BSM Food Court

 

I was driven here by shuttle car. The KK Sportage is being serviced.

The court always has a lineup at the TH’s.

A table of old local yokels is discussing things.

People of all races can be seen.

I read a couple of poems. Now, I’m reading Lord of the World on the second hand IPad I bought. LotW was written by Robert Hugh Benson.  I wonder if any of the literary RC’s I know have read it.

As we were dropped off, we saw that there had been a collision at the intersection on 18th street where there is the Canadian Tire, the BSM parking lot, and the Brandon Cemetery.  Three cars were involved in the accident including a taxi.  Curiosity caused us to walk toward the intersection to get a better looky-Lou-look.  We passed a man and I had sensed he had the seen the accident.  Turned out, he was in the taxi.  I immediately told him that I hoped he hadn’t been hurt.  Someone had run a red light…

Earlier today, I talked to someone living near Lisbon.  They have cole slaw in Europe I determined.  

A student asked for the translation of tubería.  In context, I knew he meant pipes.

Humanity longs to free itself from poverty, from toil, from war — from everything which few escape without degrading themselves.

Friday 6:53 AM

 It rained early this morning.  Weather app tells me it is going to clear up and it will be a scorcher.

I have a 7:30 AM class this morning with Spain, a woman named Maria

Some time this morning, we drive to Riding Mountain National Park.  It will almost be a complete day off for me.

You are suffering! Listen: 'His' Heart is not smaller than ours. — You are suffering? There is good in suffering.

For while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6).

He that would have fruit, must climb the tree.

—Pensar como nuestros contemporáneos es la receta

de la prosperidad y de la estupidez.

—To think like our contemporaries is the prescription

for prosperity and for stupidit

Two other books I have recently acquired

 The first book I have been stealing passages from and placing in this blog.  I heard of the book reading David Warren’s Essays in Idleness Blog.  The book, apparently, was an inspiration for the blog’s title.  To retire to a secluded hut in order to meditate, write and contemplate.  That would be a life…

The second book I also heard of from DW’s EiI blog. The other book of aphorisms I heard of thanks to EiI were those of NGD.

I got the books on Amazon.

Saturday 4:28 PM

 A day when you don’t have to work is great: it doesn’t matter what season it is.  Be that as it may, I don’t like this day’s summer weather.  It is too hot to be out in it.

Huge Forest Fires in Ontario.  They are not being caused by Climate Change. Forests just got to be on fire to rejuvenate.  And this year there is so much of them on fire that even if Canada had competent governments — which it doesn’t— the fires are just on too huge a scale for even the best forest management to deal with them.  So both the environmentalists and Trump are wrong.  Politics ruins everything.

Examination of conscience: a daily task. Book-keeping is never neglected by anyone in business.

And is there any business worth more than the business of eternal life?

When their religious depth vanishes, things become

mere transparent surfaces behind which nothingness

can be discerned.

 Un gran amor es una sensualidad bien ordenada.

199

 It’s the 199th day of 2026.

It’s 200th day eve.

199 is a prime number.

—Escribir corto, para concluir antes de hastiar.

—Write concisely, so as to finish before making the reader sick.

Sunday 7:30 PM

 The triangular shadow is the roof of my Mom’s house.

Be firm. Be virile  Be a man. And then… be a saint.

The monk Zehō is among the finest scholars in the Pure Land sect, yet he doesn’t parade his learning; he lives in calm seclusion, chanting the nenbutsu day in day out. An exemplary existence.

If nothing will be gained by changing something, it is better not to do so.

—Quien no vuelva la espalda al mundo actual se deshonra.

—Whoever does not turn his back on the contemporary world dishonors himself.

The Authentic Reactionary

 

The book I ordered on Amazon has arrived.

Saturday 9:10 PM

 A lovely evening, however:

—Nadie tiene capital sentimental suficiente para

malgastar el entusiasmo.

—Nobody has so much sentimental capital that he can

afford to squander his enthusiasm.

NGD is from Columbia, so I will cheer for them in the WC.

A man who was studying archery took two arrows in his hand' and stood before the target.

'A beginner should not hold two arrows,' his teacher told him. 'You will be careless with the first, knowing you have a second. You must always be determined to hit the target with the single arrow you shoot, and have no thought beyond this.' With only two arrows, and standing before his master, would he really be inclined to be slapdash with one of them? Yet although he may not have been aware of his own carelessness, his teacher was. The same injunction surely applies in all matters.

A man engaged in Buddhist practice will tell himself at night that there is always the morning, or in the morning will anticipate the night, always intending to make more effort later. And if such are your days, how much less aware must you be of the passing moment's indolence. Why should it be so difficult to carry something out right now when you think of it, to seize the instant?

“Unconverted man lives in the visible world judging all that is or may be by tradition’s experience and by the rules of logic. But when he encounters Christ, he must either accept him and his revolutionary approach to truth or lose him. If he attempts to judge also the Lord by the standards of common experience, he will soon notice that he is dealing with something outside experience. He will have to discard the norms of the past, and take Christ as his new point of departure. When he no longer attempts to subject Christ to immediate reason and experience, he will recognize him as the supreme measure of all possible reality.”

Thursday 8:50 PM: Overnap

 

In the morning, I talked to China for two hours and then to Spain for three hours.  The topic of conversation with many of the Spanish students was the game: Spain — Austria WC knock-out match.  I told the students of my sincere desire to see Spain win and of my thinking that Canada was not going to beat Morocco.

In the afternoon, we — that be, my son Tony & me — did some work.  I cleaned the interior of the car and the garage while he mowed the lawn.  We did at one point switch roles: with him cleaning the car and me mowing part of the lawn.  I mention this for the historical record.  

I suppose I should also mention the trouble caused by the recycling bin.  I reluctantly inform historians of what happened.  The green bin was put out in the back lane so that the city truck coming around could get the organic contents.  It turned out that the truck put a big dent into the green bin as the bin was emptied.  We were later able to get the dent out with a hammer and my feet.  The green bin also stunk because of the rotting of its organic contents.  My mother had the lid open so she could air out the bin.  After we mowed the lawn, she told me that she wished we had not mowed the lawn because she wanted to let the green bin, which we had filled with grass clippings, air out to remove the stink. You can’t win.

We finished our work in time to watch the Spain — Austria match.  I saw Spain score a well-deserved first goal.  Then, I took a nap. I overnapped, waking up groggy and unsure where I was.  For an instant, I thought it was time to start my evening classes.  It turned out I still had a few hours.

In the evening, I taught three classes while watching the Portugal — Croatia match.  I talked to Fredericton, Brazil, and Toronto.  The student in Brazil was watching the game.  The student in Toronto lived close to the stadium where the match was being held.  The game was filled with drama.

Wednesday 22:04 PM

 It’s July 1st in Canada. Here is what David Warren has to say about it.

England and USA and Belgium win their World Cup knockout matches today.  The African countries couldn’t hold their leads. T’wat a shame!

It’s the 181st day of the year!

 Norway and the Ivory Coast are tied one-one late in the second half.  

July 2nd will be Hump Day 2026!!

I have the Sportage at Planet KIA.  The A/C needs fixing.

Ill luck is good for something.

• Donde no hay huellas de vieja caridad cristiana, hasta la más pura cortesía tiene algo frio, hipócrita, duro.
• Where there are no vestiges of old Christian charity, even the purest courtesy is somewhat cold, hypocritical, hard.

Alone! You are not alone. We are keeping you close company from afar. Besides..., the holy Spirit, living in your soul in grace — God with you, — is giving a supernatural tone to all your thoughts, desires and

actions.

 we cannot survive in this paradoxical state without special help from grace and without ever-renewed self-discipline.

Monday 6:12 AM

 

On a scale of one to ten how would you rate this Monday?

It’s the 180th day of 2026.  Hump Day 2026 is this week!

I didn’t sleep well last night. The room was stuffy.

I was up at 5:00 AM extending my Duolingo streak.

NGD said:  the three enemies of man are the devil, bureaucracy and technology.

Soon the bureaucracy will ban life altogether because it results in death.

Thursday 3:36 PM

 

Will get the A/C fixed next week.

Shipping goods by sea has tripled in price.  I wonder why.

I REMEMBER a house where all were good

   To me, God knows, deserving no such thing:

   Comforting smell breathed at very entering,

Fetched fresh, as I suppose, off some sweet wood.

That cordial air made those kind people a hood

All over, as a bevy of eggs the mothering wing

   Will, or mild nights the new morsels of spring:

Why, it seemed of course; seemed of right it should.

—Los parlamentos democráticos no son recintos se discute, sino donde el absolutismo popular

registra sus edictos.

—Democratic parliaments are not forums where debates take place, but rather where popular

absolutism registers its decrees.

34th Street Heading South

 I dropped off my son Tony at his graduation rehearsal..

—La decisión que no sea un poco demente no merece

respeto.

—A decision that is not a little crazy does not deserve

respect.

Found at www.divinumofficium.com

 

A Christian has nothing to fear in a disaster.

If you lose the supernatural meaning of your life, your charity will be philanthropy; your purity, decency; your mortification, stupidity; your discipline, a whip; and all your works, fruitless.

Monday 7:49 PM

 Spiritual maturity begins when we stop feeling like we have to take care of the world.

Saturday 5:51 AM

 The weather has been so unsettled recently.  I have thought that and so have a few who been here all the while.  The sky, which can be beautiful here, does have its moments when it ceases to be a pretty painting and becomes like a video lacking focus.  It’s a quality I can’t say I saw at all in China.

Yesterday, I was outside for the morning and it was cold.

I purchased a World Cup package from TSN.

I had a student cancel a class this morning. So, I have an extra hour. I am using it to journalize.  I will use it to read Trollope and Guardini and NGD and Escriva:

• El enemigo de una civilización es menos el adversario externo que el interno desgaste.
• The external adversary is less the enemy of civilization than is internal attrition.

           Bitterness has sharpened your tongue. Be quiet!

Deloraine

This town was built in the midst of flat.

 It is not so busy at the Co-op I’m working at.  I’ve read Trollope, Merton and NGD:

• Creer que una verdad patente, claramente expresada, ha de convencer, no es más que prejuicio ingenuo.
• To believe that an obvious truth, clearly expressed, should be convincing, is no more than a naïve prejudice.

NGD, as always, nails it.

I’ve overheard an insistence on the need for rain from most; one said she didn’t want it.

To Virden

 The #1 heading West.

Old Virden Train Station.

Virden arena: alternate Wheat Kings rink.

How far Virden is from anywhere.

Do I like Virden?  Yes!!

Reading NGD in Virden:

—El hombre recobra en la soledad aliento para vivir.

—In solitude man recovers strength to live.

—Una idea extravagante se vuelve ridícula cuando

varios la comparten.

O se camina con todos, o se camina solo.

Nunca debe caminarse en grupo.

—An outlandish idea becomes ridiculous when

several people share it.

Either one walks with everybody, or one walks alone.

One should never walk in a group.

Time for some Nicolás Gómez Dávila

 First aphorism I looked upon today:

—Hell is the place where man finds all his plans realized.

 The second aphorism I looked upon today:

—Stupidities spread at the speed of light.

I can say that I have realized some plans in my life and I’ll be darned if they actually worked out in my favor.  And I can say that I can attest to the second aphorism.

And then there is this from the Founding Questions blog:

…of course observing others’ behavior makes me wonder, reciprocally, about my own. Why did So-and-So do thus and such, which is so obviously stupid and counterproductive? If I can figure that out, maybe I can figure out why I keep doing thus-and-such, which is so obviously stupid and counterproductive…