Classical Radio Announcers, Peanut Butter, & a "Silver Lining" (According to the Media)
Thursday, February 23, 2006
[6:31am] Collette was awoken to the radio announcer on the classic station that morning, giving the weather forecast along with:
“…And the bright torch of Venus burns ever brighter, as it will over the next six months or so…”
He was Collette’s favorite announcer, always some comment to be made, some complaint about the weather, although always said with such dignity and velvet-ness of speech, that one never would have known the comment was a complaint. The mind of a classical-music lover… there weren’t words enough.
Collette was struck in her devotions that morning with a passage from Tabletalk, which amply described a frustration of her own over the past months:
“We love ourselves so very much; after all, we do good all the time (never mind that we are the ones who have decided what is “good”). Our self-love is so rampant, we’ve morphed our economy into a giant ball of self-service – from sex, to envy, to anger, to power – if we want it, we can get it, and the advertisers are all-too willing to carefully combine any product with images of our personal fulfillment. One might even call the serpent’s conversation with Eve in Genesis 3 the first prime-time commercial.”
– Chris Donato (associate editor of Tabletalk)
Collette suddenly had a hankering to read John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained.
But in other matters of the day, Frances’ Blue and Gold Cub Scout banquet would take place that evening over a pizza dinner, at Calvary Christian Church. And he was to be in full-dress uniform in preparation for his cross-over to the wonderful world of Boy Scouts.
Ivy came into work with a bag of cinnamon rolls and an envelope of pictures of eagles from her and Mo’s bird watching trips through Winfield. One eagle in particular looked all cuddled up in himself and quite smug. He was Collette’s favorite in the bunch. Also in the stack was included a picture of Maxwell on the basement steps with eyes full aglow.
“Sinai thought he looked demonic,” Ivy chuckled. “And Mo said he was all lit up inside with a light bulb.”
Meanwhile, Mt. Sinai & Rosie had just flown out to Oregon with Rosie’s mom for a family wedding. And there was talk of auction items submitted for the youth dinner: Mannino’s gift certificates, Sunrise would make a quilt, baked goods, Joe might detail cars, Molly might make some artistic pieces, etc…
In other news, Jimmy was in trouble with Meg for eating all the peanut butter in one sitting. Meg had a mind to bake cookies, and found, upon preparing to make them, that Jimmy had cleaned off the entire jar. Jimmy had something for peanut butter it seemed. Tsk, tsk…
Collette was almost disappointed to find out that afternoon that Sasha Cohen had fallen twice in her “Romeo & Juliet” performance and was quickly eliminated from the gold medal position by Japan, which was quite an upset, it seemed. And yet Collette was happy that the little Japanese girl took the gold – they were so graceful, and besides, Japan had taken no medals in those Games, as of that time. In the end, Sasha C. took silver and Irina S., the bronze for Russia. Shizuka took home Japan’s first figure skating gold. Oh Collette and her statistics… Sometimes she wondered if she should have majored in math instead of the liberal arts.
“It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of kings is to search things out.”
– Proverbs 25:2