The Twelve Deer of Christmas

On the way home from the library this evening, I saw a herd of twelve deer. They stopped and stared at me long enough for me to get a good head count.

My cold is much better, although I am not back up to full speed yet. I hope to be as well as I ever am in a couple of days.

Evelyn's birthday was Saturday, but it turned out not to be such a good day. She and Joe went into Madison for a workshop. They expected to be back on the way home before the storm struck, but it got there an hour and a half earlier than expected. So the trip home took two and a half hours of white-knuckle driving, instead of the easy drive of under an hour that it usually is. So they got home exhausted, only to discover that they had a lot of snow to shovel and that the sheep had broken into the barn, overturned all sorts of things and gotten into the corn and hay stored there. Then they found out that the heater that keeps the sheep's water supply from freezing had broken and the tank was a block of ice. Joe struggled with that without any success, and they both went to bed tired. Sunday was not much better as they tried to get caught up on some of those things. This evening I think she had a family celebration planned, so I hope that makes up for the mess over the weekend.

Tom took the snow blower over to have it repaired this afternoon. From what he says, I think it is about like I will be after I get over this cold: about as well as it's ever going to be. Not quite what it was in its prime, but it'll have to do.

Sundays with Sundance

Well, the winter storm was not as bad as predicted. The best news was, despite the ice storm portion, we did not lose power. Tom was able to get the snow blower working well enough to clear the drive, but he will have to take it over to Reedsburg tomorrow for real repairs. At least for now they are not predicting more significant snow for the coming week, although it will be cold. A low of four (4) degrees midweek.

So it was another day couped up in The Lodge. I finished re-reading Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, a mystery built around King Richard III and the death of the Princes in the Tower. I think you have to be English to care about this, or a Shakespeare freak. The point of the book, though, is that there are all sorts of things about "history" that we take for granted that are simply not true, but pointing this out never seems to change anyone's mind, even when you can prove it with overwhelming evidence.

Sigh.

The cats, meanwhile, are a bit stir crazy. Sundance was very whiny this morning, but she seems to have gotten over it. It takes them a week or two to realize that winter means not much outdoors activity, not even bathroom trips. They have begun using their litter box, but I suspect for cats it is always a second best. Sort of like a Port-a-Potty. Given a choice, one always prefers a real bathroom. Or in the case of a cat, a real yard.

Publications

The snow has turned to sleet and frozen rain, and I can hear it hitting against the wall and windows of my room. Not a fun sound.

But the good news is ...

I just found out that my article for Spiritual Life magazine will appear in the Spring 2008 issue. I realize most of you have never read anything I wrote, and I thought I would show you that writing has been a bigger part of my life than you may think. This bibliography includes all but a couple of articles and a couple of poems I have had published.

Michael Dodd

Bibliography

Articles in Spiritual Life magazine

“Divinization in John of the Cross” 24:4Winter 1978, 258-253.

“Saint John of the Cross and Friendship” 26:4 Winter 1980, 194-204.

“Beginners and the Spiritual Canticle” 29:4 Winter 1983, 195-208.

“’In the Heart of the World, I Will Be Hope’: The Discalced Carmelite Charism Today” 38:2 Summer 1992, 99-106.

“The Trinity in a Poem of John of the Cross” 50:4 Winter 2004, 195-208.

Other articles

“The Historical Setting of St Teresa’s Life” Teofanes Egido, OCD (translated with Steven Payne, OCD) Carmelite Studies: Spiritual Direction, ed. John Sullivan, OCD (ICS Publications: Washington, DC) 1980, 122-182

“The Economic Concerns of Madre Teresa” Teofanes Egido, OCD (translated with Steven Payne, OCD) Carmelite Studies V: Edith Stein/Teresian Culture, ed. John Sullivan, OCD (ICS Publications: Washington, DC) 1987, 151-172.

“Joan Gurutekoaren mezua: historia, agerrera, etorkizuna” Karmel: Loiolako Inazio – Joan Gurutzekoa 1491-1591 (Karmel: Zenbakia, Spain) 1990, 211-222.

“Master in the Faith: John of the Cross for Today” (with Steven Payne, OCD) Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture 26:3, Fall1991, 232-245.

“John of the Cross: The Person, His Times, His Writings” Carmelite Studies VI: John of the Cross, ed. Steven Payne, OCD (ICS Publications: Washington, DC) 1992, 7-28.

“Pere Jacques” Carmelite Digest Summer 2005, 26-43.

“Constitutions of El Cerro: A Humorous Work by Jerome Gracian”, Jerome Gracian (translated by Michael Dodd) Carmelite Studies IX: A Better Wine: Essays Celebrating Kieran Kavanaugh, ed. Kevin Culligan, OCD (ICS Publications: Washington, DC) 2007, 95-135.

Book reviews in Spiritual Life

Elements of Rite: A Handbook of Liturgical Style 29:3 Fall1983, 185-186.
The Future of Our Past: The Spanish Mystics Speak to Us Today 32:2 Summer1986, 113-114.
Take and Receive: A Guide for Prayer Series 35:2 Summer 1989, 112-113.
Out of Chaos: Refounding Religious Congregations 35:3 Fall 1989, 182-184.
St. Teresa of Avila: The Way of Perfection: A Study Edition 47:1 Spring 2001, 52-54.
To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Vocation of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiegne Guillotined July 17, 1794 47:2 Summer 2001, 114-116.

Articles in The Catholic Dictionary of Spirituality

A Michael Glazier Book, Edited by Michael Downey
(The Liturgical Press: Collegeville, MN) 1993

“Consumerism”
“Divinization”
“Materialism”
“Redemption”
“Secularism”
“Visions”

Conferences available from ICS Publications on cassette and CD

“John of the Cross: The Person, His Writings, His Times”

“St. Teresa of Avila and the Trinity”

“St. Teresa of the Andes: An Experience of American Sanctity”

“St. Therese of Lisieux and the Mission of the Church”

Remember the Sabbaath to keep it snowy

Winter may not arrive officially for another three weeks, but it is already here in Wisconsin. Friday I woke to three to four inches of unpredicted snow. About two weeks ago, Tom had gone out with the snowblower to run it and make sure it was ready when needed. So naturally yesterday morning it ran for a while and then quit before he got the drive cleared. He spent much of the morning getting it to work -- but it is definitely not fixed. Getting it to a repair shop is going to be a challenge, because all the people who discover that their snowblowers aren't working will be in the same predicament.

This is an issue because the winter storm that was supposed to arrive around lunchtime today may drop up to six inches of more snow + an inch of ice on us. Could be bad for driving and power lines. It actually started snowing about 10:30. If the bird feeder population means anything, we are in for it. I counted twenty dark-eyed junco males alone at one point. They tend to eat seed that has fallen to the ground, which is why there can be so many at once. There is always at least one woodpecker at the suet and a couple of finches on the seed bags and a chickadee or two coming and going at the feeder itself, along with a tufted titmouse.

I'm still sick -- hack, hack -- so I didn't go out to Wal-Mart with Tom this morning to stock up for the weekend blizzard: some cold medicine and comfort food for humans, cat food and bird seed. To be honest, I would be happy to be snowed in for a few days so I could just rest and get over this thing. I did go to work yesterday -- if I stay away more than a day, I come back to a real mess -- but I was not at my best. Poor Joe has this thing now, and he was in court arguing a case all morning, coughing, swallowing cough drops, sneezing. Not fun at all.