September 15, 2025 – Kindness “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”—Mark Twain (1835-1910)(Samuel Clemens) humorist, essayist, novelist “Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind.”—Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)philosopher
As part of our daily morning routine, we were reviewing the BBC pre-WW2 broadcast schedules. Today we made this fascinating discovery – the first ever televised Sci-Fi program: The broadcast was based on a 1920 Czech play by Karel Čapek, called R.U.R. The play introduced the word “robot” into the English language. Elder G Weighs […]
From Elder G: Life Is Just a Bowl of CherriesMusic and lyrics by: Ray Henderson and Lew Brown1931Life is just a bowl of cherries.Don’t take it serious; life’s so mysterious.You work, you save, you worry so,But you can’t take your dough when you go, go, go.So keep repeating it’s the berries,For the strongest oak must […]
Across cultures, harbors have always been liminal spaces – between safety and peril, home and the vast unknown. Many traditions placed protective figures at the edge of the water, blessing or watching over departing sailors. Mazu From Elder G: Mazu is often depicted in art and statues wearing red robes, which legend says she wore […]
In Leonard Cohen’s song Suzanne, there is this beautiful image: And the sun pours down like honey on Our Lady of The Harbor- Suzanne by Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen is almost certainly referring to the statue of The Virgin Mary that sits atop the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel. It is known as the Lady of the Harbor, […]
There’s always a danger when researching something you’ve held in your imagination for years. Do you really want to know your hero’s dark side? Is that noble institution actually founded on greed and exploitation? I’ve recently read two books – a biography about Joni Mitchell and an autobiography by Sinéad O’Connor. In both cases, the […]
And the sun pours down like honeyOn our lady of the harbourAnd she shows you where to lookAmong the garbage and the flowers- Suzanne, by Leonard Cohen Our Lady of the Harbor Elder G, is life impossible?
We return to Elder JimZim’s question: What are we? Then a thought occurred to me. Let me quote one of my favorite authors, Neil Stephenson, from one of my favorite books, Cryptonomicon: The room contains a few dozen living human bodies, each one a big sack of guts and fluids so highly compressed that it […]
September 8, 2025 – Joy “We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy.” – Joseph Campbell lecturer, writer
Elder JimZim has asked a profound question: What are we? His curiosity was peaked by this Joni Mitchell song… We are stardustWe are goldenAnd we’ve got to get ourselvesBack to the gardenWe are stardustBillion year old carbonWe are goldenCaught in the devil’s bargainAnd we’ve got to get ourselvesBack to the garden- Woodstock, by Joni Mitchell […]