Tolkien - Bilbo's Last Song

Bilbo's Last Song
(At the Grey Havens)

Day is ended, dim my eyes,
but journey long before me lies.
Farewell, friends! I hear the call.
The ship's beside the stony wall.
Foam is white and waves are grey;
beyond the sunset leads my way.
Foam is salt, the wind is free;
I hear the rising of the Sea.

Farewell, friends! The sails are set,
the wind is east, the moorings fret.
Shadows long before me lie,
beneath the ever-bending sky,
but islands lie behind the Sun
that I shall raise ere all is done;
lands there are to west of West,
where night is quiet and sleep is rest.

Guided by the Lonely Star,
beyond the utmost harbour-bar
I'll find the havens fair and free,
and beaches of the Starlit Sea.
Ship, my ship! I seek the West,
and fields and mountains ever blest.
Farewell to Middle-Earth at last.
I see the Star above your mast!

Pax et bonum

The Monkees - Riu Chiu (Official HD Music Video)

Last Christmas Gig of 2025

Miracle Field of Greater Rochester Christmas party, December 20, 2025.

 

Pax et bonum

Christmas Poem for 2025

Over years many a Nativity scene
has added much not there that holy night.
The cast of those who played a role has been
expanded as faith and fancy deemed right.
That night the star was there to light and guide
in Bethlehem’s sky, as were angel choirs,
with stable, Mary and Joseph inside,
and the shepherds down from their hillside fires.
The Magi and Herod’s bloody soldiers
arrived later. Creative minds supplied
ass, kneeling ox, lambs, Santa, bowing trees,
drummer boy, midwife, and others beside.
Whoever was there, all have cause to sing,
for that day we welcomed our God and King.

Pax et bonum

The Autobiography of Santa Claus

As part of my preparation for Santa season - my first two appearances are this weekend - and for my on Santa book, I decided to read some of my Santa/Christmas related books. The most recent one was The Autobiography of Santa Claus by Jeff Guinn. 

I wanted to see how Guinn treated Santa as there are some similarities to what I am writing (currently some 50,000 words in!). His premise was interesting: Santa dictating his autobiography to clear up misinformation.

The book started off well. It dealt with the early history of St. Nicholas, an and some of the myths about him in those days in a reasonable way. 

But then the book started to head off in directions I thought did not ring true. It certainly downplayed the fact that he was a bishop and a saint, downplaying his spiritual side and focusing more on the secular side. I could have lived with that, as this was a book for a secular audience. But then it started getting silly, and not in a good way.

Suddenly Santa began gathering a crew of helpers who shared in his longevity - including Attila the Hun, King Arthur, and Teddy Roosevelt! St. Francis of Assisi also joins the crew, but Guinn mistakenly identifies him as a priest. Plus, Santa began playing a role in a number of historical and literary events, including helping George Washington and Charles Dickens! I was reminded of  Forrest Gump; indeed, this book was published in 1994, the same year the Gump movie came out.  

The second half of he book had less of the charm of the first half. 

My overall assessment is it was okay, but not a book I would enthusiastically endorse. 

Pax et bonum

Syndicated columnists

Art Buchwald

I'm from the era when newspapers had multiple pages for opinions - not only editorials, but also letters to the editor and syndicated columnists. Our local dailies had one to two such pages each issue. And with two dailies, there was room for a wide variety of columns representing differing views.   

I used to enjoy reading those pages, and, in particular, certain columnists. Two of the syndicated columnists I particularly enjoyed were Art Buchwald and Sydney Harris.

I dreamed of being a columnist myself. In college I created a column called The Pregnant Pause for the school newspaper. It was a mixture of humor, satire, and commentary, combining elements of Buchwald and Harris.

After college,  although I freelanced some articles, I did not work full-time as a journalist for a number of years. Then I was hired by the diocesan newspaper. I eventually became the associate editor, and regularly wrote editorials, getting a taste of fulfilling my dream. I even won a few awards for my editorials.

But after a decade I left the newspaper business to become a teacher, a career I also loved. 

By that point, the newspapers across the country were folding - including one of our two local dailies. Editorial pages were shrinking, with room for fewer columns, and many of the great columnists of the past retired or died. I also stopped reading newspapers as regularly, disappointed by their content - or lack thereof - and finding other news outlets online. As a result, I did not keep up with the kinds of columns still being written.

I started a blog, and used that as an outlet. But it was not the same as being a newspaper columnist. Few people saw what I wrote. 

Then blogs started to follow the newspapers into oblivion. 

Oh, there were other outlets - like podcasts - but I was a written word person, and did not follow those technological routes.

I still write - and blog. And I edit and write three newsletters. Nothing short of something like dementia or a stroke will stop me from expressing myself through writing. 

Who knows. Maybe syndicated columns will make a comeback before my gray cells go dark. 

After all, vinyl records are now cool again. 

Pax et bonum

Stand Together For Life, November 2025

Every Saturday, a group of Catholics gather outside Rochester’s Planned parenthood headquarters to pray. Every fourth Saturday they are joined by Protestant pro-lifers for “Stand Together for Life.”

The event always begins with a Rosary by the Catholics.

They are then joined by Protestant brothers and sisters.

The event includes music …

… and talks and prayers by various individuals.

The featured speaker this month was Tim Archer, Board President of Care Net of Greater Oleans (a nearby county). Care Net is a women’s center that provides free, onsite pregnancy services, resources and support.

We also heard form Jan, one of the leaders of the local Mom Mentors, a group that provides all sorts of social and material aid for women. That aid includes baby showers, food, clothing, furniture, rides, listening even in the middle of the night, and more.

We also heard form a woman from Syracuse about pro-life efforts there (Alas, I did not catch her name.)

Someone stuck this image above in a gap in Planned Parenthood’s wall. Meanwhile, some folks who had been there before the event left messages chalked on the sidewalk like this one -

The event ended with participants placing their hands on Planned Parenthood’s street-side wall and praying for the mothers, the fathers, the babies, and the workers.

We will continue until legal abortion ends.

Pax et bonum