Happy birthdays, anniversaries 2025

After being delayed by colds, we finally got to celebrate two birthdays and two anniversaries at Hyde Park Restaurant. Upper Arlington | Hours + Location | Hyde Park Restaurants | Steakhouse in the US

 

I'm wearing my new birthday jacket from my kids--navy and white

Happy Anniversary Vatican II

Today is the anniversary of the convening of Vatican II, October 11, 1962. 60th anniversaries don't get the hoop-la of 50th, but the document and changes (1962-1965) are still being analyzed, discussed and argued about. It was an attempt to put a 2,000 year old religion with 4,000 year old roots into the contemporary world. Maybe it was just the 60s and all we associate with those changes or maybe Pope John XXIII (who didn't live very long) really will go down in history as the man who made all Christians study more, speak differently and challenge authority about everything.

Of all the changes I will just address the language. Latin was (and still is) the official language of the Roman Catholic Church, but Vatican II without changing any content did completely change understanding of the lay person by introducing the vernacular (native or heart language) into public worship.

 
Christians evangelizing after the Resurrection of Jesus originally spoke Greek--it was a "world" language. Jesus and his disciples didn't speak or read Hebrew, but spoke Aramaic, a Hebrew dialect and used a Greek version of the Scriptures (Septuagint), what we now call the Old Testament. That worked pretty good for a few centuries, but by then Latin was the language of influence, literature and business everyone used in the Roman kingdom. St. Jerome is known for his massive efforts to get the Holy Scriptures (both old and new) into the people's language--now called the Latin Vulgate. Pieces of scripture were always available in the native language, but that was for personal use, not public worship. And today, none of us whether we speak English, or German or Russian, would even recognize any of those translations from the Greek. That's how language is--always changing--and English has more words than any other western language. Because "the sun never set on the Union Jack" and the sailors took the King James Bible with them, English has more borrowed and foreign terms than any other language.

Now to today. The latest language squabble in the Church is that Pope Francis has decided to stop use of the Latin Mass, even though millions of devout Catholics think the documents of Vatican II never say NOT to use it, only that the vernacular is best used to encourage the faithful. They LOVE the Latin Mass. Latin is still used in all official documents concerning doctrine, worship, and law. So that change has made some Catholics really unhappy. And ironically, Francis' demands were issued in Latin. Pope Francis restricts celebration of traditional Latin Mass (catholiceducation.org)

We see constant changes in our language without a pope or church--this coming from Twitter, Tech, Academe, the prison population and particularly from Marxist based manipulation. Truth is now "my truth," and "racism" applies only to people of a large swath of Europe. "Community," "narrative," "gender," "transition," and even "Constitution" have been twisted and reconfigured to meet a political agenda. 

And yet so many intelligent, educated people can no longer define what a woman is! St. Jerome is rolling in the grave.

Watching i24News for Israeli-middle east coverage

CONGRATULATIONS to our President on the 3rd anniversary of recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, something other Presidents had promised, but then backed down. Since 1995 when it was approved by Congress with a bi-partisan majority, other presidents took the out using a waiver, refusing to recognize Jerusalem as the capital. Most politicians don't keep their promises, but a man who wasn't a politician and who has received 4 years of criticism and hate for not being part of the good-old boys club, got the job done.

Also this week-end Israel is participating in a trade show with the UAE. Another result of Trump's brokering a peace between Israel and its Muslim neighbors. Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met the first commercial flydubai flight, and this week he wished well the pilots of the first Israir flight going to Dubai. And on Wednesday Israelis sent greetings to the United Arab Emirates as it celebrated its national day. Again, this breaking out of peace angered the boys in both parties, who thought nothing could move things ahead except more meetings held over years.

Thank you, Mr. President, for showing the way to get things done, and especially for Warp Speed and the vaccine.

For information on Israel and the middle east that you probably won't get from MSNBC or CNN, try i24NEWS, an Israeli English language international 24-hour news and current affairs television channel located in Jaffa Port, Tel Aviv. It began broadcasting in Feb. 2017.

A great week-end at Lakeside

A lovely concert in the park this afternoon at Lakeside. Bright sun, gorgeous lake views of Kelley's Island. A group from the other end of Lake Erie, Buffalo, NY, singing canal and folk songs. We've also spent the week-end with many friends, including 2 couples from our home church in Columbus, UALC, who have supported us through this difficult year. Judi and I enjoyed time on the hotel porch this morning. Yesterday we watched a wedding with Rob and Lynn on the hotel lawn--wedding vows in Lakeside are VERY public. 

 Photo from our neighborhood wine and chocolate gathering for our 60th on Friday evening in a neighbor's yard.

 

A surprise for our anniversary

I knew my husband attended a one day art class at Lakeside this summer, but hadn't seen the results.  It's a pendant he painted of the Marblehead Lighthouse, with lake, trees, sky and sailboat, and it's an anniversary present.

Happy 95th anniversary, women

95 years ago women got the right to vote. Big whoop. Women had already made great strides in every area before they got the right to vote--they had a higher graduation rate than men, they had employment, they owned businesses, they'd accomplished public health miracles through women's clubs and agricultural extension, they established the first public libraries, they were speakers at lyceums and actresses in theater and fledging film, they were inventors, designers and musicians and artists. They were pastors of churches. Many states and localities already had voting women, as did churches. Most important, they were wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, taking care of business in the home and on the farm, where butter and egg money kept many families afloat. Getting the vote, although morally right, made almost no difference in women's lives. Their efforts in temperance and abolition were far greater and more important. And until Obama was elected, I'm not sure they even made a difference in who was in the White House, and that's not benefitted the poor, minorities or women.

          

Monday Memories—We move to the condo

One of the advantages of having an artist/husband is the wonderful homemade cards. This is the 12th anniversary of living here—January 20. I think he was at the closing and I was in the ER. So the details are a bit fuzzy, but he remembers. We have loved it here--beautiful site and wonderful neighbors, and people to mow the lawn and remove the snow.