What Does The Prayer Really Say?
W D T P R S

These newcomers are not aptly named, I’m afraid.

Behold Bombycilla cedrorum, who really ought to be named Bacculaphagus damnatus.

They even have masks, the thieves, and absolutely no shame.

This is Cedar Waxwing.

About a dozen of the little beasts sat in the top of the plum trees and stared down at me with resentment as I entered the berry patch, rakish things that they are. 

They look like something out of Bladerunner, especially that fiend on the top.

The patch itself is going to be pretty good this year, I think.

The blue berries will be abundant… so long that the dratted thieves move along as they do every year.



The strawberries always cheer my heart and make me think of Castelli and Nemi.



And in keeping with the proper theme of the Sabine Farm, there may be grapes.



In the meantime there was a prodigious great downpour this afternoon, even with hail, which is the delight of Robins.

Here is Mrs. Robin with a nice juicy critter.



And here is Red-Bellied Woodpecker in situ for a change.



You’ve heard of Turkey in the Straw.  Around here it is Turkey in the Lilacs.



And off they go to cause mischief to drivers everywhere.



And let us not forget the Goldfinch Eating Team, no doubt gearing up for some competition.

Penjing is doing well.



Actually, Penjing had a bit of a road trip.  So that the thing wouldn’t die on me in my absence, I brought it with me in the car on my recent trip to Michigan.  The drive was very long indeed, and it was relegated to the trunk.

Here is Penjing in my hotel in Grand Rapids during the recent Acton Institute conference I attended.



I cannot tell you with what sense of trepidation I walked through the hotel lobby with this thing. 

It incited quite a strong reaction, I can tell you, and rapidly became the focus of much animated attention.

NB Single Men: Women were especially curious about it.  Hmmmm.

And in Kalamazoo where we stayed.



By the time we got back to the Sabine Farm, Penjing was flowering, its leaves were dark and waxy, thoroughly healthy. 

Actually, it looked better after the trip than before. 

I am not sure quite how to take that.

I found this photo some days back here:



This is the TLM aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt, which I visited a while back.

Here is my shot of this same altar in the chapel of the aircraft carrier.

Here I am with the chaplain in the photo on the deck of the carrier.

The chaplain is on the right.

 

The debate rages.

Is it a Pewee or a Phoebe?

Pewee or Phoebe?

Here are a couple new shots.

Here he is in full tail bob.   Phoebe?





Meanwhile, here is a shot in the chapel from Saturday.

I received word from a close friend, the great Roman, Fabrizio Azzola, who also helps staff the COL Forum, that his latest child, wisely named "John", has been baptized, the first child to be so brought into the firm embrace of Holy ROMAN Church at the new traditional parish Ss. Tirnità dei Pelegrini.

I am therefore, on this beautiful feast, at the end of a glorious day, out on the deck with Penjing who is enjoying with me a fine glass of Johnny Walker Black Label, in honor of the new Christian of course, and a good cigar, sent me by the same praiseworthy Fabrizio.  Pengjing and I are having a fine Macanudo Diplomat, slightely torpedo shaped, a good double maduro.

Pengjing tends to smoke very deliberately.

The birds are chirruiping enthusiastically.  The Chickadee Contingent is vociferous.  As am able to quite accurately whistle chicakdeese, they are continuously thrppp thrpping up to the deck to find out what is going on.

However, there is a massive storm coming, I am telephonically informed by a dear friend.  Wind and lots of hated hail.  I am sure we will all be dead by morning.   It has been a  good ride.  

Bye all!

In any event, here is Fabrizio’s great news.  This is his own English:

JMJ

Please join me in thanking Our Lord Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother for the wonderful Baptism of our fourth child. Our Lady is celebrated both in the old and new liturgical calendar with many important feasts and commemorations and devotions on this day. We know she was there.

With the names of John Paul, Expeditus, Pius, Mary our son was baptized today in the wonderful Church of the Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini in Rome, a typical church of the Counterreformation (Most Holy Trinity of Pilgrims, go figure, I actually looked for my ban-button in the sacristy! :P ). Why was that so special? I mean, beside the immense grace of Baptism which Our Lord came to institute to reopen the gates of Heaven at the cost of his sorrowful Passion and Death? Because as usual, God loves to exceed our expectations with superabundant graces and consolations:

Our son was the very first child to be baptized in the "personal parish" entrusted to FSSP in Rome by the will of the Holy Father following Summorum Pontificum. His name will be forever the first in the parish records, and if by the mercy of God I am saved, I will enjoy watching historians form Heaven as they discuss the history of the "reform of the reform" when it will have displayed all its effects. We are now the first family to belong to the parish that will have the important task of renewing the continuity of traditional parish life and liturgy in the very heart of Christianity! The celebrant was the Reverend Father Joseph Kramer FSSP, the pastor, who seemed just as happy as we were. God bless the FSSP.

But our greatest consolation came for the relatives and friends we had invited. While only some of them were familiar with the traditional liturgy, all wanted to thank us personally for the wonderful discovery they had made, even those who’d come afraid of having to attend something weird and boring. One friend, not a traditionalist liturgy-wise, had the best comment of all: "I had no idea an old ritual could speak to the mind and the heart so powerfully, that’s something the people can feel as their own! So simple and yet so solemn!". I was (almost) in tears. Of course I had given some brief explanations before and prepared a booklet with the Ordo Baptismi Parvulorum, but all were struck by the visible meaning of the actions perfomed and many (other consolation) told me that it was evident that those were not just "symbols", but effective actions actually doing what was being said, especially the struggle with the devil and the repetition of acts performed by Jesus Christ in the Gospel to heal the suffering and free the possessed.

The fact that all felt edified, even those who don’t normally practice our faith was of enormous importance to us, second only to the fact that our baby is now incorporated to Christ and in a way that places him in the history of the post-conciliar madness and recovery.

Then there was the light and frugal Italian reception. All noticed that the children outnumbered the adults (our friends tend to ignore Malthusian prejudices). We drank, we sang, we laughed, smoked cigars, talked babies, sports, politics and history, all prayed for the Holy Father. Since the good fight never stops, we invited also a couple of friends who are responsible for a charity that helps families with terminally ill newborns and did some fundraising. It was a wonderfulday of May, in the old calendar, the feast of Mary’s Queenship. It was all so sweet, so Catholic. We are so blessed.

Someone took pictures, I hope they are good enough to post.

Praise God and pray for Pope Benedict!

First things first.



I am very grateful to a couple readers who have enriched my life with new books and … a good thermos!

PP of CA was very kind and found a thermos on my amazon wish list.  This is extremely useful for me here at the Sabine Farm, and will be so during driving trips.  I am rather like the Chinese, who like to keep hot water on demand around the place.  Thanks!

I received from someone, I don’t know who, The Devastated Vineyard by Dietrich von Hildebrand.  Most of the time, there is an invoice which says who sent the item.  Sometimes there is not.  So, this is my way of thanking you.

Now… there is a new discovery at the Sabine Farm. 

Behold!



"Wow, Father… that’s really interesting.   I see a blob on that branch in the upper right.  Big deal!"

Yes… big deal.  But blob on the branch on the upper right, which is a Robin, is not the point. 

Look more closely.

In the middle.

See him?  See him?

I was coming back to the house from my work out and saw an enormous bird winging it toward the creek.

I got my camera and went out and followed in the direction of the flight.  Finally, after some serious stalking, I got at least this photo.

"But Father!  But Father!  What are we looking at?"  I don’t see anything.



This is the best I was able to get, but I will be watching closely in the days to come.

This is Dryocopus pileatus, Mr. Pileated Woodpecker, the most spectacular of Family Picidae.

He stands almost 20 inches high.

I am pretty sure this is the Pileated, rather than the very rare Ivory-Billed.

I have only seen this bird once in my life, many years ago. 

The camera will be at hand when I go out.

Spring at the Sabine Farm seems at last to be in full swing, though the nights are still very chilly indeed.

The Red Bellied Woodpecker is getting some high nutrition snacks from the suet cage.

Yum.



This is not the only place where he dines, however.  I caught him later when I went to the mailbox.



Once again, Mr. Sayornis phoebe, has a nice juicy bug!



In a comment, below, I was corrected about this bird, which I originally thought was a Pewee.

The crab in the front is grand.  I don’t know trees very, so I can’t tell you its variety.



I do know what strawberry blossoms are, however.



Mr. (Mrs? Miss?) Honey Bee is helping out with the blueberry patch.



He is very busy, along with a zillion of his friends.  The patch, and all the trees, utter a low but very discernible mmmmmm these days.



I am very glad for the bees, which will help us have plenty of berries and fruits and vegetables.

I favor bees, who are featured in the Exsultet.  If only I could get them to make candles.

Strolling down toward Sabine Pond…. we find…



... The Mallards, Mister and Missus.



Ducklings are sure to follow.  This same pair comes back each year.

It just has to be said: ducks are hilarious.

A view of one of the Sabine houses, with The Mallards, Anas platyrhynchos, Mister and Missus, in the foreground.

The chapel apple is doing nicely.  It too utters a low mmmmmm from the bees.



The blossoms on the tree are fabulous.  I took some of the little out-of-place "suckers" on the trunk and branches and put them together with lilacs for the altar this morning.  Every year this tree produces some of the best apples I have ever tasted, very firm and tart, perfect also for baking.



In the greenhouse. 

The ground is still too cold to start much planting outside.  It wouldn’t be prudent.  But the herbs and some veg are doing well.  I will start some more things from seed later today if I have a chance before my workout. 



Here is the jasmine.  Later today I will cut some and put it in the chapel at Our Lady’s statue, as May draws to a close.

It should produce a fine fragrance in the evening, which I very much miss from Rome.

I am determined to eat spaghetti tonight, and perhaps drink a glass of cold white wine and reflect on the jasmine and my apartment.



I always enjoy seeing the rosemary bloom.  In these parts that is not often experienced.

Rosemary is a material proof that God loves us.

Many thanks to those of you who wished me well for my anniversary of ordination (26 May) posted in comments and sent by e-mail.  A couple of you used the donation button, for which I am grateful, and and one of you utilized the amazon wish list.

Thanks go out to CG for Eamon Duffy’s The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village which I have heard a lot about.  This was waiting patiently at my doorstep on my return to the Sabine Farm.

Also,  PENJING REPORT!

Penjing, which I received from a reader some time ago, is happily flowering.







Meanwhile, other things are flowering around the Sabine Farm.  I have never seen so many dandylions.

The morning view. 

Near the chapel, the chapel apple is blooming.

Back at the house, Mrs. Oriole is looking in my window at my desk while I work. 

Just when I thought Mr. Oriole was being elusive.





Mr. Oriole has a sweet beak.  He likes what Hummingbirds get and goes after slices of oranges.



The Mourning Doves are getting ready to make more Mourning Doves.

Mr. Pewee has a nice juicy bug!



And along comes Meleagris gallopavo!

"So, how are things at the feeder these days?"

Glad you asked.

Here are a few of the latest pix.



We know him very well now.  This is Mr. Indigo Bunting.  We saw the Missus the other day, but she is rarely spotted.  Actually, there are quite a few males.  I believe the females are nesting. 

Probably our Purple Finch, Mister.



The Hummingbirds are around, now that I have put out feeders for them.

There is one immediately outside my window next to the desk where I am working.

On my way to get mail yesterday I caught Mr. Red-Breasted Grosbeak in flight, in both senses of the word.



Mr. Pewee likes to supervise, with much tail bobbing.  He never seems to eat, oddly.



Again, Mr. Ruby Throated Hummingbird or Archilochus colubris.

He is quite festively iridescent.  I’ll try to catch his bright red throat band in the sunlight.

A feeder thug is the Blue Jay or Cyanocitta cristata.  Very aggressive.



I have seen a couple Orioles today, but they are elusive and seem to no when the camera is out of reach.

You have met Mr. Indigo bunting.

A sparrow comes in for a landing.



Please meet the Missus.  First time I have really seen her around.



This is Mrs. Bunting.  She is rather aggresive, bumping sparrows out of the way with nary a second glance.



I saw yet another male, seemingly moulting.



The Buntings are a growing concern here.

Also, I am enjoying right now a nice hot cup of Iron Goddess of Mercy Oolong.  Thanks to the kind person who sent it to me.

Thanks also to a kind reader who sent a very welcome card in advance of my anniversary.  Much appreciated.

The Eating Team is in fine form.



Some local color.



An entirely new face, though shy.

This is Mr. Northern Oriole of the Baltimore variety, Icterus galbula.

They are all about the Sabine Farm, but until today I have never seen then around my house.

I shall endeavor to entice them.

Hurray!





UPDATE:

Behold … the American Goldfinch or Carduelis tristis.



Perhaps he is sad, tristis, because he isn’t an Indigo?

You would think that tristis might a better name for this "blue" Bunting.

I have at least two of these now, both males.  I haven’t seen an females yet. 



Now here we have the orange variant of the House Finch, or Carpodacus mexicanus.

Remember what I said about the Goldfinch Eating Team?



There were six hangning around on the socks a little later, and two on the feeder.

I am going to have to put my donation button on the bird entires just to keep their greedy little beaks busy.



Here is the confirmation that I have at least two male Indigo Buntings.

But I think there is another.  Just after shooting this I went into the kitchen and out of the window I saw another.



Also, I found that Mr. Red-Breasted Grosbeak had taken the Missus out to supper.

Notice how much smaller the sparrow is.



And batting cleanup is the Mourning Dove, Zeniada macroura.

I have caught a better shot of Mr. Indigo, not to be confused with Mr. Indigo Jones of Shakespeare’s time, methinks.  This is Mr. Bunting, Passerina cyanea.

He seems to be object of Mr. Chirping Sparrow Spizella passerina’s envy.



Hmmm… about which would Catullus have written, I wonder?



Also, we have had a visit from Mr. Brown-Headed Cowbird, Molothrus ater, who doesn’t seem to give a damn about anything but eating.

I have been watching the feeder on an off and had a real surprise!

First, a second pair of Red Breasted Grosbeaks has come around.

This is a rather motely fellow.  He isn’t as well marked.  Perhaps he is young.

I have seen also his Mrs. Motley Grosbeak but I don’t have her photo yet.

The House Finch is frequently around.


 
Just to show that the Red Bellied Woodpecker does indeed have a red belly.




But the big surprise was this very cautious bird I haven’t been able to shoot clearly.

He just turned up this afternoon.  I hope to see him in the morning, when the sun is on the feeder.

When he took off and went into the light, his color was amazing.





This is, I believe, Indigo Bunting!

I will keep the lens trained.

Here at the Sabine Farm, I have put up a few bird feeders, trying to attact some interesting visitors. 

I am starting to get a good variety.  Here are a few from this morning.

First, Mr. Rose Breasted Grosbeak is now a frequent visitor.  He is coming pretty often now.



I am not sure who this is, but since she, I believe, is around at about the same time as the male Grosbeak, I think this is Mrs. Grosbeak.





Then, a kind of finch, the Cardinal.



A different sort of finch is this, the American Goldfinch.

I wasn’t able to get a good shot of the Flicker or the House Finch, today, pretty sure House Finch, rather than Purple Finch.

There are also a couple woodpeckers around zillions of sparrows, Chickadees, and Nuthatches, an occasional Blue Jay, and I think an Eastern Pewee, which bobs its tail very nicely and comes frequently, always perching at the very top of the hanger before dining.

UPDATE:

I haven’t yet caught the Flicker.  But what about a Red Bellied Woodpecker?



The larger woodpeckers, used to hanging on vertical planes, have a hard time negotiating these horozontal bars.

And the Blue Jay, a land lubber.

In Rome on Pentecost, in the Pantheon, now a minor basilica called S. Maria ad martyres there is a beautiful custom.

Rose petals are dropped through the circular oculus opening at the top of the dome, which is the widest is all of Rome, for all its antiquity.  The petals fall to the crowds below, reminiscent of the coming of the Holy Spirit like tongues of flame.

I posted photos taken over two different years here.  Some show the event from the inside of the Pantheon, and some show the mechanics from the outside.  My room in room is perfectly situated to see the dome of the Pantheon.

Here is how they get it done!  Notice the fire truck parked in fron of the Pantheon.

The firemen, waiting on top of the dome, for the signal to drop the flower petals…

The moment arrives!



From within…

This is one of those lovely customs which we have only in Rome. 

It is sometimes possible to remember precisely where you were and what you were doing when historic events took place. People often cite examples like where they were when they heard that JFK was shot, or when Neil Armstrong stepped off the LEM and onto the surface of the Moon.

Where were you and what were you doing when you heard that Joseph Card. Ratzinger had been elected Pope?

Here is a shot of what I was doing. (Many thanks to the person who sent me the video tape I took this photo from.)

Ummm… not yet, Your Holiness.