Friday, August 24, 2007

One Last Squeeze of Summer

Forgive the slow posting – the ferragosto is still blissfully in effect.

Fret not, however: a couple stories are in the offing… they just need a bit more polishing.

Not much -- just a bit.

Pre-season football is on and, here in the East, a freak cold-front earlier this week got high temperatures only into the 60s. It all serves to reinforce the message that fall is at hand – a pill which, considering how winter can be in these parts and Northward, isn’t the easiest to swallow.

Especially for us Italians, you see, summer is God’s gift – a good tan being the definitive sign of His love and all. The other day's mail brought with it a wonderfully sweet card whose front flap, quoting St Francis de Sales, read that “God is best worshipped in beauty.” Nothing truer could be said, and hopefully each of you have been able to reconnect with that beauty at some extended point over these last few months, whatever your definition of it entails.

After an intense year, it’s been a blessing to have something of a breather, especially in the chance to catch up at length with more family and friends than I’ve been able to in quite some time… including one pal who confided his desire to hear Tina Turner’s interpretation of the Exultet (an image that, hopefully, some of you find as rich as I did). As I owe most of the beauty and richness of my life to them, I can honestly say that the time has been God’s gift. But even so, I pray no one’s minded the curtailed output too much... come Labor Day, it’s back in the hot seat 24/7.

A ton of thanks, and even more apologies, to everyone who’s e.mailed or sent a gift and not gotten a response. The kind words and gestures so many of you have beamed this way are what’s kept these pages running; they're all read, they all mean the world, the encouragement they’ve given is even more overwhelming than the quantity, and it's no small source of frustration on this end that, much of the time, I can't adequately respond in kind. Please keep the prayers up that, eventually, I can pull my weight to justify it all. And in the meantime, keep the feedback comin’ – it’s the best lifeline there is.

A Happy Friday -- and Rest-of-Summer -- to everyone. With the weekend at hand, here’s an anticipatory pick-up... and quite a sweet one at that.

All thanks again for stopping by, for all your goodness, and for all the good work each of you do in the great "out there" – enjoy!


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