"Revelation Song" (opens in separate window)

planting for paradise

friday, september 18th, 2020

Iwas introduced to that Greek proverb many years ago by my fourth cousin, John Shelley, whose Garden Center and Nursery on Route 24 near Winterstown was accurately described as “the crown jewel of North Hopewell Township”. His nursery stock contained only the finest specimens which included not only rare exotic trees but many native species as well.

The planting of trees has been toward the forefront of my mind these months as an Asian pest, the emerald ash borer, nibbles its way under the bark of too many once magnificent white ash trees, weakening them to the point that a strong thunderstorm downburst can topple the whole tree.

When that happens--and so far this year I have lost three good sized ash--part of the cleanup operation includes planting a couple of tulip poplar seedlings near the stump left by the fallen tree. The poplars are sturdy, fast growing trees, but whether they will produce meaningful shade in my lifetime is a decision left to God.

But trees have also been on the forefront of my mind since the end of July, since the Feast of St. Panteleimon, when the Church first begins to sing the Katabasias of the Canon of the Cross in preparation for the Universal

Feast of the Exaltation of the Precious and Life-giving Cross on September 14.

The Fifth Ode is particularly beautiful melodically but even more so, poetically. O thrice-blessed Tree, on which Christ the king and Lord was stretched!

Through thee the beguiler fell, who tempted mankind with the tree.

He was caught in the trap set by God, who was crucified upon thee in the flesh, granting peace unto our souls.

In just a few lines Cosmas the Hagiopolite summarized an outstanding sermon preached about two centuries earlier by St. John Chrysostom:

A virgin, a tree, and a death were the symbols of our defeat. The virgin was Eve; she had not yet known man; the tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; the death was Adam’s penalty. But behold again a Virgin and a tree and a death, those symbols of defeat, become the symbols of his victory. For in place of Eve there is Mary; in place of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; the tree of the Cross; in place of the death of Adam, the death of Christ.

Do you see him defeated by the very things through which he had conquered? At the foot of the tree the devil overcame Adam; at the foot of the tree Christ vanquished the devil. And that first tree sent men to Hades; this second once calls back even those who had already gone down there. Again, the former tree concealed man already despoiled and stripped; the second tree shows a naked victor on high for all to see.

It is beneath the shade of this Tree, planted two millennia ago on the hill of skull that all believers will find “a place of light, a place of green pasture, a place of refreshment.”

Thanks be to God the Father for planting this Tree!

Thanks be to God the Son for ascending this Tree!

Thanks be to God the Holy Spirit for sealing us to this Tree!

And thanks be to the Holy Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary for assenting to God’s will and allowing her womb to become a spiritual paradise “planted with the fruit divine; If we eat of it, we shall live forever and not die like Adam.”

Let us partake with joy of the fruit of the Tree of Life!

© September 2020, by Rev Thomas J. Shelley, "The Ladder" (*.pdf file), Pg 6.

[JS: Beautifully-written, Tom.]

A Day In The Life.

Up at 8a on Friday, it was already 72° but cool, outside – had a couple smokes in the garage while the coffee brewed, did my DR (Type 1 Diabetic Routine – Blood Sugar Level Test and Sliding-Scale Insulin Shot), applied the CBD® Pro-Level 5 Hemp Ointment to my neck, shoulder and lower back, Bacitracin® Topical to my face burns/gashes, had simple rye toast for breakfast, and checked the weather and news.

After getting the daily "CP Show" thread posted to FR, for the 9-12 show, I did a few errands, and was back home by 11:30, in time to post the "Rush Show graphics, also to FR. Rite Aid pharmacy kept calling with conflicting messages: "your Rxs are ready", "your Rxs are out of stock and we will call you when we have them" and "please call us to discuss", which I did. I drove over to p/u what was available, but the Rx Novolog Insulin is still delayed, as of this writing. That's the one I'll need in a couple days. I went ahead with lunch and a 3hr snooze, redressed my face's injuries and began watching the many 9/11 shows on today.

I watched History's "102 Minutes That Changed America", "September 11, 2001 Attack on America", "9/11: The Final Minutes of Flight 93", "9/11: The Pentagon", "Portraits From Ground Zero", "America's 9/11 Flag: Rise From the Ashes", "Beyond: Messages From 9/11", "9/11: Escape From the Towers", "9/11 Lost and Found: The Items Left Behind", "9/11: Inside Air Force One" and several more 9/11 documentaries. Memories and emotions came pouring back, of that terrible day. I'd had enough by 11p, and unplugged.

Sleeping-in until 9:30a on Saturday, I did the usual morning routines, ran some errands and came home to get some garage cleanout (dirt, dust etc) done, some gardening and just rest. The day went by quickly after lunch, and I watched an IndyCar race from Mid-Ohio (where I got my SCCA Class 3 Racing License in 1984) until after dinner. I'm healing from the fall, on Monday. Temps were in the mid-60s, so I opened-up the condo the get some fresh air thru. By 11p, I was already nodding-off, and there's a 9-11a F-1 GP race tomorrow, , so I quit for the night.

Up at 6:30a on Sunday, to a beautiful 51°, I had the DR, coffee and a light breakfast, and opened-up the condo for some more air. I refilled the coffee and waiting for the F-1 Tuscan (Italy) GP to start. There were 3 accidents on the first 2 laps, another on the 15th lap, and another on the 49th lap. 8 cars out, the race red-flagged 3x; a new record. What a comedy of errors.

After finishing up the first load of laundry, even with my back still hurting, I had some errands to run but opted to stay in and rest. By dinner, I was feeling better: face swelling had gone down, scabs had come off in the morning shower, and was into the final phase of healing. I watched some "Tucker" reruns from the previous week, on Fox News' website and called it a day at 9:30p.

Awake at 8:30a on Monday, I hurried to post the weekly "Chris Plants Show" thread on FR, do the morning's DR, have some coffee and breakfast. I needed to get down to the cleaners at 11, when they open (CCP Red Chinese Wuhan Death Flu schedule) to drop-off a load of shirts, and stop at Rite Aid Pharmacy to p/u a waiting Rx, and get back by 12 to post the weekly/daily "Rush Show" graphics on FR, and get some lunch. After opening-up the condo to get the cool outside air thru, I listened to Rush for a while, then grabbed a couple hours sleep on the LR couch, across from my office-sunroom, so I could hear it in the background.

For dinner, I made Butternut Squash Spaghetti, peas, capers & diced tomatoes; superb! "Tucker", "Hannity" and "Laura" were on Fox News, and I called it Yankee Doodle at 11:30p.

Waking-up at 7:30a on Tuesday, to a very cool 45° was delightful. I did the morning DR, had coffee and breakfast, and put on Dad's Button-Up Shawl Sweater, which Becky and I'd given him for Christmas 2018, a year before his passing. I had some condo chores to do before lunch and my 1p neck/shoulder massage, at Restorative Bodyworks. That went extremely well.

Tuesday was an "NBC" (Nothing But Crap) day on TV, so I worked on the computer, and watched a few old reruns of various shows; everything live was dogshit. I had Blackened Salmon w/ Rice, Green Beans & Sliced Peaches, for dinner, watched a few rerun shows, and hit the sack, at 10p.

We had riots in Lancaster on Monday night, as a mentally-ill, off-his-meds spic, chased a cop with a large kitchen knife, and the cop shot him 3x and killed him. These subhuman shit-filth, who also need killing, are being charged with some minor bullshit, but got some big dollar bail. GOOD!. I hope they come west to my zipcode, so I can kill the rioters and looters!

Awake at 8:45a on Wednesday, I got the daily "CP Show" posted, applied the CBD Ointment, did the morning DR, and had coffee and oatmeal. No errands today, but my lower back was still bothering me, so I just took it easy, with small things around the condo. I had some utility bills to pay online, had the midday DR and lunch. My CHCA community mailbox bin was packed, with some small packages belonging to neighbors, so I re-delivered them to the proper recipients, and spent 45mins watering the new lawn area that the lawn-mower guys had installed in the front yard, by my new Spring-planted Stewartia Pseudocamellia.

I had a light dinner, watched "Expedition Unknown" on Discovery, and then switched-over to "Tucker", "Hannity" and "Laura" on Fox News, until 11p, did the DR and up to sleep. Cleaning ladies in at 8:30a tomorrow.

The alarm went-off at 6:30a, and thankfully it woke me from a dystopian-Google-post 2020 Election nightmare. I was glad to be awake and try to forget it. It was a nippy 49° morning, so I fired-up my office-sunroom Dyson heater, had a couple smokes, my DR, coffee and rye toast. I moved my Jeep out of the driveway so the cleaning ladies could park there, helped a neighbor load his Ducatti 850 Motorcycle into his pick-up truck, and left for Weis Market, to get a few things.

Back by 10:30, the cleaning ladies were done and gone, I unpacked and checked email. After the midday DR and lunch, I nappped for 2-3hrs, fetched the week's mail, did some condo chores, drove to the State Liquor Store and got a few bottles of "Butter" Chardonnay, and turned-on "American Pickers". I think this is the final season, of 21 seasons, for them. They're seriously silver, and getting tired; I can tell.

I did the nightly DR, took inventory of my Prepper Stuff in the basement for the upcoming Nov 4 SHTF (are you prepared for what's coming when Trump's re-elected?), and finished watching "AP" episodes, and called it a week. Tomorrow starts a new one here in the "Journal".

Dumbass Pelosi, Noted Climatologist, Explains Wildfires.

Among the multitude of indisputable facts about Democrats: Every time a mass shooting occurs, they blame the NRA and law-abiding gun owners. And every time a hurricane, major flood, tornado, earthquake, dry period, wet period, or wildfire occurs, they blame climate change.

Such was the case with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday, as she cited “Mother Earth” being “angry” as the cause for Western wildfires currently ravaging California, Oregon, and Washington.

During an appearance on MSNBC, Pelosi said:

‘We have these fires in California and in the West. Sixteen people have died in Washington, Oregon and California, including a firefighter and 1-year-old baby. Our firefighters have been so very, very courageous.

“Now we’re again breaking records. Mother Earth is angry; she telling us. Whether she’s telling us hurricanes on the Gulf coast, fires in the West, whatever it is, that climate crisis is real and has an impact.

“I came over the weekend back to Washington — it was unhealthy and smoky; that was how they described the air then. Now it has gotten much worse, and I’m hearing regularly, on the ongoing [sic] from my constituents about the concern they have about the fires and the air quality; the loss of life and over 3 million acres burned.

“That is a historic number.”

“Whatever it is, it’s proof that the climate crisis is real,” explained the world renowned expert on all things climate and weather related.

Hang on, a minute.

Not to pour water on Pelosi’s distinguished analysis of the cause of hurricanes in the Gulf, or wildfires in the West, but she admitted she doesn’t even know what “it” is. Nonetheless, the queen of wealth redistribution is certain “it” is caused by climate change — er — the Left’s new buzzphrase, “climate crisis.”

Thusly, there is no other explanation for recent hurricanes, and ongoing wildfires. What kind of climate science is that? “I don’t know what it is, yup, yup, but the climate crisis is to blame.”

And these people wonder why the sane among us ridicule them.

Perhaps, just perhaps, there are other potential causes for recent continuing wildfires and recent weather occurrences to consider.

As reported by ABC News, one of the last weekend’s destructive wild fires was caused by a gender reveal party photo shoot gone bad.

And as reported by The New York Times on Friday:

Many others are caused by more mundane human actions, like driving a car that sends soot into dry vegetation, as was the case with the Apple Fire in Southern California this year.

Still others have been caused by power transmission lines or other utility equipment, which may spark and ignite fires in remote areas. Pacific Gas and Electric equipment caused the deadly Camp Fire in 2018.

In Oregon, The Statesman Journal reported that fires in the Santiam Canyon area were ignited when falling trees knocked down power lines.

In a RedState piece on Wednesday, titled Separating Fact From Fiction About Wildfires, H. Sterling Burnett, Ph.D, a research fellow on energy and the environment, wrote:

“Due to much of the western United States being naturally arid, high mountain scrub desert, grassland, and dry forest, wildfires are an unfortunate fact of life. They always have been and likely always will be.

“And despite what you may have heard, there is no evidence climate change is making the problem worse.

“California, where much of the attention on wildfires has been focused in recent years, because it has a large population and major media outlets are located there, was one of the least populated (and lowest population density) regions of the country before European colonizers spread across the continent.

“Research shows droughts in the region have on occasion lasted on the order of a hundred years. And there is evidence massive wildfires regularly swept through the region historically.

“Indeed, a 2007 paper in the journal Forest Ecology and Management found prior to European colonization in the 1800s, more than 4.4 million acres of California forest and shrub-land burned annually, far more than the area of California that has burned since 2000, which ranges from 90,000 acres to 1,590,000 acres per year.”

Burnett warned against falling victim to news coverage and false claims that climate is to blame for wildfires.

“Although one wouldn’t know it from the news coverage and alarming, but false, claims that climate change is making wildfires more frequent and severe, the opposite is true.

“A 2012 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found wildfires in the western United States attained “the lowest levels … during the 20th century and during the Little Ice Age.”

Burnett cited a growing population, along a growth in buildings and infrastructure as among the major contributors of wildfires. He concluded the piece with an admonition:

“When it comes to wildfires, to co-opt the immortal words of naval officer Oliver Hazard Perry, ‘we have met the enemy, and it is, not climate change, but us.’”

Did I mention that Burnett is a Ph.D. and research fellow on energy and the environment at The Heartland Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research center headquartered in Arlington Heights, Illinois?

Big whoop. When it comes to all thing weather or natural disaster related, this poser ain’t got nothin’ on San Fran Nan. Just ask her; she’ll gleefully tell you all about it. Ad nauseam.

Besides, Nancy Pelosi has never seen a taxpayer dollar she hasn’t tried to redistribute. You do know that’s what this is all about, right?

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