wind in the pines

And I suppose until (or if ever) I decide what Jesus might have done (and no, I do not think the answer is the rabble-rousing he did in the Jerusalem Temple or yet another Reformation, Schism, or Counter-Reformation), I will continue with my studies of Zen and Plum Village Engaged Buddhism.

my childhood faith, the Roman Catholic Church. He said every Church is pretty much dysfunctional, and asked me if I agreed that Jesus would remain in a dysfunctional and traumatizing Church. I could not agree, and still do not know what Jesus would do, with all my knowledge of Ancient Christianity

Today a close friend and mentor asked if I could consider returning to the Episcopal Church ⚓, which I left a year ago for reasons I will not disclose here (and returned to my study of Zen Buddhist meditation), and I said maybe, but in my heart I knew I could not, just as I know I cannot return to

I also wonder because even though I'm not ordained or a monk or even degreed, I've been an armchair historian of the Ancient Church and its literature for over 30 years. I even compiled a 500-page timeline on the first 800 years of the Church.

How many degreed scholars of the Ancient and Medieval Church, Monasticism, Manuscripts, Languages, Theology, Architecture, etc. are also ordained and/or actively involved in a religious community, I wonder? I have wondered this since I met Bart Ehrman years ago and he said he was a Christian atheist

Stunning: The Butterfly Nebula (NGC 6302) lies about 3800 light-years away in Scorpius.

Its glowing gas (formerly the star's outer layers) was expelled over 2200 years, forming a butterfly-shaped structure over two light-years wide!

Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Kastner (RIT)

Never heard of Shepherd's Pie until I was in my 20s and had it on an airplane. Rather liked it.

Love that moment!

Me too!

I loved riding the Shinkansen when I lived in Japan! ♥️🇯🇵♥️

And what's wild is that after Clement of Alexandria quotes from Valentinus's Letter to Agathopous, he provides his own argument--Jesus didn't need to eat or drink at all, as he was "kept together by a holy energy," but did so only for appearance's sake so as to not confuse people.

Catra from She-Ra and the Princess of Power winking. A trans flag in the background. Overlaying text: Every time you repost this Catra a transphobe gets bitten by a rabid cat

Hey Adora...

I suppose it's never a good time to note how certain Gnostics in Late Antiquity concluded that Jesus digested his food and drink in such ways that he never had to pee and poo.

I read Les Mis. That's all I ever need to read about sewers (though child me back in the 80s always wondered where the bathroom was on the Millennium Falcon).

Mid 30s for me. And then in my 40s I was also diagnosed with panic disorder. And then I got married for the first time, and my frustrated wife was the first to ever suggest I might be autistic. And then everything made sense.

Idk who needs to hear this, but you're overwhelmed. You are NOT lazy and unorganized.

Find strategies that work with your brain and don't let anyone talk down to you in the process.

Fixed it. 🙃

All 7! In fact, I'm 50 years old, and only here on Bluesky have I finally met people who have some of the same interests as me.

Your last saved celebrity photo is your therapist. Who is it?

Well, we can either talk it out or throw tanks, I guess.

The best book I've read this summer! 🦈🌊💙

A Best-Selling Horror Writer’s Biggest Fear? Being Recognized.

Alec-Nevala Lee interviewed me for NYT! The story mentions Lovecraft (my thesis was on women, eugenics & HPL), how weird it was when they optioned Mexican Gothic, & that I don't watch superhero flicks (sorry! I gorge on Sinners & Nosferatu, not Marvel. mmm... Horror)
www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/b...

I even had a portable printer for my laptop in college in the early '90s. My parents were tech geeks, so we had the Vic-20 and then the Commodore 64 when they first came out. My dad subscribed to computer magazines and I'd type out the codes for games and save them on (gasp!) cassette tapes.

I remember that one of the first things I looked up on the Internet in college in 1996 were the love poems of Karl Marx.

I like the previous cover, but I really love this one!

That looks exactly like the laptop I took with me to Japan in 1998! (It was my Mom's old laptop.)

Some things that neurodivergent me finds irritating and even painful:
1) facial and head hair
2) music in stores and restaurants
3) air conditioning
4) clothing tags
5) fluorescent lights
6) small talk
7) denim
8) hay
9) wool

One night, and then I realize it is morning, and I have not slept.

“The thing you blame on medievals is actually about Victorians.”

They have 3 sons: Herod VI, Agrippa I, and Aristobulus V. Coins depicting Salome and Aristobulus survive. She is styled Salome III in Herodian genealogies. It is uncertain where and when she died.

I should probably finish telling Salome's story. She is eventually married to her cousin Aristobulus III, who receives the Tetrarchy of Chalis from Nero in 57 CE, which he rules until 92 CE.

YouTube video by TheFrozenLands Jean Michel Jarre - Waiting For Cousteau (Full Song)

Currently, and for many months now, my favorite song

youtu.be/pH2UxxdXAfg?...