I am back for a bit

[St. Columba]

Messi avatar?

Now, that's otherworldly.

I don't get it Vetus, my friend.  Why do you say otherwordly?  I suppose I just want to show another prominent personage who is a yerba mate drinker...

[St. Columba]

New cat avatar, in honor of Pon de Replay!

[Mono no aware]

Why did you move south?  Seems a curious choice.

Admittedly, it was not the ideal choice, but it was the most affordable and timely option.  Nevertheless I'm okay with the South.  My second favorite author after Nabokov is William Faulkner, who used the South as a lurid and romantic backdrop to the perennial human tragedy and folly he wrote about in his fiction.  One of the things I like about this rural area of the South is the preponderance of long-abandoned houses and churches—bleached by the sun, eaten up by kudzu, and crumbling over the years on plots of tall weeds and dead leaves.  Faulkner's writing is considered "Southern Gothic," and you do get a feel for that kind of thing if you walk down the disused back roads: the ghosts of the Old South.  But then you go into town and the ugliness of modernity takes over, with the big box stores and fast food restaurants and truck dealerships.  The new South is quite hideous.  Basically I'm living in a world of "," so I do feel out of place, but then again I don't really get involved, and anyway I live in the woods.  No matter where you go, all modern culture is some level of loathsome, whether it's country or hip-hop or EDM.  That's why you have to "head for the hills."  We had an interesting discussion of this some months ago on one of the Benedict Option threads where I gabbed a great deal about my choice to live here, so I will just give that link because I have talked about myself ad nauseam at this point, and on a thread which is supposed to be about your presence on the forum, no less, not mine.

You still need to select your desert island book.   

[Mono no aware]

New cat avatar, in honor of Pon de Replay!

Thank you, Peter.  I am duly honored.  They are indeed the greatest creatures.

[St. Columba]

You still need to select your desert island book.   

Ah yes.  Pon, what can a book really say to me, if I am on a desert island for a long period of time?  If I read it twice, I will be bored of it (so says the obtuse fool that I am).  No, I will be the safe, cautious, true-to-form utilitarian and choose a well-reputed engineering manual to help me construct a good, solid shelter on the island.

I wonder if we are exact opposites, you and I?  Perhaps that is why I find you so fascinating.  Your world, and weltanshauung, seem alien to me, yet intriguing.  But anyway, in interacting with you, I am sure I am getting the better deal....unless you want to get into the intricacies of Bayesian Statistics or something.

Peace Pon,

Peter

[St. Columba]

Cat drinking yerba mate....now that is what I call Pon de Replay & St. Columba ecumenism.

[Gardener]

We have had a black and white cat visiting our back yard randomly. I don't mind since he probably keeps any vermin down.

At another location, there was a black cat that was all black except a white patch on its throat, like a clerical collar. I called it Fr. Cat until I realized it was a female, at which point I admonished it for being Episcopalian and cut off cordial contact.

[Mono no aware]

I wonder if we are exact opposites, you and I?

It's quite possible that I'm the Bizzaro you.   

[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcjSDZNbOs0[/yt]

[Lydia Purpuraria]

What ages are your children, Peter?  (If you don't mind my asking, that is!)

[St. Columba]

Hi Lydia!  Nice to interact with you! 

I don't mind at all.  They are 7, 6, 4, 2, 1. 

Do you have any children Lydia?

Pete

[Lydia Purpuraria]

Oh good.  And thank you, Pete -- it's nice to interact with you as well!

I bet you and your wife are pretty tired with five 7 and under, but those are also such fun and entertaining ages.

I do have children: 5 boys and 1 girl.  Our oldest is 15 and the youngest is 2 (almost 3-years-old).     

[St. Columba]

Oh good.  And thank you, Pete -- it's nice to interact with you as well!

I bet you and your wife are pretty tired with five 7 and under, but those are also such fun and entertaining ages.

I do have children: 5 boys and 1 girl.  Our oldest is 15 and the youngest is 2 (almost 3-years-old).   

That is wonderful!  I am sure you realize that you have been duly blessed to have such a beautiful family.