Some thanks to you readers and a penjing report

Coming back to the Sabine Farm after this last trip was a bit like coming home for Christmas.

Piled up on my counter were loads of mail and…. BOXES!  People had been busy with my Amazon wish list and I am very grateful.

There was a very small 320GB external hard drive which will be enromously useful for travelling.  I can load my resources and reference library onto this.  It had gotten to big for the old drive.  Thanks to RM for this!

JM was kind enough to send Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica (the gritty new version which has just begun Season 4).  I can’t read Ambrose and Augustine all the time and this was great.  Thanks JM!

RR sent Redeeming Time: T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets by Kenneth Paul Kramer

AD sent the Michael D. O’Brien book Island of the World.  I have read his other books and found them to be very engaging and useful.  I dare say in some respects they are also prophetic (though I hope not, in some ways).

Not on the Amazon list, but was sent to me by the publisher, I found waiting for me Priestblock 25487: A Memoir of Dachau by Jean Bernard.  I hear this is now a movie, too.

Finally, a penjing report

Penjing (the bonsai a reader sent me from the Amazon list) did not fare perfectly during my absence. 

I am afraid my guy fell down on his penjing sitting. 

I found its soil nearly dry when I got back. 

There were quite a few yellow leaves, too.  Grrrr. However, that could be in part from its exciting voyage across the Land of the Free to the Sabine Farm, change of light, water, etc.  Still, I was hardly pleased.  I also noted that the spray bottle hadn’t been used, and penjing like that sort of thing, to get moisture through their leaves.

Some trimming is in order, I think, and then some strong sun for a little while each day…. when I get some sun, that is.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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5 Comments

  1. Geoffrey says:

    I’ve been waiting to hear how the penjing was doing in your absence. I look forward to seeing some “before and after” pictures.

  2. momof8 says:

    Priestblock was an excellent movie.

    My Father was too in Dachau, right across from the priest barracks.Several priests from his hometown were there, but they did not react much with the civilian population- labor force. AT least not at the time my Father was there during the last year of the war.

    It is wonderful to be able to get an account of what priests had to live through. There are NOT enough books or information about the persecution of Catholics and Poles in the concentration camps. What knowledge I have, is what my 83 year old Father has re-told. And I am sure that what he has said is only the half of it..

    Enjoy the book Father Z!

  3. ben says:

    Island of the World is O’Brien’s best book yet. Although it is slower to start. It is not part of his apocalyptic series, but it is wonderful.

    It’s larger themes deal with theodicy.

  4. T. Chan says:

    Fr. Z,

    The movie which is based upon the book, The 9th Day, is available on DVD.

    http://www.kino.com/theninthday/

  5. Is the bonsai a hardy plant? Most of them are, and benefit from being outdoors in all weathers. Dry soil is not as dangerous as soggy soil, but bonsai exist under pertetually stressed conditions, and have to be looked after carefully because they can’t (unlike a plant in the ground) look after themselves. Fresh air, humidity, and plenty of sun are what I recommend.

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