Link: A Short Story by Susanna Clarke

I sometimes wonder if it’s any use for anyone other than Susanna Clarke to write stories. At the very least, it seems, one should have an English education. And be very, very hardworking. And have a powerful imaginative grasp of the things one loves.
Ahee for those of us who are inwardly impelled to do things we [...]

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The Length of the Bike Path; A Runner’s Evening

Where we live between the lake and the river, insects behave in a peculiar manner this time of year.
It began last night. Some twenty feet in the air, between two electrical lines, I saw what seemed a puff of dark smoke about to dissipate and waft away. It shimmered slightly – changed shape – changed [...]

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Odds and Endstuff

Time to comment on miscellaneous things I can’t get a whole post out of.
***
Conversation in car last night:
Me: What do you think Medvedev is up to?
Scottie: It’s not him, it’s Putin.
Well, that’s what everyone assumes. But they weren’t doing this stuff while Putin was in charge. How do we know that Medvedev didn’t get in office [...]

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Getting Baby To Sleep: Tips From the Women’s Network

Yes, due to my whiny post a few weeks back I’ve begun to get hits from people trying to help their baby sleep. Feeling guilty that my post offers nothing but complaints, I offer these tips I picked up over the last two years. If other parents want to send me their tips, I will include them.
1) Has [...]

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1989 On Ritalin

There’s a reason why Jannette, aged 34, sat in a school nurse’s office and morally crumbled to pieces. Janette suffered from a poor relationship with her mother.
Her mother had never thought of herself as controlling. She was simply a woman of conviction. And when Janette reflexively gave way every time Mom forgot to stop talking – which was fairly [...]

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New Video – Emily Boden Sings “My Love Was Wondering”

Ironically, my Truly Dreadful post is now followed by a video of a different kind. A number of weeks ago I promised to post the tune for my “Folk Poem II: My Love Was Wondering.” Unfortunately I’ve had a lot of trouble with Finale Showcase. This past week or more I’ve been sojourning in WI [...]

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Truly Dreadful Productions Debut, “Long, Long Ago”

It is with a deep sense of destiny – one that wrestles constantly, I may add, with an equally deep sense of personal humiliation – that I anounce the launch of my YouTube debut.
Click Here to hear me sing “Long, Long Ago” for Truly Dreadful Productions.
The sense of humiliation comes from the fact that this is the [...]

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Expensive Worship

Mark 14 (NASB)
3 While He was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, and reclining at the table, there came a woman with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume of pure nard; and she broke the vial and poured it over His head.
 4 But some were indignantly remarking to one another, “Why [...]

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Link to Monastery Website; Chant Information

I found the English-translated website of a Russian women’s monastery. The website is such a treasure of blessing and piety that I can only imagine what the place itself must be like.
There are some recordings of chant, both Russian and Byzantine, which the sisters have made a serious study of. These recordings may be of [...]

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