Ichabod, The Glory Has Departed: 2015-11-15

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Tis the Last Rose of Summer

California Dreamin is our last hybrid tea rose this summer.

"The Last Rose of Summer" is a poem by Irish poet Thomas Moore, who was a friend of Byron and Shelley. Moore wrote it in 1805 while at Jenkinstown Park in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Sir John Stevenson set the poem to its beautiful melody and it was published in a collection of Moore's work called Irish Melodies (1807-34). It was made popular in the twenty first century in a recording by Charlotte Church and the Irish Tenors.

This melody was used extensively throughout Friedrich von Flotow's opera "Martha," first performed in 1847 in Vienna. According to the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1954), this opera was a remodelling from a ballet written in conjunction with Burgmuller and Deldevez and produced in Paris in 1844 as "Lady Henriette." It stands to reason, based on the evidence, that Flotow made liberal use of Stevenson's melody.

CELTIC WOMAN LYRICS
"The Last Rose Of Summer"

'Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone
All her lovely companions are faded and gone
No flower of her kindred, no rosebud is nigh
To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one, to pine on the stem
Since the lovely are sleeping, go sleep thou with them
Thus kindly I scatter thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden lie scentless and dead

So soon may I follow when friendships decay
And from love's shining circle the gems drop away
When true hearts lie withered and fond ones are flown
Oh who would inhabit this bleak world alone?
This bleak world alone.

Our Deep Frost Arrives Tonight - Sunny Days Ahead
I never expected to be cutting roses into late November, but that has been the case. Above is an example of the last hybrid tea rose of this year - California Dreamin'. I cut a vase full of roses for our dear friend and neighbor, who is still in the hospital.

Today will be my last cutting of roses for the altar this year. I used to play this song on my flute, because my mother "forced me to learn an instrument." I was a reluctant flutist on warm and sunny days, but the discipline introduced me to classical music, playing in a non-rock band, and participating in the orchestra. One can love music without having much talent in it. I always found it odd that someone would be gifted in music and take it for granted, yet there are many who take it for granted while they make their living in it.

Readers said they enjoyed the post with "Woodman Spare That Tree," and I like looking up background information on all these things.

Another Strange Event - Very Late Autumn Leaves
I trust that the 17 degree night will finish off the green leaves on so many trees. That will hasten our mulching with leaves, which started some time ago.

I look at leaves as a warm blanket for the plants and soil creatures, fertilizer for the future, and a pleasant looking mulch.

Friday, November 20, 2015

SpenerQuest Is Now Shunning the Emergence of Justification by Faith

Readers often remind me how the Missouri Synod imagines all Lutheran discussions to be centered in Holy Mother LCMS, its history, its dogma, and its leaders past and present.

Otten's friend Bill Bischoff used to teach that way, the old game of "When Did Missouri go wrong?"
St. Francis Pieper died and everything went downhill, Bischoff imagined. But the real cause was the UOJ fanatics getting their universal forgiveness without faith into the Brief Confession in 1932 and making it the ultimate statement from that time on, a feat acknowledged with humility by the ELS, WELS, and the micro-mini sects breaking off from Holy Mother.

When I published the new list of videos against UOJ - linked here - I expected another spasm of outrage from SpenerQuest.

But no! Silence reigned on LutherQuest (sic) even as the UOJists continued to squabble like prisoners locked in a cell, missing their Mad Dog wine, feeling the withdrawal pains.

This silence is an important step in the failure of UOJ to convince people. The three stages of persuasion are:

Total agreement, aka preaching to the choir. Most blogs stick with this, because everyone with a keyboard has an opinion and few want to expose the extent of their Lutheran illiteracy.
Angry opposition. This anger erupts only when something of substance has been discussed, so the furor is a good sign but not quite a complete a confession.
Total silence. Level Three does not mean that they do not read or react to the post, message, or book. Silence is the most powerful reaction of all, and it means the threat to their works-righteousness is terrifying them. My old dog Precious used to sass every dog as we walked along in Phoenix. She enjoyed getting them to bark in response. When we passed one yard, the dog's low warning growl was so deep and menacing that Precious lowered her head and crept by the tall privacy fence. A neighbor warned us away from the yard a few days later. SpenerQuest is scared now, quivering in their easy chairs.

The advocates of Universal Forgiveness and Salvation cannot win by holding up their Pieper and Walther--forget Stephan, in fact, never mention him again--against the Word of God. Most laity have enough knowledge of the Word to refute and condemn UOJ>

Sassy Signals - With Her Tail, Eyes, Barks, Growls, and Singing

Sassy does not like the flash, so she tends to look away for photos,
even outdoors.

Our neighborhood knows Sassy quite well. One boy came up to me and asked, "Did your dog lose her leg in Viet Nam or from a horse kicking her?" His grasp of history was a bit off - the answer is - from being kicked by a horse and dropped off to be euthanized. The rescue group had to amputate her leg, and we adopted her after her recovering.

"We see you walk by the kids waiting for the bus each day." Our timing varies quite a bit, but often the kids are waiting for the bus while parents watch from their cars. Sassy greets her favorites and we walk on.

On a good day, even at 7 AM, we will see the sisters going off to school, our landscaper friend on the corner and his brother, the kids waiting for the bus, our helper, and perhaps the Army veteran's parents a few blocks away.

Sassy and I talk during the walk. She loves to communicate. If I want a shorter walk, she freezes and grins like, "You must be kidding." She does not budge. Sometimes I ask, "What do you want? Show me." When she hears "show me," she grins and heads down a new block, often the side streets - new faces, new yards to explore.

Sassy scrounges food at water at several homes, and they welcome her or apologize for not having treats. "We have water at home, Sassy." Many dogs show guilt when caught sneaking a treat for themselves. Sassy grins. Our landscaper friend used to shoo Sassy away from the treats, which had Sassy escaping with a big grin. Now he buys her bags of treats and asks if she needs more.

Our helper's wife likes to have water and a few cat treats there when Sassy comes by for happy barks. Sassy knows that she loves hearing those happy barks, so she obliges with a series of very loud barks.

Quiet alerts, inside the house, are funny. If a friend like Bill walks in the room, the tip of her tail twitches to acknowledge him. She is not supposed to be loud early in the morning, so she flaps her big ears to wake me up for a walk or a trip out back.

Many cats and dogs poke their owners with a paw - for attention or food. Sassy does that and also drags her paw down the antique maple table I have near the computer. This is done in various ways. If she thinks I have neglected her, she drags it while looking at me with disdain and scorn.

If she is being playful and wants a treat, she grins at me. I grin back and nod yes. Then she really grins for her treat.

Dani held the pose while I got the camera.
Sassy photobombed Dani, and we were all laughing.

If I am really slack in my staff duties, she rotates her tail and looks at me with varying degrees of disgust. The more upset she is, the faster the tail rotates and the more upset she looks. That makes us burst into laughter, so we cannot help encouraging this. "Where have I failed in my duties, Sass?" I ask about going outside or having supper or getting a treat. Sometimes she just wants lovey time before going to sleep for the night.

If she is saying goodnight, she comes over to me, hugs me, licks my hand, and often holds down my arm while grinning at me. When done with this, she turns to Mrs. I and repeats this. I often say, "She wants three hands petting her and two people admiring her at once." That is exactly what Sassy enjoys, so we do that for a time. She picks up and goes to the bottom of the bed and goes to sleep.

Growling usually means she is very happy, unless disturbed in her sleep. We have to discuss whether I am on her bed or she is on mine. She acknowledges that and makes up for being crabby with me.

"Tuck and roll" means she will roll over by leaning to one side, rolling over on her back. She has the biggest grin on her face because we do this so often. She gets a tummy rub and a lot of laughter.

The German Shepherd side of her is very protective but also quite affectionate. The Cattle Dog nature is unusually chatty. She has something to say all the time, often barking at me to hurry up when I stop to talk to a neighbor on our walks.

"Do you have an appointment somewhere Sassy?"

"Bark!"

"Are we making you late?"

"Bark Bark."

"Then let's go."

She tears off and runs back barking to get me going.

Sassy responds immediately to our emotions. If we are upset by the news, she puts her paw firmly on us, as if to say, "It will be ok."

"Let's go to the bank. I get three treats for barking into their PA system."

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Everyone Is Reading about the Bullying WELS District President John Steinbrenne

WELS' first female Minister of the Means of Grace.
No one wants to open that can of worms, another
Church and Change operation.
But now starring at Steinbrenner's hive of Enthusiasm.