November 28-29, 2025
Beginning of Advent in the Orthodox Church
Revived a recent tradition this afternoon as my oldest bought me a ticket to the yearly Messiah performance at Boston Symphony Orchestra by the Handel and Hayden Society. I cannot think of a better birthday gift. It is simultaneously a way to remember my departed mother whose repose began this tradition two years ago and to inaugurate the Advent season of preparation for our Lord’s coming in the flesh.
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Drum roll please… The results are in for the 2024: Best of the Best in all the respective media categories. Please see below and also the archives for previous years. Happy viewing and reading everyone, and as always, we would love to know what you think in the comment section below. Separate reviews are linked on the underlined titles. Enjoy!
Continue readingThis is a paper that I wrote for my class about the Boston Massacre.
It was a weirdly chilly night in March 1770, in Boston. A soldier, a red coat was guarding King Street. His name was Private Hugh White. Private White was bored. It was peaceful at first but then Private White became distressed and jittery. He skittishly watched the street. He knew that there were scary and spooky colonists out that night, some of them were patriots: Patriots that were going insanely berserk about King George and his unfair laws and taxes.
Continue readingBoston is truly a world class city. I was able to make it downtown tonight with my three oldest daughters and one of their friends. Have only done this late night trip into Boston 2-3 other times for fourth of July fireworks. When Tchaikovsky’s beautiful 1812 Overture begins (as I hear it now), the moment is beyond poignant.
Meow! I am an adorable, lovable, cute kitten named Myoky in ancient Egypt. People in Egypt love cats so much that they worship them. Some cats even get to wear hoop earrings like me. In this story, my owner Cleopatra falls in love with two emperors, Julius Caesar, and Mark Antony. Cleopatra was born in Alexandria, Egypt, in 69 B.C. She was queen more than 2,000 years ago. But before she was queen, a man named Ptolemy, a general, became king after Alexander the Great died.
Cleopatra is very smart, charming, and kind, and this is how she won back her kingdom from her brother and fell in love with an important Roman General. In 51 B.C. her father died, and that left the throne to Cleopatra and her younger brother. Her younger brother was Ptolemy the 13th, and he was not interested in being king so that left Cleopatra to the throne. But Ptolemy the 13th’s advisors did not want Cleopatra to be queen, so they kicked her and me out of Alexandria. Cleopatra went into Syria. Suddenly, a Roman general named Julius Caesar suspiciously entered into Alexandria. When Cleopatra found out that Caesar was in Alexandria, she returned to Alexandria. At Alexandria, Cleopatra decided to visit Julius Caesar. But how would she get to the castle to talk to Julius Caesar? Then I Myoky, gave her an idea because of course I am the smartest, cutest, and most sneaky cat in all of Egypt. That night a friend that Cleopatra trusted rolled her up into a rug and got into Alexandria as if the rug was a gift to Caesar. Cleopatra and Caesar had a whole night to talk. Caesar understood Cleopatra’s situation and he decided to help her. He wanted to end the fight and make Cleopatra and her brother co rulers again. Caesar and Cleopatra went into war with Ptolemy. After a dreadful, downer, and defective fight, Caesar and Cleopatra defeated Ptolemy’s army and drowned Ptolemy in the Nile River. Sadly, a Roman Senate stabbed Caesar at a meeting on March 15th,44 BC and Cleopatra was heartbroken.
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Drum roll please… The results are in for the 2022: Best of the Best in all the respective media categories. Please see below and also the archives for previous years. Happy viewing and reading everyone, and as always, we would love to know what you think in the comment section below. Separate reviews are linked on the underlined titles. Enjoy!
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Drum roll please… The results are in for the 2019: Best of the Best in all the respective media categories. Please see below and also the archives for previous years. Happy viewing and reading everyone, and as always, we would love to know what you think in the comment section below. Separate reviews are linked on the underlined titles. Enjoy!
Continue readingOf the making of books there is no end and much study wearies the body.
Ecclesiastes 12:12
Another calm before the fall storm. My brilliant wife suggests squeezing at least one last trip to the beach in before the crazy fall schedule prohibits us. We go with the three youngest children and our baboushka (“little grandma” in Russian) to Old Silver Beach on Cape Cod, one of the few west facing beaches just over 1.5 hours from Boston. It’s like our back-to-school beach, as it works well to drive here on a mid-afternoon and stay until sundown. A last minute surplus from our local food pantry leaves us well supplied with road food and a picnic supper.
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The Mandalorian is a TV show about a mysterious bounty hunter that wears a helmet and swore an oath never to take it off in front of anyone. He was born is a small village, and when he was five, the village was attacked by an army of super battle droids that killed his parents. He was saved by a group of Mandalorian that took him in as one of their own. When he started as a bounty hunter, he would hunt robbers and earn money. But then he found something more important in life…
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Drum roll please… The results are in for the 2019: Best of the Best in all the respective media categories. Please see below and also the archives for previous years. Happy viewing and reading everyone, and as always, we would love to know what you think in the comment section below. Separate reviews are linked on the underlined titles. Enjoy!
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Like Mendicant Monks... 