Good Morning Digital Neighbors! Happy Friday Friends & Refugees, Early Birds and Later Dayers, Conversants and Lurkers, Phamily & Misfits, ADD Irregulars, WSN Curators, and other Wanderers and Seekers. It looks like my vibe may not be an every other day type of posting, doing the everyday thing does not seem to have percolated to the top of my morning activities. No expectations, but I had hoped to be a bit more focused in the morning. Such is life.
One of the joys I pursued more frequently during Lent was more country rides with the Rylee-girl. She loves going for rides and when I can find a stretch of untrafficked road I slow down to about 25 miles an hour and roll down the back windows. It is a joy to see her stick her head out the window and take in all the smells and sights. There is occasional barking at squirrels and other critters, but for the most part she just sucks in the bliss. I get to sight see and enjoy a little silence (during Lent) or put on some of my favorite music. As long as I don’t head down a private driveway and GPS stays connected I tend to just wander to see what is over the next hill or around the next bend. I suspect such drives will continue to part of our life.
COUNTRY LANE
Give me a road away from the crowd,
Away from the noise and the race
And let me wander the quiet trail
To a different time and place.
Where miles are measured in valleys,
And birches point the way
To somewhere we miss so dearly–
We call it yesterday.
All cares are soon forgotten
On the path of no intent;
The beauty of the countryside Is surely heaven sent.
And when this journey’s over
The memories shall remain
Of daydream trips into the past
And down a country lane.
C. David Hay
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
Quite apart from the fact that I utterly admire, even love, her, this is the best possible response to an idiot, who, in his defense, asked a pretty good question.
https://x.com/TBifford/status/2087992591279407133/video/1?s=61
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved. So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.”
