The sunlight through the stained glass and the rood screen is creating some interesting patterns on the stone wall near our Annunciation window at Saint John’s Cathedral, Denver, this morning.
#EpiscopalChurch #EpiscopalCathedral #StainedGlass #RoodScreen #Annunciation #Epiphany
#Annunciation
Today's pick: The Annunciation (c. 1435) - Jan van Eyck. #art #VanEyck #Annunciation
The #Annunciation, 1482 CE; Carlo #Crivelli (Venice, ca. 1430-1495). #Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland, Germany, Städler Museum. See alt text for more info.
The Annunciation re-imagined 1850-1923
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://eclecticlight.co/2025/12/21/the-annunciation-re-imagined-1850-1923/
The Annunciation imaged 1430-1680
https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://eclecticlight.co/2025/12/20/the-annunciation-imaged-1430-1680/
Today's pick: The Annunciation (c. 1435) - Jan van Eyck. #art #VanEyck #Annunciation
Today's pick: The Annunciation (1438-45) - Fra Angelico. #art #FraAngelico #Annunciation
Annunciation parents testified before the Minnesota Senate Gun Violence Prevention Working Group requesting a ban on assault weapons & high capacity magazines. #BanAssaultWeaponsAgain #Annunciation #MomsDemandAction
Intimations of Things to Come
Hello Friends!
The military continues to occupy Washington, D.C. but not without valiant resistance. The President’s claims that the occupation is due to high crime rates is a big fat lie. There are numbers and reports from reliable sources that all indicate crime rates are dropping. Not coincidentally, the President threatens to send the National Guard to blue states and cities, when still other reliable sources of information show that crime rates in Republican Red versus Democrat Blue states are higher. One of the reports is even on Congress’s own website! Forbes goes to into a bit of detail about the difference in crime rates that basically boils down to guns. Repubicans who claim to be so concerned about crime should look at their own states and cities, because the numbers show that from 2000 to 2020, murder rates were 12% higher in Trump-voting states.
Meanwhile, my city continues to mourn those murdered and injured in the Annunciation shooting last week. My heart is broken over it and I sobbed yesterday even though I only know someone who knows someone with kids who go there. The Democrats in the Minnesota State legislature are putting forward bills to ban assault weapons in the state, but the legislature is so evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans that the ban is not likely to pass. How ridiculous is that? How many children have to die before the Republicans wake up and understand that more guns only makes the problem worse?
If it weren’t for my meditation practice, my sangha, and the garden, I’m not sure I’d be able to find any sort of equanimity and grounding to keep me from despair.
This week the weather turned chilly, intimations of things to come. Temperatures will warm back up this week, and I am glad for it because I have tomatoes and peppers out in the garden that are trying to get ripe.
I opened one of the jars of rhubarb-aronia jam James canned last weekend, or as James has dubbed it, “rhubronia”:
Not only is it pretty with a wonderful consistency (no pectin needed), it tastes divine. There is a little tart rhubarb tang tempered by the astringent earthiness of the aronia berries. Here is the recipe. James made the refrigerator jam recipe but only used about a quarter of a cup of sugar and it was just right for my liking. This will definitely become part of the yearly jam making lineup!
We still have some plums and I suggested James make a plum-sour cherry jam. I think that would be a tasty combination. And I have yet to try the plum-elderberry jam. Stay tuned.
The last couple of weekends I have been out picking dry bean pods. The Hidasta red beans did so much better this year than last year and I will definitely grow them again. The black-eyed peas that were flattened in a severe thunderstorm in August revived and are covered in long, thin pea pods that are starting to dry out. The skunk beans are magnificent. Not only are they pretty, they are big, substantial beans that are fantastic as baked beans and in a thick stew.
Beans are so easy to grow and save, but I love them most for their variety. The only trouble when shelling them is trying to keep them from becoming projectiles shooting across the kitchen when I crack open the dry pods.
Just when I think I’ve figured out how to unzip a particular variety of bean pod without sending them skittering across the floor and under the refrigerator, I get a pod that proves me wrong, and before I know it beans are ricocheting off tables and cabinets and disappearing. That’s one reason I like big beans so much. They are easier to find and pick up off the floor. The black-eyed peas are little and I will discover a few that went missing sometime in December. That’s all part of the fun though.
Marlon the Contender peach tree did not flower this year. It was disappointing since they had fruit when we welcomed them to the garden last year. All the fruit dropped off before getting ripe, not a surprise given the trauma of being transplanted, but I hoped this year there would be some fruit. Nope. Instead, Marlon has concentrated on growing.
They were about six feet/2 m tall when we brought them home. After this summer’s growth spurt, they are over 10 feet/3 m tall!
One of the medicinal herbs I added to the herb spiral this year is boneset. The plant likes their location and has grown beautifully. And the white flowers are lovely.
Boneset is traditionally used for, among other things, colds and flu. It is also an anti-inflammatory, and can be used for joint pain. I have not harvested any this year to save for any remedies. I wasn’t expecting the plant to grow so well the first year. They are perennial so will be back next year, at which time I will feel pretty good about using their gifts.
I planted celosia this year on the premise that the flowers are edible and make a pretty and tasty pink tea. They also allegedly are attractive to pollinators.
The flowers are pretty. I never made tea. I have not seen a single pollinator visiting the flowers. I haven’t decided if I will grow them again next year.
I did make some borage tea because it was supposed to be refreshing with its cucumber-flavor. The tea definitely tastes like cucumber. I poured it out after a few sips though because my mouth started to go numb. That is not supposed to happen, so I suspect I am a bit allergic to it and so will not be growing it again.
I also made wild bergamot tea, also purportedly refreshing. I should have known better than to not flavor it with anything else because the plant can be used as an oregano substitute, which we have done with good results. I don’t know why I was surprised to take a sip of the tea and discover that it tastes like oregano! I like oregano as a flavor in sauces and other dishes, but oregano flavored tea? Uh, no.
You never know until you try something how it might turn out. All part of the adventure!
I will make a valiant attempt to catch up on comments and blog visiting in the coming days. Take care of yourselves and take time to feel the breeze, watch a bee on a flower, and touch the earth with your bare skin.
#Annunciation #blackEyedPeas #boneset #borageTea #celosia #crimeRates #dryBeans #guns #HidastaRed #Marlon #rhubarbAroniaJam #skunkBeans #WashingtonDC #wildBergamotTea
When are we gonna say 'enough is enough is enough?' So heartbreaking to see this yet again across my news feed.
#minnesotashooting #massshooting #gunviolence #Annunciation #Minneapolis
Rights come bundled with responsibilities people. They can't be severed from one another. We are not being responsible.
This one hits close to home. My wife grew up two blocks from here. She attended both the school and church. 😢
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/south-minneapolis-incident-august-27-2025/
#MassShooting #annunciation #AnnunciationShooting #MNastodon #SchoolShooting
Authorities Respond to Reports of #Shooting at Annunciation Church in #Minneapolis
The shooting was reported at #Annunciation Catholic Church, which operates a school- The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/27/us/annunciation-church-shooting-minneapolis.html
Sandro Botticelli -- Annunciation -- 1489
I've loved this picture ever since I first saw it in a picture book on Botticelli that I purchased with a book token as a teenager.
The posture and gesture of the Virgin, "backward" and "gothic" though they might be, have always appealed to me.
Marie du jour, May 25: St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi
Come, Holy Spirit. May the union of the Father and the will of the Son come to us. You, Spirit of truth, are the reward of the saints, the refreshment of souls, light in darkness, the riches of the poor, the treasury of lovers, the satisfaction of the hungry, the consolation of the pilgrim Church; you are he in whom all treasures are contained.
Come, you who, descending into Mary, caused the Word to take flesh: effect in us by grace what you accomplished in her by grace and nature.
Come, you who are the nourishment of all chaste thoughts, the fountain of all clemency, the summit of all purity.
Come, and take away from us all that hinders us from being absorbed in you.
Saint Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi
On Revelation and On Temptation (excerpts)
The AnnunciationFrans Francken II (Flemish, 1581–1642)
Oil on copper, 1615–1625
Art Institute of Chicago (Public domain)
⬦ Reflection Question ⬦
Do I ask the Spirit to remove even the subtle attachments that draw me away from God?
⬦ Join the conversation in the comments.
#Annunciation #BlessedVirginMary #grace #HolySpirit #IncarnationOfChrist #inspiration #Pentecost #StMaryMagdalenDePazzi
Today's pick: The Annunciation (ca. 1440) - Rogier van der Weyden. #art #VanDerWeyden #Annunciation #AnnunciationTriptych
S6 E4: Reading Helen Hoyt, Poet and Visionary
“At present most of what we know, or think we know, of women has been found out by men. We have yet to hear what woman will tell of herself, and where can she tell more intimately than in poetry?”
Helen Hoyt, Poet and Visionary
Reading Helen Hoyt, Poet and Visionary
Sarah and Rebecca invite you to join them as they explore the poetry of Helen Hoyt through her poem Annunciation.
Rebecca and SarahPoet Helen Hoyt (1887-1972), born in Norwalk, Connecticut, was the daughter of former Pennsylvania governor Henry Hoyt. Educated at Barnard College, she lived in Chicago and worked as an associate editor for Poetry. In 1916, she edited an issue of Others: A Magazine of the New Verse, an American literary magazine founded by Alfred Kreymborg in July 1915.
As editor of the 1916 issue, Hoyt addressed her interest in poetry as a space for women’s voices: “At present most of what we know, or think we know, of women has been found out by men. We have yet to hear what woman will tell of herself, and where can she tell more intimately than in poetry?”
Helen Hoyt‘s poetry spoke of gender, the body, and nature. She married William Whittingham Lyman Jr, a writer and academic, primarily in the field of Celtic studies, and moved to St. Helena, California, where she spent her later years. She was the aunt of poet Elinor (Hoyt) Wylie who wrote “Velvet Shoes”.
https://youtu.be/ck7GjNfnBtg?si=kFNbTqvLi2xsF0Pv
Helen Hoyt’s poetry provides a unique window into the early 20th century, capturing the spirit of social change and the burgeoning feminist movement. Her work is characterized by its intimate and personal tone, exploring themes of love, loss, and the search for individual identity.
https://anchor.fm/s/107374d0/podcast/rss
Reading Helen Hoyt allows us to connect with a pivotal era and gain insight into the experiences of women navigating a rapidly changing world. Her poems offer a blend of emotional depth and intellectual engagement, making them both accessible and thought-provoking.
Helen Hoyt’s contribution to American literature deserves recognition, and her poetry continues to resonate with contemporary readers interested in exploring the complexities of human experience.
Thank you for joining us on The Book Dialogue!
Sarah & Rebecca
Annunciation
By Helen Hoyt
From “Poems of Life and Death”
LIFE,
The great Life,
Came unto me:
He of old ages,
The eternal,
The owner of all,
Came, and his word was for me,
Calling my name:
And the radiance of his presence shone about me.
With leaping heart I heard his voice
And the entering of his steps over my threshold:
Heard, and was not troubled;
Because it was known to me a long time
What answer I should make to Life.
With outstretched, quiet hands,
With unreluctant face,
I stood before him,
And let my eyes look into the eyes of Life:
And I gave, and delivered up to Life,
Myself:
Utterly.
Yielding me
As one yields and delivers to another
A dumb vessel.
Mighty and splendid is the presence of Life.
By a far road he comes
And travels a great way before
And sways the world.
I trembled to be near his glory,
But with unbowing head I stood before him,
With unbowing head and proud heart;
Knowing my service that I should perform to the honoring of Life.
And in his dignity I was exalted.
Now for a term I am not my own,
But Life is my master:
And I dwell under his commandment,
Beneath the fostering of his wings.
Wrapped in the mantle of Life,
Patient, by ways apart, I go;
Bearing in my flesh his sign
That I am one of his chosen:
The instrument of his purpose; the way of his will.
Slowly day follows day,
Laying its hands upon me with invisible touch,
Molding my flesh;
And I tarry waiting upon Life
Until the use he purposes for me shall be accomplished,
And his intent be fulfilled:
Until the wonder is wrought upon me that now possesses my days.
#Annunciation #ElinorWylie #Episode4 #HelenHoyt #PoetryRecitation #RebeccaBudd #SarahAhmadi #Season6
What inspired #JavierGarciaLemus to paint the #Annunciation? Doing homage to the Lady who saved him from death in the sea at 16 y/o. Sinking into the depths, knowing he was drowning, he prayed “Mary help me!” Suddenly her silhouette brightened the darkness & he shot up out of the sea. https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2025/03/26/the-annunciation-one-artists-take-on-the-times-we-live-in/
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