Perfect Little Baby is Back

From London, where she attended the (civil) wedding of her friend from high school (daycare, actually), daughter of my boss at the Bank. And she brought me back a little stuffed Orangutan, which she calls Orangie, and I, Basil, and some Glenfiddich in a pretty green tin. (How did she know I finished the Clontarf the night before last or the night before that?)

The first she has been out of the country since the junior high school chorus did Niagra Falls.

One gets older.

I read Wendell Berry. And Couliano on Eros and Magic in the Renaissance. And repeat the Troparion of the Cross for the good people of the Lebanon, and the Assyrians of Iraq. I prepare for the weekend retreat, where the topic will be prophecy, but no word against Mr. Bush or his associates in Jerusalem will be welcome. Perhaps a word or two for Mr. Berry will suffice.

I enjoy the air conditioning, and wonder how I did without last year, especially when I was not so mobile.

My editor will have the assignments for next year's issue of the college guide soon. This year's must be out. Kevork, the PR guy from Emory and Henry, called when he got the .pdf to say he hoped it wasn't final yet. Sheesh. We included them as one of the fifty best (underrated) colleges in the country, and they aren't satisfied. I wonder if the publisher kept my chapter title: mayberry.edu.

Cheers.

A Voice from Israel

This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah's side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah "started it" when it kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin to tilt the scales of justice toward our side. -- Ze'ev Maoz in Haaretz

Even in the midst of war the Israelis are freer than we are, or so it seems from the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Thanks to the Lady in the Cave

Who will here go nameless.

---

The Way to Go

by Wal Bowles


Not only are we what we eat,
We're also what we don't excrete.
And if we sit instead of squat,
Retaining some of what we've got,
This putrefaction will increase,
When what we want is fast release
Of toxic waste from bowel and cell.
So, to keep our bodies well,
Squatting helps the waste to flow.
Squatting is the way to go!