Comprehension . . .

Thursday, December 25, 2025 . It's Thor's day . . . Christmas day in TulseyTown. Strong Southerlies continue to bring record near 80º temperatures this afternoon with a mix of sun and clouds.

The light does not erase what is difficult.
It simply keeps us company within it.

Today in 1941, Bing Crosby debuted Irving Berlin's “White Christmas” on The Kraft Music Hall radio program. Crosby later recorded the song for the film Holiday Inn (1942), and it won an Oscar, becoming one of the most popular songs in American history.

The scientist and physicist Sir Isaac Newton was born on this day in 1642 Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. He developed the principles of modern physics, including the laws of motion and gravity among his contributions.

The mystic Pierre Teilhard de Chardin gave us the notion of Christ in all things.

So, when, actually, was Jesus ( Yeshua, Joshua, Yesus) born?

Reclaiming the sacred in our lives naturally brings us close once more to the wellsprings of poetry. – Robert Bly.

Noël

Born is the thought of that night sky.

Born with it: Our freedom,

our freedom to choose

the end of sorrow --

the freedom to choose again,

and again if need be.

All the past, truly past,

all renewing itself

along with You

in each and every this --

this --

very moment.

So, what is this laying

in a straw-and-light-filled barn?

A child we yet cannot see.

Hope we would yet comprehend.

Forgive the world

for all the mistakes

you have made

and be welcome.

Welcome

to your eternal home.

Noël.

Noël.

-- jab 12.24.25

Until we find silence . . .

Wednesday, December 24, 2025. It's Odin's day . . . and the Christmas Eve forecasts indicate a warm windy day for TulseyTown. Gusty Southerlies and near 80º during the afternoon.

Despite Trump, kindness and decency abounds. – Robert Reich, Its A Wonderful Life.

Is Santa a shamanic sun-god?

For one night a year, the hard-edged world of international alliances, intelligence, radar, satellites, and fighter jets turns into a night for adults to create a magical world for children. – Heather Cox Richardson, on a video from Letters From An American, posted for this Christmas Eve.

Prayer is sitting in silence until it silences us, choosing gratitude until we are grateful. – Fr. Richard Rohr

A river runs through the snow . . .

Tuesday, December 23, 2025. It's Tiw's day … Easy Southerlies are forecasted to replace the mild morning fog with sunny skies and mid 70's this afternoon in TulseyTown. And my friend Chris sent me a note that said “The warmth of Christmas week will be physical this year, what with temperatures near 80º!”

Today is the birth date of Norman Maclean. The author (A River Runs Through It) was born in 1902 Clarinda, Iowa and grew up in Montana.

It's the birthday of Robert Bly. The poet in my top five was born in 1926 Lac qui Parle County near Madison, Minnesota. His poems are to be heard by his readings. The difference from the page to the ear is significant.

The hole in the street. – Jeff Krasno, Training the Unconscious. 12.20.25

As I drive my parents home through the snow

their frailty hesitates on the edge of a mountainside.

I call over the cliff

only snow answers.

They talk quietly

of hauling water of eating an orange

of a grandchild's photograph left behind last night.

When they open the door of their house they disappear.

And the oak when it falls in the forest who hears it through miles and miles of silence?

They sit so close to each other as if pressed together by the snow.

– Robert Bly, “As I drive my parents home through the snow,” The Light Around the Body, Harper and Row, 1967.