A Living Text

Even though all of Virginia is technically part of Dixie, it is not the case on the ground. Yankees like me have overrun northern Virginia from Culpepper to Great Falls. The greater D.C. area is part of a vast complex that extends far north to Boston and New York, with small breaks. But the exurb where we live is on the very fringe of the true Old Dominion and the Yankee-occupied north.

I can tell where I am by the radio stations I pick up. When we drive into the city on I-95 and get sufficiently north - right around Woodbridge - I can pick up jazz stations from inside the city. I love listening to them and they bring to mind the brownstones and eateries of the city, the mall and the gleaming buildings of Pentagon City, the lush suburbs of northern Virginia and Maryland now straining under the housing crisis.

But when I drive south again from the city or my job, I soon enter the immense swaths of southern pine, oak and assorted forest. The Rappahannock divides Northern Virginia from the rest of the state, as it held General Grant’s armies from obtaining Richmond all those years ago. Heading south I see swamps and stagnant pools of water, along with all the Runs that feed our greater rivers. Off in the distance the Blue Ridge mark the horizon, and I know I am close to home when I can hear WWED, Bluegrass FM, again. 

The other day, just as I crossed the River, I heard a song about “those devils dressed in blue…burning Georgia down.” Some of the songs sound like they are really from the inner regions of the Deep South, with roots back in the Scottish Highlands. The voices would never make it singing anything but Bluegrass, but somehow it works. My daughter and I like a song called “Can We Find Forgiveness?” I used to hear it all the time but I haven’t lately. It answers, “Not without a witness.” I don’t think you can listen online, which is too bad. But if you are passing through central Virginia, inhale the southern air, enjoy the sun and the high clouds that great you, and turn on Bluegrass FM. You’ll know where you are.

One of the worst times of my life was when I briefly lived in North Carolina. We owned a nice townhouse on golf course, in a costal city. It seemed great until the first morning of life there when I took a shower and saw a roach crawling up the outside of my shower curtain. This was followed by roaches in the kitchen, in other bathrooms, etc. We moved from North Carolina to Michigan after four months of living there; it wasn’t just the roaches, but they didn’t help.

So I despise the thought of living in the South due to the bug factor. However, we’ve been in Virginia for three years, (I love it), and most of the weird bugs are reserved for the humid summer. Until this year that is. A month or so ago the kids found small roaches on the landing about three different times. That was it, and then it seemed to be done. Until today. When I woke up bleary eyed and confused I walked into our bathroom. As soon as I turned on the light, something black dropped from a shower curtain. I am nearly blind without my contacts, so I didn’t know for sure, but I was pretty darn sure that it was a roach. I quickly found a pair of glasses, and sure enough, it was a roach. It seems like the North Carolina roaches were a lot smarter, they would run and immediately hide, this one sat there. It was about 3/4 of an inch long, not large by scary standards, but way too large for me. 

I looked around in a panic for something to shoot it with. I know that we have no deadly chemicals (for bugs) in the room, so I tried CK One on it- nothing. I doused it with Comet. it twitched it’s feelers a little, ad sat there. I figured it was in the pile of Comet, so I could run downstairs and get something better. I ran through the hall and stopped to see a light on in my oldest’s room - (’Why is your light on??!!’ - that’s another story) I was relieved to find Raid Ant and Roach in a downstairs closet, and ran back upstairs. Now, I thought I remembered something about roaches sensing motion or waves or something, and sure enough, when I got back to the bathroom, it was gone. Now I feel like a serial killer is in the house in a bad movie - where is it? I am panicked and looking everywhere, shooting off blasts of Raid into corners. I looked for a trail of Comet to lead me to it, but I didn’t see anything. I worked up the courage to take a step into the bathroom and saw the vile thing in a corner. I then blasted it with Raid and it immediately expired. Whew - a sigh of relief…

Now, roaches in N.C. didn’t die immediately from Raid, they fought it for 20 minutes or so. Either Raid is deadlier now, or this is some weaker type of roach. Also, a NC roach would have been gone as soon as I left the bathroom and I’d have never seen it again. So that’s a positive. But suffice it to say that as I took a shower I was pondering a move to Pennsylvania.

Lewis writes:

Though we all know, we often forget, that the existence of America was one of the greatest disappointments in the history of Europe. Plans laid and hardships borne in the hope of reaching Cathay, merely ushered in a period during which we became to America what the Huns had been to us. Foiled of Cathay, the Spainards fell back on exploiting the mineral wealth of the new continent. The English, coming later and denied even this, had to content themselves with colonization, which they conceived chiefly as a social sewage system, a vent for ‘needy people who now trouble the commonwealth’ and are ‘daily consumed with the gallows’ (Humphrey Gilbert’s Discourse, cap.10).

Usually I live a sedentary life and don’t like going places, other than the daily hour each way commute. I do love going to Annapolis and D.C., and other locales around here, but I generally need to do other things, and don’t get out all the time like when we first moved here. But this week, we went to King’s Dominon, an amusement park, for all of one day. Then tonight we are going to see the Nationals play, and I’m excited to see their new ballpark.  I’ve become a Nats fan since our move here coincided with their first season, and it’s hard to root for the Twins from a distance eternally. Yes, the Nats are bad, but they’ll get better.

Finally, we are going to the snooty and pretentious Gold Cup on Saturday. My company gets a tent there, so it will be fun to get out and see the horses, and the 60,000 people in hats. I do have a seersucker suit that I purchased for the occasion, so I should fit right in.

About six months ago, I wrote that the local APA parish would probably not last for six months. Indeed, St. Michael’s APA folded three months later, in December, 2007. It is hard to see what the attraction of Anglo-Catholicism is in this age. If you are ok with praying to Mary and the Saints, bowing to objects, and believing in seven sacraments, then why not become Roman Catholic? Add to that the reality that these kind of parishes are seldom if ever evangelistic, and Anglo-Catholicism looks like a club of Anglophiles, not a real church that gets in the trenches. St. Michael’s specifically had other problems including vestry members who were Masons, which I guess didn’t phase the APA Bishop over the church. The crying need in this neck of the woods is for an updated version of the Anglicanism that was generated by Ridley, Cranmer, Donne, et al.

I despair of anything to write about. Who cares about politics - does it matter? And do I have anything to say that anyone else hasn’t said? Probably not. I do have a couple ideas in mind, but don’t make time to write them out, so they probably aren’t that exciting if I can’t even care enough to write them. I am excited about the Clone Wars movie this summer, that ought to be fun. I hope Prince Caspian is good, but my hopes aren’t up too high. I’m really tired lately. Work has been very busy. Add the commute and I don’t have much energy for things such as blogging. I did rake more last weekend. Yes, I am still raking in March. That’s what I get for living in the forest - General Beauregard’s revenge perhaps. Spring has sprung. Buds are everywhere, things are growing.Easter was wonderful, the service was great. We re-watched some of the Gospel of John movie. That is a great movie. It was moving to see the end of Jesus’ life, and then His resurrection.  Considering trips to the coast, New York City and points elsewhere.Anxiously awaiting the next update of Buzzword which should add some cool functions.I moved all of my 401k into bonds to avoid the current turbulence. I have a sense that things are going to even out and stabilize. The bad news is a trailing indicator, I think the worst is behind us, but then I don’t know anything more than anyone else, so that could be totally wrong.OK, enough for tonight. 

The other day I was sitting in the office and I saw a flock of big black shapes through the slats of the blinds. It was pre-dawn. I looked out and at first thought they were hawks, but then I noticed that they were vultures on patrol. I don’t recall ever seeing vultures until I moved here, and they are quite unnerving to watch. They gather in the boughs of large, dead trees, just like in a movie.

This morning as I drove to work I saw a group of vultures picking at the remains of some sort of carcass with its ribs showing; probably a deer. They are vile things.

There have also been the annual Spring flocks of starlings that swarm in amazing patterns, and fly in streams that stretch for hundreds of yards. The swarm left my neighbors yard one morning, and the birds were flying directly outside my window. It must have taken 40 seconds or so for the entire swarm to pass by. I see them descend on fields and lawns (they eat grubs and such). I’ve also seen them at the tops of several trees, with birds flowing out from the trees into the stream that is moving above them - it is quite a sight to see.

We are receiving our first snow today which is very nice. The downside is that the forecast calls for 70 on Monday. I’d love some cold temps and snow to make it feel like Advent instead of Autumn.

The housing market in the D.C. metro area peaked in the Spring of 2005. In the ensuing 2.5 years it cratered along with the rest of the country. The difference in this area is the amount of government money sloshing around. The taxes gathered from across the empire end up here at the imperial city and then contractors feed off that money and generate jobs in the city and the suburbs. So employment here is strong and money is everywhere.

With that said, housing prices have declined significantly. In the early years of this decade people were making 2-300 thousand dollar profits on homes in two or three years. When you saw a house you wanted, you had to make an offer on it in the car, and bid 10K over the asking price; bidding wars ensued and prices kept rising. But the situation is completely different now.

Now there is a massive inventory of homes on the market, many homes are foreclosures, some are 2 to 300 K less then what they were purchased for 2 years ago. Buyers are few and far between, and many homes for sale get converted to rentals. But with that said, I think we may have hit bottom. New home construction is down, so inventory isn’t coming online as fast as it was, interest rates have been cut, and some prices seem to be ticking up from the basement they were in locally.

We were back at Chincoteague, our favorite spot on the ocean. I wish there was a way to effectively live over there, as it is so inspiring and relaxing. The weather was gorgeous, the waves were crashing, and I mainly sat around reading, doing nothing, or waded into the waves.

For the second year in a row I walked about an hour north of the main beach. If you were equipped to do it, you could effectively walk your way all the way to Ocean City far to the north on the same island, which is a deserted nature preserve. I walk and walk, until I am beyond all people, and then beyond time and memory, I have the beach and ocean to myself.

It’s sort of a haunting feeling being out there on your own. I want to just keep on walking, but I know that every step I take out is one more that I’ll have to take back, and I have bad feet (the walk just wrecked them). As I walk I think, pray, and run “Horse With No Name” through my mind. This time I tried to think of what we humans can discern about God from the ocean.

I came up with the following thoughts:

* God, the Holy Trinity, is incredibly powerful, just think of the sea alone and how mighty it is, and consider that it was all made by His hand.

* We are puny and not powerful. When I am tempted to lift myself against God, I need to consider that he is All-Mighty, and I am nothing before Him.

* God’s mind is intricate beyond imagining. I looked at the thousands of shells washed up on the beach and marveled at their intricacy. Think of the details that God cares about, the smallest things that he designed with such care, and then apply that level of detail to your work, art, and life. He cares about detail, so should I.

* God is loving. This all powerful Creator and fierce judge **allows** us to freely make decisions in our lives. Wow! This blows me away. That He lets us choose anything in His universe is very cool.

* Life is brief. Tides go in and out, the sun rises and sets, my kids and I get older every time we go to the beach, the world turns around and then we will be gone and others who know nothing of us will walk this beach. Live with your death in mind.

* How awesome will the last judgment be? And I mean awesome in the majestic sense, not the like totally cool sense. I looked out at the seemingly endless expanse of the Atlantic and tried to imagine One seated on a sea of glass and surrounded by millions of saints and angels, all worshiping Him, when my number gets called to go up and stand before Him. That will be quite the scene.

Anyway, maybe I was a little dazed from the walk, but that’s what I was thinking.