxes suck. Rewrites are a pain in the ass. Staten Island needs a rail connection to Brooklyn. It's colder than a witch's tit. Oh. Here's a good one: the rent is too goddamn high. I also wanted to rant about how I worked so hard to write a blog post for one of my freelancing gigs, only for the editor to send me back to the drawing board. Well, almost to the drawing board. She accepted most of the piece but eliminated huge chunks and asked for a rewrite. It's a lesson in humility. 

So. I did rant. But I tried to save myself by saying I am humbled now. I think folks detest rants because they're jealous. They want to rant too. But they don't. So they rant that you ranted. And it sucks. But I ranted by saying that I wasn't going to rant. It's excusable. But estimated taxes really do suck. I think if I were more attentional to minor details it would not bother me as much. It does not help that I have been a slave to a grouchy academic who needs me to ferret out sources for his upcoming book.

This too shall pass. I think Jesus said that.

I guess I should warn you that there is an ulterior motive as to why I am writing this blog post this today.

First, I have to get my mind set on writing. Tomorrow is Thursday. Work awaits. And it feels like I may never reach the end of my labors. I wonder how Virginia Woolf felt when she was struggling with a sentence?

Second, it really pains me that I have started to think more about estimated taxes than what novel I want to read.

Third, someone was correct when she said "no rest for the weary."

I put a period after the last sentence, looked up, and saw a cardinal perched on the window sill. A cardinal. I rarely see cardinals in my neighborhood. Also, the Staten Island Ferry chugs along on its determined route. And somewhere some bloke is estimating his quarterly taxes.

PDF Copy for Printing

Image Source:  tomcopelandblog

A Photograph of a Cat on the Farm (in Louisiana)

Cat on the Farm, © 2005

PDF Copy for Printing

Letter from Walker Percy to Fr. Dominic Braud, O.S.B.

American novelist Walker Percy wrote Fr. Dominic Braud a letter on March 9, 1980.

Letter from Walker Percy to Fr. Dominic Braud, O.S.B. (Stamped March 10, 2010; Handwritten)

Fr. Dominic Braud, O.S.B. was the choirmaster at Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College in St. Benedict, Louisiana for decades. He was a Benedictine monk and priest and he had formed a friendship with Percy after Percy had become an Oblate of Saint Benedict. In the following letter, it appears that Braud had sent Percy a copy of a poem written by William Alexander Percy that was set to music. William Alexander Percy was Walker Percy's guardian and raised Percy as if he were his own father. Click the link to retrieve a scan of the envelope, the back of the envelope, and the actual letter.

     I have transcribed the letter thus:

Walker Percy P.O. Box 510 Covington, LA 70433 March 9, 1980 Dear Father Dominic —      It was very good of you to send me the Green setting of Uncle Will's poem. No, I don't remember seeing it and so am all the more grateful for having it.      What would you say to my coming out sometime and demanding that you sing it? — Otherwise I'll never know how it sounds —        Many Thanks again, Walker

PDF Copy for Printing

Postcard of Multnomah Falls in Oregon (With Transcript)

A postcard depicting Multnomah Falls 

in the Columbia River Gorge, Multnomah County, Oregon, U.S. [frontside]

Birthday Letter [backside]

I don't remember where I found this postcard, but I think it was in a public library book on bats.

According to the postcard, Multnomah Falls is the second-highest waterfall in the United States (and it is located 30 miles east of Portland, Oregon on the Columbia River).

A Post to Say I Posted: "Bayou Castine, Mandeville, Louisiana"

Bayou Castine, Mandeville, Louisiana © 2015

A post to say I posted.

PDF Copy for Printing

On Gratitude

There is an ancient myth that the world is carried aloft on the shell of a great, cosmic turtle.

I thank the turtle that holds the world aloft.

PDF Copy for Printing

Credit: Spirit and Nature: Why the Environment is a Religious Issue

Chef Boyardee: Wheat Girl

An ad campaign from Chef Boyardee

A photograph of the archetypal farm girl getting intimate with her "amber waves of grain" is so totally interesting to me — even without the Chef Boyardee ad copy (that would normally be pasted over this warped gesture to Norman Rockwell).

The original ad copy reads:

Oh look, a mother's daydream. It'll never be a reality. So serve them Chef Boyardee Whole Grain Beefaroni, now with whole grain pasta. Just don't tell them.Obviously Delicious. Secretly Nutritious.

PDF Copy for Printing 

Image Source: Zachary Scott