Belinda's brain

Belinda's brain: please consider what she says

Come Holy Spirit

I love this song, Come Holy Spirit. Isn't God wonderful and marvelous to give us such beauty in music:

Veni, Sancte Spiritus,

et emitte caelitus

lucis tuae radium.

Veni, pater pauperum,

veni, dator munerum

veni, lumen cordium.

Consolator optime,

dulcis hospes animae,

dulce refrigerium.

In labore requies,

in aestu temperies

in fletu solatium.

O lux beatissima,

reple cordis intima

tuorum fidelium.

Sine tuo numine,

nihil est in homine,

nihil est innoxium.

Lava quod est sordidum,

riga quod est aridum,

sana quod est saucium.

Flecte quod est rigidum,

fove quod est frigidum,

rege quod est devium.

Da tuis fidelibus,

in te confidentibus,

sacrum septenarium.

Da virtutis meritum,

da salutis exitum,

da perenne gaudium,

Amen, Alleluia.

Come, Holy Spirit,

send forth the heavenly

radiance of your light.

Come, father of the poor,

come giver of gifts,

come, light of the heart.

Greatest comforter,

sweet guest of the soul,

sweet consolation.

In labor, rest,

in heat, temperance,

in tears, solace.

O most blessed light,

fill the inmost heart

of your faithful.

Without your divine will,

there is nothing in man,

nothing is harmless.

Wash that which is unclean,

water that which is dry,

heal that which is wounded.

Bend that which is inflexible,

warm that which is chilled,

make right that which is wrong.

Give to your faithful,

who rely on you,

the sevenfold gifts.

Give reward to virtue,

give salvation at our passing on,

give eternal joy.

Amen. Alleluia.

Aging

God is preparing me for death -- my death. I had a terrible and profound dream when I was in my late 30's -- I was looking at myself in the mirror from some distance and as I drew closer to the mirror I concluded that it wasn't myself that I was looking at but a very old wrinkled woman. As I peered at this very old and wrinkled face wondering why she was appearing to me, I suddenly realized that it was me! I awoke completely with no trace of sleepiness and began to sob, mourning and grieving for my youth taken from me. What a pity that the beautiful bodies that God gives us decay and die becoming fodder for the earth, the worms, and the plants. But it must be so...otherwise, I fear, that I would be a very vain and proud creature before God's eye. In giving me this knowledge through a dream, a vision that touched the very marrow of my soul, I was profoundly changed and not a day goes by that I don't think of my death and the deaths of those around me.

The most holy Virgin had more faith than all men and angels. She saw her Son in the crib of Bethlehem, and believed Him the Creator of the world. She saw Him fly from Herod, and yet believed Him the King of kings. She saw Him born, and believed Him eternal. She saw Him poor and in need of food, and believed Him the Lord of the universe. She saw Him lying on straw, and believed Him omnipotent. She observed that He did not speak, and she believed Him infinite wisdom. She heard Him weep, and believed Him the joy of Paradise. In fine, she saw Him in death, despised and crucified, and, although faith wavered in others, Mary remained firm in the belief that He was God.

Of The Virtues of the Blessed Virgin Mary
St. Alphonsus Liguori

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

My Dad

I have been blessed to know my Dad for 59 years -- that's all of my life so far. He was a good man, kindly to me, sincere in his affections, and always welcoming. We had our struggle when I was a teenager just like so many others, but fortunately, our mutual respect and affection for one another won out and we enjoyed a warm friendship until his death, November 17th, 2010. What I remember most about Dad is the peacefulness and calmness that would envelope a room when he appeared; his quickness to laugh over something funny someone would say; his alertness to every nuance of feeling and mood of others; his desire to be helpful in giving good advice and counsel; his faithfulness in working every single day, long, hard hours until his knees finally gave out and he had to have surgery. He loved music and enjoyed hearing all of sing. Dad was very inventive and creative too and would talk to us about things he thought up to make something work better; he invented a rivet spacer tool, a wheel that measured exact distance of each rivet to specifications for aircraft production. He invented it to save time in his assigned task. The company, Consolidated Aircraft, gave him a whopping $50.00 for the invention. The patent rights went to the company. (sigh-we could have been rich!). He would make lunch pails out of empty cereal boxes for our lunches - I'm sure all the kids at school were envious! He also enjoyed fishing -- Dad's first experience in catching a fish was at the Klamath River. There he was, shoulder to shoulder with like minded men, intent on only one thing - catching a fish! Dad was so excited when he finally hooked one, that as he was reeling in the fish, it charged him and in order not to lose the fish he started running backwards as quickly as he could, tromping through an open burning camp fire and finally beaching the fish - a 25+ lb salmon. Boy was he ever proud of that fish! Well, I'll write more about my Dad as I think of all the experiences I had with him.

Baby Joshua

Joshua, our new grandson, was born Sunday morning at 12:45 a.m. He is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen.

I've been doing some watercolors and pencil sketches for Jana's baby this summer - here is one.

and this.....is a cute little mouse "hot pad" I made. I even embroidered the eyes and put on a nose and wiskers. Alan's mother, Margot, gave me two of these hot pads decades ago and they are literally falling to pieces. I made two more in Christmas holiday fabric for Alan's sister, Beth.

This is what I've been working on lately -- fun!

Emily

This is Emily, being...Emily

Butterfly in my garden

My Mom & Dad's grapes

I just came back from visiting my folks in Southern California. They have an amazing grape arbor above the Koi pond. The grapes were so beautiful hanging there in blue, green, and purple abundance, that I rushed to get my camera and took a few pictures of them. Lovely, lush, sweet grapes!

Hot, hot, summer days

It is hot here in the foothills of Northern California. Today it reached 98.2 degrees by 3:30 p.m.; many days it's a great deal warmer. I worry about my garden, my yard, my vegetable and strawberry patch, and my fruit trees. It wakes me up on hot sultry nights, wondering if they need water. Each morning I open the house up and walk outside to inspect the plants -- yes, indeed, they are thirsty. I'm a slave to my roses, flowers, shrubs, and trees. So, I pull out the hose, turn on the nice cool water and appreciate how beautiful the droplets of water look on the Agapanthus, hydrangea, dahlias, canna, and roses. I bask in their appreciation for my tender care and thank the Good Lord that I have such a lovely life.