On Gluttony

  The patient's mother was gluttonous.  She didn't eat a lot, but all she could think about was the perfect food.  When her servants would bring her food she would say, "Oh that's way too much, I couldn't possibly eat all that."  She would then ask for one small piece of toast toasted just right and a small cup of tea with just so much cream and sugar and not to cold or hot.
  When she would go to the restaurant and and overworked waitress would bring her the food she had ordered she would ask them to take it back and bring back only 1/2 of it.  She would say that she was just trying to reduce waste, but really she was burdening all her servants and everyone else with her need for perfect food.
  Her servants would get upset and give notice and she would have to keep getting new ones.  She would lose friendships and her son didn't like that she was this way either.  She expected to receive food that was just how she wanted it.  She thought she remembered a time when she would get food like the food she demanded, but really it was just a time when she was happy with what she got.

My Version of Full Fathom Five Thy Father Lies

Five fathoms beneath the sea lies your father;
His bones are now coral;
His eyes are now pearls;
Nothing is left of him that would fade,
But has suffered a change from the sea
into something really cool.
Mermaids ring his funeral bell:
Ding-dong.
Listen!  Now I hear them, -ding-dong, bell.
                                            ~from The Tempest

Kon-tiki

When the jeep arrived they got in and headed toward the rain forest.  When they got there, there was a muddy river that they had to get across with their jeep.  Some natives took their balsa raft and poled them across.  Finally they got to where the man lived who owned the balsa trees.  He said that it would be difficult to get the balsa logs because of the rain, but he would do his best.  That day however they just stayed around his house and hung out.  

This man had many orchid plants in coconut-shell pots.  These orchids were not normal orchids which do not smell, these orchids smelled amazing.  

Herman, Thor's friend, bent down to smell one of the flowers while above him a snake slithered slowly down above his head.  The man who owned the balsa trees took his staff and whacked the snake and then killed it.  He told Thor and Herman that the snake was poisonous.  He also told them that there were many other poisonous animals in the rain forest and that they should be careful.  That night Herman and Thor slept poorly waking up believing that some poisonous animal would sneak up and kill them. 

The Screwtape Letters

Wormwood's patient became a Christian for the second time.  He had drifted for a little while as you have probably noticed from my last few entries. Because of this Wormwood got in trouble with Screwtape.  

Wormwood's patient became a Christian a second time because he went for a walk by himself on a beautiful day without his new friends.  While he was taking the walk he was able to not think about all the things that he would have thought about had he been with his new friends, things he shouldn't have to think about.  Having a good time playing golf or taking a walk and having a picnic is not bad as long as your not doing it for the wrong reasons.  It can be good too if you can enjoy God's creation and praise Him and be thankful for what He has given you.  

Wulf the Saxon

Wulf is the Saxon page Earl Harold.  He was carrying a message for his master when he ran into Walter Fitz-Urse by accident but Walter thought he did it on purpose.  Walter was the page of William, the Norman bishop of London.  Walter was angry because Wulf had run into him and some harsh words were said.  Wulf said that he wished that all the Normans would leave Britain and Walter said he wanted to beat Wulf up.  Walter put his hand on his dagger in a threatening manner, but some men in the small crowd that had now gathered round them growled, warning Walter not to draw it.  At this point the bishop came and asked what had happened.  They each told their story, but the bishop believed his page's account over Wulf's.  The bishop took Walter away with him threatening Wulf that he would tell the king of the incident.  When Wulf returned to Harold, Harold had found out what had happened.  Harold forgave him, but because the king now knew about what happened, he had to send Wulf to the country to live until it was safe for him to come back.     

My Version of Sonnet XCVII

I have been gone so long
From you, the happiness of the seasons!
It has been so cold and dreary!
And December's cold and emptiness everywhere!
And yet it has been summer.
As well as autumn, with the harvest,
With all the things that autumn brings,
Like the wombs of widows when their husband dies;
Yet the pleasures of these seasons seemed
But the hope of orphans;
But around you summer reigns,
And when you are gone the birds do not sing;
    If they do sing it is not a happy song
    And the leaves look pale dreading the winter.
                                                     Sonnet XCVII

The Unknown

The Unknown had a name, but would never let anyone know what it was, even his closest friends.  The Unknown had a castle where everyone including the scullery workers and chefs were murderers.  Lords, Dukes and other people would pay him to have certain people murdered.  He had land that was his own and he had men posted on the edges of it to run to do his bidding whenever he gave it to them.  When he would fight people and wound them they would either become his friend or his servant.  

He  did not consider his friends on the same level with him, but he only had them for use for his particular purposes.  The worst of it was Don Rodrigo was in league with him.