SPRING is a time of combat, at least here in suburban Pennsylvania. The greens are on the move. They are lush, vibrant and unstoppable. Lilacs, azaleas, verdant lawns and an infinitude of flowering plants fill our lungs with their sweet, restoring exhalations. But the weeds have returned too, amassed in military-style battalions with age-old strategies of invasion and conquest, some operating with sneak attacks or guerilla warfare, others blitzkrieg-ing entire neighborhoods within a few hours. They may have delicate and colorful flowers. They may be as fragrant as expensive perfumes, but they will spread and dominate all other plants if they get their way. They  mean to conquer. In May, invasive vines would wrap their tendrils around our necks at night if we let them do what they naturally do and if we did not engage in backbreaking battles with them, like mariners in a storm holding the sails against the towering waves crashing over our heads. I have seen grape vine trying to get in our bedroom windows. I have told my husband that if I die before him, he must evacuate the property immediately. Otherwise he will be murdered by honeysuckle. I currently have Weed-Induced Cardio-Muscular-Skeletal Fatigue Syndrome. The people who defend weeds and say they should generally be left alone are barbarians with no appreciation for order and beauty. You cannot love some plants unless you hate others. We can't shoot weeds with guns unfortunately and we shouldn't…

THE Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary can be found here.  

  APOLOGIES for not being able to say more right now about this subject. I'm laughing too hard. Oh, it hurts. I can't breathe. I, I can't stop, I just can't ...  

FROM Gary Barnett at Lew Rockwell: It seems completely obvious that this so-called baby formula ‘crisis’ is a scam, and was purposely created to advance other agendas. Is baby formula scarce worldwide, or is this a U.S. phenomenon? There is evidence that U.S. baby formula is on shelves in other countries. It is also obvious that most could breast feed their babies naturally, which could negate this fraudulent (manmade) shortage. That is the healthy choice, but pharmaceutical companies are telling mothers and parents that breast feeding is dangerous and not a solution for this baby formula shortage. Baby formulas coming from the few large U.S. companies allowed to produce and sell them, are chemically laced and unhealthy products, but so many have been sold the lie that mothers can simply use a store-bought product instead of natural feeding or making their own formula. This is just more hype and lies meant to harm families and promote a particular reaction. After all, it is easier just to buy these protectionist products instead of seeking alternatives, and that seems to be the new American way. Money, power, control, and societal dependence are sought by the state, and this new ‘crisis’ is simply meant to cause more panic to young parents who have been groomed to do as they are told. After all, this is not the only government made panic, as everything going on is meant to create and stoke fear. Food shortages abound,…

Courtesy of Thuletide

"O THOU vain prattler, hearken! A sage giving counsel to mankind saith: If thou speakest, say little and speak seldom and speak low, do not shout and verily this is a most useful saying! Woman, when thou speakest to thy husband say little, and speak seldom and in a low tone, because who sayeth little can seldom err. Knowest thou the proverb: He who speaketh often, doth often err. And moreover when thou speakest, speak in a low tone: do not speak so that thou seemest a locust. "Woman, wouldst thou please thy husband? Yes. Then speak little, do not chatter as many women do — chia, chia, chia — who never cease in order to rest. O she is a bad neighbor, a chatterer. We have it that the Blessed Virgin spoke seven times in all the length of her life, and not more. I mean not to say that she never said more, but that of all those things which she said we know only seven." -- St. Bernardine of Siena (H/t: Memento Mori)  

TERRY MORRIS, writing at Identity Dixie, makes a point I have made in posts here and in my interview "Real History and the Suffragettes" at In the Spirit of Chartres: Perhaps one of the strongest, most enduring misconceptions ever to come down the pike regarding the infamous 19th Amendment – of “female emancipation” and its predictable disastrous aftermath – is the idea that the original “suffragettes” were “conservative” in their overall world and life view, and had altogether, or at least mostly, pure intentions and motives in mind when a few of them first organized to meet in Seneca Falls, New York, July 19-20, 1848. A modern iteration of the point may readily be found in the following exchange between two (silly) American women who count themselves among the leadership ranks of today’s “conservative women” and who came together to discuss the topic as such on a post-2020 election Heritage Foundation-sponsored podcast ironically named Problematic Women. To wit (beginning @ 11:09): Problematic Host: I know, I’m … such a nerd; I … love the House Freedom Caucus, and,… I just can’t wait for the day where… – We do conversations with conservatives at the Daily Signal and with the Heritage Foundation, and that’s where the … House Freedom Caucus comes into a press conference – …and I just can’t wait till the day I show up and it’s … half women, half men, and women are represented there; it’s just going to be such a, uh,…

"HAVE you ever wondered why worshippers of the Buddha never argue about anything? Uneducated and ignorant people think nirvana was a grunge band headed up by that guy who killed himself. Even less educated people think nirvana is some kind of blissful state of the soul, a place of joy, peace, and tranquility, and have visions of lily ponds and light and pink lemonade at the mere mention of the word. But the object of Buddhism is not joy. The object of that cold, atheistic religion is the annihilation of love, of self, of thy neighbor, and indeed the world. That’s nirvana, if it pleases you. Buddhists never argue, because they simply have nothing to argue about. "Now, have you ever wondered why worshippers of the only begotten Son of God seem always to be arguing? And if they are not arguing, they are being ripped to shreds by bears? Christians argue, or put up a good fight against the faithless, precisely because the object of this true religion is love, of self, of neighbor, of the world—‘world’ here meaning the created order and beauty of nature, of all that exists in creation. "Thus, the curse of the Christian is to be a controversialist, because where the true religion is involved, disagreement is bound to arise. This is true, of course, between the believer and the non-believer, but as often happens, the non-Christian is far less concerned about truth than his…

ANALYSIS of the self-recorded livestream of the alleged shooter in Buffalo can be found here. The full livestream is here, with the actual shooting beginning at minute 5:30. (Warning: This is a bloodless scene, but still may be upsetting to some. Please do not look at it if you think you may be upset by it.) By the way, if you are not convinced that rifles or even handguns at close range cause explosive carnage, I suggest you look up the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assassination or look up photos of deer that have been shot by hunters. I post this potentially disturbing content so that perhaps the few who can dispassionately analyze it may help those who are being psychologically terrorized by staged mass shootings. Children especially hear of these things and are led to view the world as much more frightening than it is. My interest in these events is motivated by concern over this constant stoking of fear and the legislative objectives being sought by propaganda. But I don't encourage obsession with it. I hope those who are upset by even thinking about such blatant lies would simply suspend judgment and remain entirely detached from the news. They must realize, however, that these events are inevitably leading to new laws, which will restrict speech and the right to self-defense.  

A WITNESS to the alleged shooting in Buffalo receives instructions from his earpiece in a live television interview.  

"WHAT well-trained child but is anxious to seize every opportunity to testify his love and respect for his mother, in order to gladden her heart thereby?—What mother so worthy of love, so kind and gracious to us as Mary ? — Dost thou desire to testify thy filial love to her? This month presents thee with an opportunity of so doing; dedicate it to her, daily practice some devotion, some good works in her honour; be faithful in observing these meditations, lend a willing ear to thy Mother's voice, and to the holy inspirations which from time to time may fall to thy share. Then only, wilt thou deserve to be called a child of Mary, if thou keepest the commandments of her Son, and leadest a life worthy of such a Mother." -- The Very Rev. Father Beckx, Month of Mary, (Burns and Oates, 1884)  

 AS Anthony Migchels explains in this 2014 interview, a large percentage of the prices you pay contain the cost of debt and fifty percent of taxation is actually interest passed onto the taxpayer. You are a slave to usury (interest charged on debt). This is true even if you have no credit card debt, no mortgage and no other outstanding personal debts. "We lose at least 40 percent of our income to usury even if we are not in debt," says Migchels. The American Revolution was fought to achieve financial sovereignty, which was surrendered by the American government in 1913 with the creation of the Federal Reserve. As an aside to what Migchels says: Government and political life are theater to distract the masses from the facts of their enslavement.  Getting Americans to battle each other over emotionally-charged issues and terrorizing them with psychological operations such as 9/11, mass shootings and COVID are essential to maintaining this ongoing tyranny and to ripping them off every single moment of the day. COVID was a wealth consolidation operation, a heist on an inconceivable scale causing stress, illness, medical abuse, death and poverty. The chattel slavery experienced by Africans in America was far better than this; it was less brutal. The bankster elite wants more than our money and labor. It wants our souls. Then Americans can never possess the collective independence and fortitude to escape its clutches. Migchels makes some interesting…

S. WRITES:

I really loved your story of old ladies. My mother was one of them, and an avid gardener and plant aficionado in Chester County, Pennsylvania. She took many gardening classes at Longwood Gardens, where she volunteered regularly, and could rattle off the Latin names for beloved plants.

I was an agnostic during and after my college years (and you certainly know what college does to the young searching mind, turning it away from all things that point to God).

It was not until I purchased a home and started a garden of my own that I came to re-discover the notion of God. With my husband, I converted (with my own labor) a half acre plain lawn into dense areas of flowers, shrubs, trees, and vegetables, including a pond with a fountain. I found myself wondering how a tiny seed could turn into a beautiful, strong plant. I marveled at God’s diverse creation after hours each week in the garden. It was a visceral discovery of the life force in all of nature. No coincidence either that many of the plants in my garden came from my mother’s gardens. (more…)

[I went today to the herb sale mentioned in this 2018 post. Sadly, it was canceled for two years in a row due to the Big C.]

OLD LADIES, like so much else, are a thing of the past.

Yes, old women still exist in large numbers — and more are on the production line. But old ladies are a dying subcategory. An old lady doesn’t belong in the modern world. There are many reasons for this. For one, she has a lousy resumé. She reached her maturity before the hey day of women’s liberation. She has lived in relative chastity and has mostly flourished in her domestic sphere. She dresses modestly and with femininity. She wouldn’t be caught in a T-shirt, tight jeans or designer eyewear; it would never even occur to her to wear these things. She has never had plastic surgery, typically does not dye her hair or wear make-up. An old lady is not aggressive or sexy or avant-garde. Her reticence has no place in this dog-eat-dog, materialistic, feminist universe. That’s why you see less and less of her.

In my experience, two places continue to be reliable for sightings of this nearly extinct species: book sales and plant sales. Their labor at these events is essential and unremunerated, a fact which points to another significant quality of old ladies: they possess more time and leisure than the current pace of things allows. In that sense, they are true aristocrats.

Old ladies belong with books the way fishermen belong with the ocean. Books are often wise and they take patience and time to catalogue and label for sales. Old ladies often possess an alternately passionate and tender affection for plants, an affection cultivated over many years. They naturally belong at plant sales too.

An old lady who is an herb lady is a special being. Erudite and earthy, she radiates the wisdom that comes from close contact with some of nature’s supreme gifts: the fragrant herbs of the field, cultivated for thousands of years and famous for so many culinary and medicinal uses. An herb lady has often read the earth itself. She has a sensitivity to beauty (a useless, unmarketable sensitivity to beauty is a characteristic of all old ladies.) She will work for hours to sustain the delicate and evanescent scents and colors of plants, although truthfully most herbs are easy to grow. (more…)