What I'm Reading Now. Actually, things that have caught my eye lately.

Firstly, things are not well in Dodgerville. Wednesday's game garnered this headline: Dodgers victims of wild double play . Last night's game, this one: LA bats silent as Mets take Game 2. I'll miss watching a good portion of tomorrow night's game as I have a baby shower to attend. So, I truly hope they make it to Sunday so I can watch. Eddie, ever helpful, said "you could blow off the shower". But, I can't. For I'm bringing veggies and fruit, there'll be a brand new baby to hold, a friend to fete, and cake. In the meantime, I can enjoy Derek Lowe's blog.

Another thing to add to my busy weekend, this lovely story: Their home is the Hilltop For 86 years, St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church has been a good neighbor...Since we have Symphony tickets for Sunday night, we'll miss enjoying the Festival for a long time, but I am hoping to at least stop by and buy Sunday's dinner.

Recently, I followed a link to Ephemera I'll add it to my Blogroll next revision, but my recent favorite, as a VW owner, was this find. I hope you enjoy and visit.

Thank you for your wonderful comments about my mother. To celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness month, if you need an adhesive, pick up Scrapbook Adhesive's special line. And, go visit the link for pages by Karen Buck about her successful fight against the disease.

The Beatles said it first, "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". The New York Times did an interesting article about hand holding in our society and what it means.

Another thing that I enjoyed was recent searches that led to my blog.
- Edible Cell (I get this one a lot). Here are the photos of my son with his Edible Cell. I didn't post instructions, so I'm sure people are disappointed when they arrive here, but this site has some.

- Of Mice and Men – Text of the poem To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With The Plough is here.

- Narnia Party – I used this phrase on a post about the Chronicles of Narnia and get a lot of hits for people looking to have one. I’ve never been, but here’s some ideas. And, hey, invite me, would you? I’ll dress up like Lucy.

- St. Helen Golgotha. That's an interesting combination of phrases, but here's an account of St. Helen finding the true cross.

- Sick and Tired of being Sick and Tired. Yeah, I whined once on my blog.

- What is the “Grand Inquisitor Scene” in Dostoyevsky’s Brothers Karamazov about?– that’s way too esoteric for me. When you find out, let me know, please.

- "in the boonies" meaning. I’m not sure how I managed to come up on that, but I think it means you grew up in a county without a theater or stoplight, like me.

- mary burning-bush

- dominant thinking style – apparently I have one.

There was a funny one the other day that I didn’t write down – it was something like "My Slavic father" - Somehow, even though my dad is Basque-Italian-Scots-Irish-English my blog came up. Who knew?

Anyway, welcome if you came through any of those searches and sit awhile.

And, lastly, if you truly want to know what I'm reading now, Dawn loaned me Frida by Barbara Mujica.

The Protection of the Theotokos – October 1. I’m a couple of days late in posting about this Feast of the Theotokos but it is dear to me so I wanted to mention it.

On Sunday, October 1, during the All Night Vigil, when the church was overflowing with those at prayer, the Fool-for-Christ St Andrew (October 2), at the fourth hour, lifted up his eyes towards the heavens and beheld our most Holy Lady Theotokos coming through the air, resplendent with heavenly light and surrounded by an assembly of the Saints. St John the Baptist and the holy Apostle John the Theologian accompanied the Queen of Heaven. On bended knees the Most Holy Virgin tearfully prayed for Christians for a long time. Then, coming near the Bishop's Throne, she continued her prayer.

After completing her prayer she took her veil and spread it over the people praying in church, protecting them from enemies both visible and invisible. The Most Holy Lady Theotokos was resplendent with heavenly glory, and the protecting veil in her hands gleamed "more than the rays of the sun." St Andrew gazed trembling at the miraculous vision and he asked his disciple, the blessed Epiphanius standing beside him, "Do you see, brother, the Holy Theotokos, praying for all the world?" Epiphanius answered, "I do see, holy Father, and I am in awe." (more information on the OCA site)

Ironically, the Byzantine Empire was being sieged by the pagan Slavs. Ultimately though, the feast fell out of usage in the Greek practice, but beloved in the Russian practice.

In the PROLOGUE, a Russian book of the twelfth century, a description of the establishment of the special Feast marking this event states, "For when we heard, we realized how wondrous and merciful was the vision... and it transpired that Your holy Protection should not remain without festal celebration, O Ever-Blessed One!"

Therefore, in the festal celebration of the Protection of the Mother of God, the Russian Church sings, "With the choirs of the Angels, O Sovereign Lady, with the venerable and glorious prophets, with the First-Ranked Apostles and with the Hieromartyrs and Hierarchs, pray for us sinners, glorifying the Feast of your Protection in the Russian Land." Moreover, it would seem that St Andrew, contemplating the miraculous vision was a Slav, was taken captive, and became the slave of the local inhabitant of Constantinople named Theognostus.

Churches in honor of the Protection of the Mother of God began to appear in Russia in the twelfth century. Widely known for its architectural merit is the temple of the Protection at Nerl, which was built in the year 1165 by holy Prince Andrew Bogoliubsky. The efforts of this holy prince also established in the Russian Church the Feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, about the year 1164.

On the Feast of the Protection eight years ago, I stood in our now Parish Hall - then our temporary chapel - in shell shock as my mom had just been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. That Liturgy remains burned into my mind, holding my two year old, praying hard to the Theotokos for her protection for my beloved mom. It was sparsely attended (it must have been a weekday Liturgy) and I remember my priest mentioning the Theotokos comforting her son just as mothers comfort their sons as he pointed to Xavier. I also remember his words of comfort afterwards and reflecting on them as those scary days and weeks unfolded. While I nearly lost my dear mother that winter, I am happy to announce that she is still with us, and I look forward to her visit next month. Because of this memory, I have a very soft spot for this feast, and try to attend Liturgy on the date. It was definitely a treat to have it be on Sunday this year.

And, because it is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and I know of several recent diagnoses, I ask that you educate yourself about this horrible disease and hope you’ll join me in praying for those who fight it. And, I look forward to the day that it is eradicated.

We're in the playoffs, baby!
Tom, it was a good run, but the Dodgers did hold off the Phillies to clench the NL Wild Card! Whohooo.

Story from Dodgers website


Dodgers survived amazing season
10/01/2006 11:41 PM ET
By Ken Gurnick / MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Whatever general manager Ned Colletti didn't know about the Dodgers club he took over last year, he could surmise from the 91 games it lost, so he cleaned house.
For the most part, he acquired players with vast postseason experience that is about to become a little bit more vast, with the Dodgers preparing for October bonus ball after a thrill ride of a September.

"I like to have as many people in the room who have been there before," Colletti said. "I put a lot of weight in players who've gone to the playoffs before. They know what it takes."

Of the players who partied in the Dodgers clubhouse after Saturday's clinching, 16 have done it before. As the Dodgers head to New York for their National League Division Series matchup with the Mets, Greg Maddux is the leader in that clubhouse with what will be 11 postseason appearances, one more than Kenny Lofton and four more than Rafael Furcal. Three Dodgers have won World Series -- starting pitchers Maddux, Derek Lowe and Brad Penny.

When a physically crippled Nomar Garciaparra can deliver two walk-off homers in the final two weeks, one coming after four consecutive ninth-inning home runs, or a club can rebound from what its manager called "a two-week All-Star break" by winning 17 of its next 18, what other explanation is there but the confidence of past success?

"The veteran presence we have here was unmatched last year," said Jeff Kent, who endorsed Colletti's hiring. "The veterans motivated and maintained the attitudes of the young kids. We had an emotional roller coaster this year. We had personnel turnover, big adjustments, but it's gratifying that everybody maintained it without the boat tipping over. We had the confidence of experience and the enthusiasm of youth. It was a good mix."

The veteran presence was by design. The kids were out of necessity. Russell Martin became a fixture behind the plate, Andre Ethier was an immediate payoff for the Milton Bradley trade by stabilizing left field until a late-season fade, Jonathan Broxton became the setup man for 36-year-old rookie Japanese closer Takashi Saito.

The Dodgers had to win six consecutive games for the right to celebrate a clinching on the next-to-last day of the regular season.

"We peaked at the right time," said manager Grady Little. "We haven't played this well all season."

Kent doesn't believe there will be a letdown.

"One thing about this team, it's able to turn the page," he said. "I don't believe we have the character to be arrogant."

Dodger Stadium
Ken Gurnick/MLB.com
For all the knocks Dodgers fans take about arriving late and leaving early, they turned out in record numbers this year -- 3.75 million -- they still love their grilled Dodger Dogs and they get pretty fired up when the games matter.

They will fill 44-year-old Dodger Stadium with 56,000 strong and it will rock, providing a serious home-field advantage. That's the way it was back in the 1980s, when players took to calling their fans "The 10th Man."

The team-owned venue, built by late owner Walter O'Malley at a cost of $13 million, underwent a $6 million restoration before the 2006 season that included replacing every seat in the stadium, with a return to the original pastel color scheme.

As for the dimensions, Dodger Stadium remains pretty much unchanged over the years from its classic debut, although much of the foul territory disappeared two years ago when 1,600 baseline private box seats were added down both foul lines and the dugouts were moved 20 feet closer to the playing field.

Generally, Dodger Stadium is known to be a pitchers' park, but the ball tends to fly during day games. There has never been a postseason rainout in Dodger Stadium history. In fact, the average rainfall total for October in Los Angeles is 0.21 inches.


But do they have the talent to be champions?

The starting rotation lacked a true ace but had two great halves turned in, first by All-Star Game starter Brad Penny, then in the stretch by Derek Lowe. Jae Seo and Odalis Perez were washouts who were turned out and Mark Hendrickson wasn't up to the demands of a pennant race, but the Dodgers were again rescued by kids like Chad Billingsley and Hong-Chih Kuo.

Then there is Maddux, the 40-year-old kid whose acquisition was labeled by some, including Dodgers broadcaster Charley Steiner, the defining moment of the season, saying the young pitchers studied the future Hall of Famer as if he was "the King Tut exhibit."

Maddux, who figures to start Game 3 and might be asked to pitch on three days' rest -- as he did in Saturday's clincher -- believes the Dodgers are primed to keep it going.

"We've got guys who come to fight," he said. "And the rookies act like rookies, not like they've been around for 10 years. There's a lot of mutual respect and it carries over to the field. The team plays defense and the coaches are very professional."

The offense lacked a focal point and a power source, with nobody hitting more than 20 homers and the club next-to-last in the league. But J.D. Drew stayed healthy and Rafael Furcal heated up after a slow start to be the most effective leadoff catalyst the Dodgers have had since Davey Lopes.

It's easy to point to the one month coming out of the All-Star break as the turning point in the Dodgers' season -- actually, two turning points. It's not as easy, however, to explain it.

They went into the break in second place, two games behind San Diego. They came out of the break and were swept in a four-game series in St. Louis and proceeded to lose 13 of 14, tumbling into last place, 7 1/2 games back.

Thursday, July 27 was a day off at home and a different Dodgers team reported to the ballpark on July 28 for a game against the Washington Nationals. A 13-1 victory sent the Dodgers on a historic spree, propelling them from worst to first in less than two weeks.

Only in the NL West could a last-place team win two consecutive games and have its manager say, "Right now, we're 2-13 and we're on a roll."

When the roll was over, the Dodgers had won 17 of 18.


Maddux cost Gold Glove shortstop Cesar Izturis, who was replaced by Julio Lugo from Tampa Bay, costing the club prized prospect Joel Guzman. The Lugo acquisition was a head-scratcher to some, but Colletti wanted depth because Kent was out with an oblique strain.

Injuries were a factor throughout the Dodgers' season, beginning with the loss of Eric Gagne, who needed a second elbow operation in June and, while rehabilitating from it, blew out a disk and had back surgery. The two operations equaled his innings pitched. His loss was compounded when Yhency Brazoban, last year's closer, tore up his elbow and needed season-ending Tommy John surgery.

Garciaparra, although a comeback of the year candidate, was hurt three times and gutted out the stretch run despite a painful oblique strain, providing a couple of walk-off homers in miraculous wins. Kent was given a contract extension in the spring, but he was robbed of power by several nagging injuries and had his worst production numbers in more than a decade.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.