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I overheard a guy talking to a Russian acquaintance of mine who has a thick accent. The guy said, “where are you from?” My acquaintance said,”Russia.” The guy said, “Oh, I lived in Europe for two years- nice area.”

A few that I identified this afternoon with a new app that someone suggested to me:

California Vervain (violet flowers)
Largeleaf Lantana (yellow flowers)
Largeleaf Lantana (yellow and reddish orange flowers)
Climbing Euonymus
Japanese Spindle Tree

Let me assure you from recent, foolishly obtained experience, that while 4 O’Clocks are technically edible, this fact should not sway you to try so much as a tiny piece of a leaf unless you truly want to learn what the “marvel of Peru” entails.

On Tuesday, I saw:

1. A black bear
2. Elk, including a suckling baby Elk
3. Butterflies in droves, hanging out together
4. Wild turkeys
5. Either grouse or pheasants

I also saw:

1. Chestnut oak
2. Sycamore
3. White oak
4. Black-Eyed Susan
5. Bee Balm
6. Milkweed
7. Various Rhododendron
8. Blackberries
9. Muscadine

I thought I understood Maximus to have posited the existence of two kinds of wills: a will that pertains to nature (natural will) and a will that pertains to person (gnomic will). This was a distinction designed to enable theological talk about Jesus’ having only the gnomic will of the second person of the trinity but having fully harmonious natural wills from both human and divine natures. What I can’t remember is whether this implies for Maximus that each person of the trinity has his own gnomic will yet his natural will is the one natural will of the divine nature. It would seem to follow, but I can’t remember if he made this implication explicit.

I know this is an artificial construct, but doesn’t it imply three wills of a sort and do justice to the biblical data? Would the anti-hierarchical guys in the current debate grant the orthodoxy of this position or are they looking for a single divine “will” simpliciter?

Man, I love this plate that I ran across on a gallery website:

The colors are like the grecian pottery – red, yellow, black, etc.

There’s a contemporary artist, Cleon Peterson, who must be saying something about violence, who uses these very powerful, simple colors in his series of paintings, murals, and sculptures:

Man, these coconut fizzy waters from Kroger are amazing. Even coconuttier than the Lacroix ones.

I had a conversation on Saturday with a lady who owns a small antiques store here in Starkville. She was telling me about how some relatives of hers found a coffin in their attic when they bought the house. The conversation was precipitated by another customer’s question about a large, hinged box for sale that was coffin-shaped. He joked with her that it was a coffin and she deadpanned “yes” and then they both speculated it was probably a quilt storage box. Then I told her what Ann told me about Catherine Tucker Windham, the famous columnist in Alabama who kept a coffin in her house and had her assistant/yard man/friend promise that when she died he would wrap her in a Gee’s Bend quilt and place her in the coffin before the coroner arrived. She hadn’t heard of Windham and, at the time, I couldn’t think of her name, but it reminded the store owner of her relative who found a coffin in her attic. I asked, “how did someone get a coffin into an attic?” It’s the natural question, right? And she said that it wasn’t a full-sized coffin. Ominous. Then she said that they probably made it for someone and it was decided that it wouldn’t be used for that purpose.

The store was open on a Saturday, about the only time I can ever be a looky-loo, and she said it was the only Saturday she could remember that they opened. Usually they travel to Memphis on Saturdays to buy things at estate sales. I suppose there is an estate sale->antiques store circle of life for furniture and household items.

This particular antiques store is right across the street from the best pawn shop in town that has an amazing selection of guitars and musical equipment. I’ll have to tell you about the owner of the pawn shop some time.

Today, I:

Showered while listening to Spotify.

Ate beignets, bacon, and eggs for breakfast.

Calculated the cheapest width/length combinations of lumber to finish out our bedroom.

Talked to my parents who called to wish me a happy new year.

Ordered tile for the bathroom.

Gave a panhandler a banana, a granola bar, and a Coke. He had two full forty-ounce malt liquors in his bike basket that I only noticed as I handed him the banana.

Ate tomato soup and a grilled cheese for lunch.

Went to Lowe’s.

Worked on bedroom and cut trim from lumber on hand.

Repaired James’s malm (ikea bed) with two lengths of 3/8 threaded rod, four washers, two lock nuts, and two wing nuts.

Cleaned up the den by removing construction materials.

Listened to a podcast interview with the president of AEI.

Realized I’d turned the cuckoo feature off on the cuckoo clock. Eli turned it back on. It is keeping good time.

Completed a transaction with a guy on Craigslist named “Jonas” and earned a sawbuck for it. He said that he did indeed like the Weezer song, “My name is Jonas.”

Ate pork ribs, cabbage slaw, black-eyed peas, sweet potatoes, and oranges for supper.

Advised someone on gift-giving.

Looked longingly at Epiphone hollow-bodied guitars online.

Sorted through all the recent newspapers and threw out most of them.

Had a brownie with whipped cream for dessert with Ann while we watched the movie Kate and Leopold.

Wore old shoes all day to allow my feet to spread out; they are sore from wearing D-width shoes for a few days in a row.

Read about deaths of Natalie Cole and the Ian guy who created Debian Lunux.

Drinks today: Negra Modelo, water, Unsweetened iced tea, coffee.