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did you know I’m on a podcast sometimes?

It’s a new episode of Catholic Weekend and I got to play with Captain Jeff and Steve Nelson. This afternoon we discussed some random stuff about eating meat on a Friday in Lent because it was the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, and we also had some serious conversations about Steve’s mission trip to Haiti last week.

If you’ve never listened to this show, or you’ve never listened to a podcast, you can listen straight from the website. Just click PLAY. Or if you want, you can download it and listen to it later. If you like it, or like the idea of listening to shows on demand when you want, then look at some of the other shows that are featured in reviews or in the directory.

I discovered A Good Story is Hard to Find thanks to a review by Sean McGaughey.

 

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in which I expound on green things

the afternoon sun through our Japanese maple

In the green and gallant Spring, / Love and the lyre I thought to sing, And kisses sweet to give and take / By the flowery hawthorn brake.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

I love spring. Especially after the time change annoyance passes and life settles back into the semblance of a routine.

Except for pollen, I enjoy everything about this lovely season.

It seems like the sun shines brighter than ever although it could be that after the gray dreariness of winter, just turning on the sunshine is bright enough.

There’s something so satisfying in feeling the warmth of the son on my skin, warming me all the way through. (hey! did you see that typo? I’m leaving it in! teehee!).

I love the suddenness of the blooms. One day everything looks gray, and bam! the next time I pay attention the Magnolias are in full bloom, the cherry trees are pink and lovely, and even the blasted Bradford pears look pretty if I remember not to get too close.

I especially love the green. It is a baby green. Fresh. Alive. New. By the time summer arrives the greens are a mature, dark, mellow color, but now they are screaming new life in a way that gets my attention.

That first realization of the green around me heralds the beginning of spring better than any date on a calendar. It happens at different times, always unexpected. It is the suddenness of it, though, that renders me speechless.

I wonder how long spring has really been around me before I recognize it. I don’t like the thought of being so busy or distracted that I don’t have the time or inclination to notice the beauty that surrounds me. It gives me pause.

And then I get over it and revel in the beauty of the green.

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civic duty and all that

I had jury duty earlier this week. Very exciting. Got far into the process and the trial was gonna start later in the week, and suddenly, the case was settled.

Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person I know who takes this seriously, as in, I am proud to serve and don’t try to find some lame excuse to get out of it. Or worse, lie or misrepresent myself so I don’t get picked. I am appalled when I hear people say things like that.

I am proud to be an American, and acutely aware of the awesomeness of my citizenship. It wasn’t an accident of birth but something I had to earn, which makes it all the more precious.

I don’t walk around wearing an American flag pin, or spout vitriol at anyone who doesn’t love this country (although it hurts me to hear it) but I fly the flag on my front porch, and I vote in every election (and do my homework first), and I recognize the awesome responsibility and duty to serve on a jury.

I seem to get called an awful lot. Which is weird, when you think about it — the lawyers either love or hate teachers. Either I sit uncomfortably in round after round of questioning, or they dismiss me immediately. I guess it depends on what they need.

This particular case was in criminal court and looked interesting, from what I could glean…the defendent was a little on the creepy side…a fantastic inspiration for a character in my current Work-in-Progress, a story of murder and intrigue.

In fact, now that I think about it, the dude looked an awful lot like Steve Buscemi. Ha. Not that I had made up my mind about the guy or anything. 🙂 Really. I didn’t.

I’ll be honest, though, I’m kinda sorry we were dismissed. I was looking forward to observing the process up here in this county. I served on a couple of juries in Miami, and that was entertaining, though not as entertaining as the woman sitting next to me. She spoke, at nauseum, about her husband’s hobby: showing mules.

I don’t get out enough.

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