More often than not, there is not much to...

Read at the Guardian and the New York Times each morning, beyond a couple of reports about current political events that merit skims rather than actual reading-- and of course this varies. But so much as I've read of this essay about the Parsis, the Zoroastrians in India, has been really quite good. Are there not Zoroastrians remaining in Iran? I must admit to a certain sentimental fondness for the religion, a survival of reading Mary Renault at just the right stage of adolescence, I imagine. 

The new tenant seems harmless enough, although apparently the arrangement is that the landlady is acting as chauffeur (to the supermarkets etc) when she's not away at work. As the world turns....

It is the feast of Our Lord's Transfiguration; which is the title of the monastery where I was a monk from 1982 until 1990.




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A gentle rain is falling, for forty minutes now. Lammastide here is truly the beginning of Fall.

The adventures involved in keeping the Eugene Symphony going when there cannot be concerts must be horrifying. In the mail this morning:

... Francesco [Lecce-Chong, the music director and conductor] and Chloe [no idea because I don't pay very much attention to these emails] give their hot takes (unvarnished opinions) [at least they are vaguely aware that not everyone pays attention to current slang and jargon] on orchestra auditions and Beyoncé's (pictured) recently released Black is King, a visual album and artistic reimagining of The Lion King. Spoiler alert [thanks very much for this!]: they're obsessed with Black is King!

I find it hard to understand why one would publicly admit such nonsense as being 'obsessed' with dreck. But of course maybe the remake of a series of sentimental pop/show tunes isn't dreck. Perhaps later on I will give Black is King! a hearing but I can already provide my own 'hot take': perfectly pleasant nonsense that one can hear in the background, while working on digging in the flowerbeds, without being distracted from one's labor. Res obsessionis? I don't think so.

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