tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49294370753531189392012-02-14T08:11:58.688+13:00<i>Nos fecisti ad te et inquietum est cor nostrum donec requiescat in te.</i> "You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." Augustine, "Confessions"John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.comBlogger2461100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-27971148924285645302012-02-12T15:54:00.001+13:002012-02-12T15:54:02.585+13:00

1970 and 1994 are two years of drastic changes in my life.  More accurately, the period from late December, 1969 until the end of 1970, and that from September, 1993 through the end of 1994 are two periods of, to me, breathtaking changes. At the beginning of the first I was a heavy user of drugs, an unreflective agnostic - scarcely even agnostic since the thought of God had scarcely ever crossed

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-55139015470408963662012-02-04T08:16:00.000+13:002012-02-04T08:16:26.272+13:00

When I was about eight years old, my maternal grandmother gave me a Bible.  She marked for me, in blue chalk (which was what we used in the days before highlighters!), the Lord's Prayer, in Matthew 6, and the 23rd Psalm, telling me to memorise them - which I duly did. It is a good thing that all Candace had to give me was a New Testament.  When my grandmother gave me a full Bible, I did what,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-92124827714952971112012-01-28T15:28:00.000+13:002012-01-28T15:28:08.485+13:00

We have been taught by DesCartes that the only reality we directly experience is the world of our thought - and by Kant that the world of thought really is the only world there is.  In practice, since all of us (except some Scientologists) must live in the outside world, we live on two levels - what Kant called the phaenomenal level - the level of what we see, hear, feel, smell, taste - and the

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-49336564776830546872012-01-22T15:54:00.001+13:002012-01-22T15:54:49.335+13:00

The word 'Christian' had almost no content for me.  I knew the Christianities, rather vaguely, by denomination - somebody was a Baptist, somebody else was a Catholic - and of course the word 'Christian' is part of English - but any reality behind it - well, I knew of none. I first realised that Candace was a Christian, and that in a shocking sense, when Sue and I, with Candace and their mother,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-33052066727037852292012-01-14T16:21:00.001+13:002012-01-14T16:21:25.031+13:00

Many married men appear able to tell you precisely the moment and circumstances of their proposal of marriage to the woman who eventually became their wives.  I cannot. It is embarrassing to reflect on the shallowness of motivation of many of my decisions in life.  One might have thought that, having failed in one marriage - entered into with almost no deliberation - I would be a bit more

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-1938113403908211732011-12-31T12:14:00.001+13:002011-12-31T16:03:23.421+13:00

The great life-changing events of one's life are, I think, seldom obvious at the time.  The first of our amateur encounter groups was a cardinal point - a 'hinge' - in my life. Tom and I had gone tramping that day up the (incredibly beautiful) Wa'ahila Ridge Trail.  We had rather to rush back in time to go to the first of our encounter groups.  We looked rather grubby, in an outdoorsy sort of

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-74566145898477362362011-12-31T12:13:00.000+13:002011-12-31T12:13:09.990+13:00

In 1969, I had no idea who Betty Friedan was.  I was, and still am, about as a-political as they come - and in 1969, with my world having fallen about my ears, I was, if possible, less interested than ever in such matters as Women's Liberation. It was not the name of the person who would run an encounter group at the Unitarian Church in Honolulu that interested me.  I think that, at the time,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-52535235559528828472011-12-24T17:44:00.002+13:002011-12-24T17:44:35.801+13:00

I have never been hungry - I mean, not really I-must-eat-or-I'm-in-trouble hungry and certainly not where-will-my-next-meal-come-from hungry.  In September 1969, therefore, although I appeared to face the end of any sort of academic life, and had no job - and were Edna and I divorced by now?  Did I have child support and alimony duties? - but in any case, in September 1969 I was 28 and had,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-32298460581593197282011-12-17T16:36:00.001+13:002011-12-17T16:36:09.950+13:00

Tharngan did, indeed, have a boat, but when Waqyaan went to borrow it, Tharngan wasn't around.  Ah, well, he won't mind, thought Waqyaan.  So we took it and went out, did some fishing outside the reef (which was fun, although more demanding for me - deeper water and annoying small sharks trying to steal your fish).  We came back in and Waqyaan went to return the boat - and came back angry and

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-83866114635667625872011-12-10T10:42:00.001+13:002011-12-10T13:12:30.996+13:00

It came as a dream come true to me when, in perhaps March or April of 1969, I was offered a contract to work in Yap over the summer to be in charge of the linguistic aspects of the Peace Corps training programme, to be conducted there in Yap.  I had worked full-time on the Yapese language for three years.  I knew much about the language, but was very much aware that my understanding of its

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-46924719213317347102011-12-03T07:26:00.001+13:002011-12-03T08:41:01.956+13:00

I don't know exactly when I first started to use LSD - in reality, I started first with mescaline, and I do remember that.  My fellow graduate student Barry, who lived, with his wife and their two (I think) children, in the breathtakingly beautiful suburb of Lanikai - invited me to his house one evening in March and I took mescaline there. Did he give it to me?  I don't think so.  I think he

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-30705630812655360312011-11-27T15:46:00.001+13:002011-11-27T16:35:31.918+13:00

I do not want to write this post - but must if I am to continue this series. Around Christmas time, I think, or perhaps New Year's, of 1968-69, I became a terrorist. Tantrums are unlovely things in 4-year-olds.  In young men of 26 - fathers of children, husbands of wives, and University post-graduate students - they are worse than unlovely; they are dangerous and must be treated as such.  I

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-9771299741372184902011-11-20T12:09:00.001+13:002011-11-20T16:14:57.275+13:00

Mrs Bell ran 2117B Young Street.  At some point there had been a Mr Bell, but he was no longer around - not, I think, gone to his eternal reward, but booted by Mrs Bell.  Mrs Bell was a late-middle-aged Japanese lady - she was my landlady, and she lived with Cindy - her small dog - Cindy Bell, I suppose she must be called. I don't remember moving into 2117B Young Street, but I must have done so

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-18093318304751939122011-11-19T17:51:00.001+13:002011-11-20T12:07:44.274+13:00

The next few days - perhaps a week - are a bit of a blur.  Edna - with Kathy?? - came over to our apartment at least once, maybe twice.  I was, I am afraid, scarcely coherent.  I talked - and made things worse.  Edna was not, so far as I can remember, angry at all - and I think she was probably afraid for her own ability to make stick what she had decided - but she was clear.  She spoke of a

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-24621253777369335782011-11-06T17:57:00.001+13:002011-11-12T16:19:31.629+13:00

Grace, we are inclined to feel, is a feeling that can come upon us when we are unhappy and seeking the comfort that we believe will come from God when we need it.  Or, it may be, grace is that marvellous set of coincidences that helps us out in our worldly situation, just when we need it - the unexpected extra money that comes in when there is the extra unexpected bill to pay.  And it may be that

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-27946460925752019922011-11-05T11:18:00.000+13:002011-11-05T11:18:12.827+13:00

By 1967, I think, I was beginning seriously to worry about the foundations of reality and how we could know truth. If you had mentioned such a topic to me when I was a teen-ager, I would have been both startled and puzzled - puzzled, because I would not have known what to answer; startled because it would never have occurred to me that anyone might think to ask such a question.  By 1967, things

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-7243125528779406272011-10-29T18:12:00.002+13:002011-10-29T18:12:36.186+13:00

Edna and I lived in Honolulu for those two years.  I say that to make clear that the various specific subjects I will talk about, or have talked about, during that time - working on Yapese, snorkel-and-mask spear-fishing - and, what I will write about in this post, electronics - are not our life.  This sort of thing must always be true, I suppose, in any sort of writing.  One talks about things

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-22826149863597987562011-10-29T18:12:00.001+13:002011-10-29T18:12:49.368+13:00

My father had built two yachts in his life.  He only ever bought one.  The experience this last boat gave was a little different from the first two. Well, the first was before I was born.  I only know that I was told that he built (I think!  Now I wonder if he bought it, too.  My brother might know) a 32-foot sloop that he and my mother sailed in when they had no children. And then they had

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-91195587039033298982011-10-29T18:12:00.000+13:002011-10-29T18:13:01.613+13:00

It would, in my opinion, be unfair to say that Iou and I did not work hard during that summer of 1966 on the Yapese language lessons.  Nevertheless, I, at least, was only dimly concerned about deadlines.  Don, my boss, was not dim about them at all.  In September, 1966, some hundreds of eager new Peace Corps Volunteers were to arrive for training courses in Moloka'i  I don't recall how many of

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-1091423385634197952011-10-23T14:36:00.002+13:002011-10-23T14:36:19.104+13:00

If I ever had time to write that autobiography that Eddie, Johnny, and Marko have asked for, it would be called "Confessions of a Failure." And nor do I mean anything particularly negative by that negative-sounding title.  I mean only that my life appears to have been a series of undertakings, each of which I have imagined as being something ultimate - and each of which has been, viewed purely

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-46046584573544366452011-10-16T16:02:00.000+13:002011-10-16T16:02:39.841+13:00

It is said that persons with Alzheimer's Disease can remember things of the distant past, but are not so good at recent events.  Perhaps this means I have not (yet) come down with Alzheimer's.  I can (usually) remember what people said to me yesterday.  I am less certain of the address Edna and I lived at during the two years we were together in Honolulu - but I am pretty certain it was 1712 Poki

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-40953957333724011372011-10-08T11:11:00.000+13:002011-10-08T11:11:36.755+13:00

What, after all, did we do in Berkeley?  We lived there for nearly two years, after all.  I have talked about fish.  I was, of course, a full-time student at the University, and, as well, worked part-time in the language laboratory, and at computer programming. I am ashamed to say that, again, my self-centredness comes to the fore when I say that I am only rather vaguely aware of Edna's life

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-86092986790084380072011-10-02T15:45:00.000+13:002011-10-02T15:45:48.493+13:00

I spent only two years as a linguistics undergraduate.  It appears odd to me now, on reflexion, that I so readily adapted to my linguistic studies.  I had, after all, been a keen amateur astronomer from about age 11 or 12, and had majored in astronomy during my first two and a half years at University.  On the other hand: Your first two years at an American University are 'breadth' years - at

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-36074376118290532562011-09-24T15:11:00.000+12:002011-11-20T16:15:37.363+13:00

Ecclesiastes 11 tells us: Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days. and: In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. I suppose my interest in computing really goes back to my last year in high school.  Our physics teacher, James

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-60890034284798863892011-09-18T14:56:00.000+12:002011-09-18T14:56:03.857+12:00

I suppose it started with a single fish tank - and even that I don't remember.  I mean, why was I ever interested in raising tropical fish?  Perhaps it was part of  a long-standing fascination on my part with what might be called scientific - or technical? - matters.  I was a keen amateur astronomer from about age 11 or 12.  My rearing of rabbits - admittedly as a little business and for meat -

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-85348555247861933982011-09-11T15:53:00.000+12:002011-09-11T15:53:41.154+12:00

This article, from what many would call a conservative - and certainly a Catholic - web site, calls for another Mario Savio. Perhaps.  I confess to being dubious.  I am not, perhaps, the best judge of this sort of thing.  I have never been particularly political.  I should make clear that I do not think politics of no importance.  I think it of great importance, and, potentially, of great good.

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-4614280673112950682011-09-04T06:25:00.000+12:002011-09-04T06:25:45.581+12:00

Well, I was going to write more memoirs today - honest I was!  Last week and this coming week are semester break at the University, and we in the computer support team have a considerable amount of infra-structure changes to make.  It was planned that we would do the week-end work yesterday, Saturday the 3rd September, and then then finish during next week. Yesterday is not enough.  I am going

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-39364518955598373212011-08-26T16:32:00.000+12:002011-08-26T16:32:46.238+12:00

The day before the concert - but I have a little time, after all, so ... We went to Pa'auilo. I don't recall much about our travel there, but I do remember leaving Hilo and heading up the coast.  I hardly know how to express the feeling of having entered a kind of Paradise.  I think I felt I had never known such beauty, not only in the sight of things, but the smell, the feeling on the skin,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-14893026374088634692011-08-21T10:40:00.000+12:002011-08-21T10:40:29.238+12:00

After the astonishing outpouring of comments on last week-end's post - most of them eager to find work for the vast numbers of empty, idle hours at my disposal - I suppose it right to explain that there will be no real post this week-end, nor next.  Concert next Saturday, rehearsals this week-end, next week Thursday and Friday evening, then concert Saturday. And - you will say - "lazy blighter,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-86195178782185280382011-08-17T08:55:00.003+12:002011-08-17T09:49:48.306+12:00

JJ has obviously come under some pressure to write a book. I would like to just take a poll of everyone and anyone who reads this blog. If you want him to write a book, please add a comment saying what kind of book and why. I've already said why, as to what kind of book: I think he could write many different styles of book but what I'd really like to see is a collection of short stories,

Edgyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05323516126918165417noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-937736282948589022011-08-13T19:26:00.000+12:002011-08-13T19:26:20.354+12:00

I am told that everyone who was an adult at the time can tell you what they were doing, where they were, when they heard The News.  As is, perhaps, the case in other respects, I am the exception. Well, partly so, anyway.  I was at work - must have been as it was 10:30 California time Friday the 22nd November.  I do think I recall, vaguely, someone saying this had happened and my not really

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-53330297735974791052011-08-06T16:11:00.000+12:002011-08-06T16:11:31.047+12:00

I am embarrassed to write about the birth of our daughter, because I am so certain that I am going to remember things incorrectly - and both Edna and Kathleen - 'Kathy' as we always called her, but I am told that she now prefers her full name - both Edna and Kathleen read this blog, and will, I hope, correct me.  Humility is good for the soul, I know.  If I were already humble, I wouldn't be

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-30638771547362735662011-07-30T16:59:00.000+12:002011-07-30T16:59:45.559+12:00

I worked, as I have said, at "Space-General Division" of Aerojet - itself owned by a company called General Tire and Rubber - which provided some high-jinx at work.  The whole company structure had offices in France and England - and there was system of telphoning amongst them.  You could dial a number that got you to the General Tire headquarters in Akron, Ohio.  Then you had a dial-tone and

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-37215173978266683772011-07-24T12:20:00.000+12:002011-07-24T12:20:57.685+12:00

There were several more important things that happened to us, or that we did, in El Monte - such as the birth of our daughter Kathleen - but I thought I would write here about one of the lesser matters - lesser in fundamental importance, but a matter of some poignancy to us. Judy. I don't really remember how we discovered the possibility of having a wild cat as a pet.  Perhaps I had already

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-12894822139915036662011-07-16T20:06:00.000+12:002011-07-16T20:06:34.498+12:00

If Edna had not become pregnant, I suppose I might have gone on and finished my astronomy degree - but I think it questionable. I was in the first semester of my 'Junior Year', still majoring in astronomy.  American Universities, or at least the ones I have experience of, are based on a four-year undergraduate course.  The course is divided into two two-year portions - 'Lower Division' and '

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-79018990219706849702011-07-08T13:13:00.000+12:002011-07-08T13:13:36.519+12:00

Edna and I were married at her parents' house on 2 September, 1962. At least I remember the date! What has struck me in writing these memoirs is the great variability in my memories of things past.  My parents had not attended my and Susan's wedding.  "Well," I said to Sue, "they didn't attend my and Edna's wedding, either!" Sue then showed me a photo of that wedding with both my mother and

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-26167679448310282792011-07-02T18:13:00.000+12:002011-07-02T18:13:36.576+12:00

Why did I think I wanted to marry Edna? That may mean two things: Why Edna as opposed to someone else? Why did I want to get married at all? As to the first - I do not really have an answer, but the fact was definite.  When I first sat down to write this, I had thought I would say that Edna was there, was attractive, and that was all there was to it. But there were any number of girls around

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-20780773512431657762011-06-26T16:06:00.000+12:002011-06-26T16:06:18.847+12:00

I have rather stalled in writing.  One reason, of course, is inertia.  Miss one week and it is easier to miss the next ... and the next ... and then a month has gone by. But there is another reason.  I last wrote a 'Memoir' entry on 7 November, 2010.  I have several times thought that I had better go on with those - but each time have either done nothing or written something else. What am I

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-12452446571140210412011-05-29T15:05:00.000+12:002011-05-29T15:05:28.147+12:00

I went to Confession yesterday.  I go pretty regularly once a week. You may relax - I am not going to tell you about my sins.  Those of you who know me, know quite enough about them already; the rest really don't want or need to know. But I did confess sins.  The bare script for Confession - for those of you who are not Catholics and may want to know - is: I confess my sins. I tell God I am

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-24221504167080299872011-04-16T11:35:00.000+12:002011-04-16T11:35:52.589+12:00

I have just finished reading the recently-published volume 2 of the Pope's "Jesus of Nazareth" - and, by the way, you should read it, too! - and I was struck by something the Pope pointed out about the Resurrection of the Lord. The Resurrection of Christ is physical. Well, duh!  We Christians believe in the Resurrection of the Body, don't we? Yes, of course we do.  It is, however, essential to

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-47381091571374327392011-03-20T11:54:00.000+13:002011-03-20T11:54:08.119+13:00

Recently, on a blog that I read fairly regularly, which is aimed at Catholic-Reformed dialogue (Called to Communion), someone posted: How much do you think the “health and wealth gospel” can be attributed to penal substitutionary atonement soteriology fermenting in an affluent culture? While I think a lot of the wealth gospel crew are in it for the dough, I think a lot of them feel that

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-44543677049463542772011-03-07T08:32:00.000+13:002011-03-07T08:32:00.771+13:00

Just a little taste of the finale of the Tchaikovsky 5 - this is Bernstein conducting - not sure when it was played:

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-60857533089865672712011-03-05T17:48:00.000+13:002011-03-05T17:48:42.476+13:00

About 3:30 this afternoon - Saturday 5th March - I am at rehearsal - Tchaikovsky 5th Symphony - we are messing about with the last movement, which requires a fair amount of intensity for the horn players.  My cellphone in my pocket gives a buzz - which only I notice :-) - and at a place where we have 16 bars to count I take it out and there is a message from Susan: "Ring me when you can -

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-69594397083009967292011-02-25T20:09:00.000+13:002011-02-25T20:09:45.232+13:00

I may be a little spotty (which may mean 'silent') over the next three weeks.  It is concert time again.  Tomorrow, Saturday the 26th February, is our first rehearsal.  Sunday we will go up to see Eddie and Eveline and the kids.  The following week-end we have rehearsals both days; and the week after that rehearsals Thursday and Friday evening, and concerts both week-end days. Many have asked

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-68181611378025550042011-02-19T12:51:00.000+13:002011-02-19T12:51:55.637+13:00

Susan and I were married 20th May 1972, and in the summer - July, I think - we travelled to the mainland (from Hawai'i, where we lived) to visit a variety of persons - her mother and father, her uncle, aunt and cousins; her great-aunts and grandmother.  At the time of that trip I had been a Christian for about two and a half years.  Although I had begun my church-going in a Lutheran church, and

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-64947452823874177792011-02-13T08:48:00.000+13:002011-02-13T08:48:03.136+13:00

Tomorrow Bishop Pat will - well, I don't know precisely what he will do - but in some official sense he will dedicate our new church building.  Will he consecrate it?  If so, does that mean it hasn't been a 'real' church until now?  We have, in fact, been having Mass there since the first Mass was said there on 31 October last year - well, in fact, a funeral was said in the partially-completed

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-84620654517275461822011-02-06T15:00:00.000+13:002011-02-06T15:00:00.389+13:00

I travel to work each morning and evening on the 'bus from Pukekohe to Auckland - some 50Km each way - and, as is the nature of 'buses that take persons to and from their places of employment, a large number of the passengers are the same each morning and evening.  Some of these people I am acquainted with - that young man is a network support person; this young woman is a student; a short older

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-49609399322687911162011-01-31T15:33:00.000+13:002011-01-31T15:33:27.573+13:00

I remember the first time I ever prayed - I feared that a certain terrifying event might follow certain immoral behaviour of mine.  I prayed intensely that it might not be so (it wasn't :-)). The odd thing is that if at the time - I was only 16, I think - anyone had asked me whether I believed in God, I would have laughed and said "of course not!" - so natural is it to ask for help when we have

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-57888139816056562532011-01-22T16:45:00.000+13:002011-01-22T16:45:35.717+13:00

...I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me... (Exodus 20:5b) I am colour-blind - specifically what is known as red-green colour blind.  I suppose I have the commonest form, deuteranomalous red-green colour blindness (neat big word!).  Because colour-blindness is on the X-chromosome, and

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-80730838595899606412011-01-14T19:39:00.000+13:002011-01-14T19:39:41.828+13:00

It would be impressive if I could explain that the reason for my silence over the last few weeks has been some great crisis in my life - even some tragic circumstances that I have had to deal with.  The reality is more prosaic: just my usual writer's block.  I have had one or two possibly good ideas.  Each time I have faced a kind of fear of doing anything about them until they became stale. And

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-75623645024659455252010-12-19T16:26:00.000+13:002010-12-19T16:26:40.036+13:00

It is, I suppose, merely a sign of increasing age that I have become (a little :-)) less idealistic.  A sometime-reader of this blog will remember the enthusiasm with which, twenty-five or so years ago, I told him of my plans to build "the world's best short-wave receiver."  I have thought of my own tendency towards perfectionism - which has very often worked against any actual tendency in me

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-27583312574215704062010-12-12T16:59:00.000+13:002010-12-12T16:59:16.613+13:00

A friend of mine has asked me a question - or rather expressed a difficulty he has and wonders if I have any thoughts on the matter: I am trying to come up with a suitable response to (or way to approach) the "new atheists" (Hitchins, Dawkins, etc), who strike me as bigots, i.e. persons motivated by hatred of belief and believers, who do not take religious belief seriously.A bigot (in the

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-91184026512564098692010-12-06T18:25:00.000+13:002010-12-06T18:25:46.365+13:00

Well, see, I was going to post something here every week.  Then I missed the week-end of 20-21 November - not, I suspect, for any real reason but just because I did a bit of this and a bit of that - and then the week-end was over. Once you do something once, it gets a lot easier to do it again.  The following week-end was pretty intense orchestra rehearsal.  And the week-end just past - 4-5

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-71714526080721126852010-11-14T17:53:00.001+13:002010-11-14T17:55:57.345+13:00

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-56317554404641544312010-11-07T15:35:00.000+13:002010-11-07T15:35:04.483+13:00

If I had gone to Berkeley in my first year, my experience might have been different.  When I first went to UCLA, I was a worshipper at the shrine of science.  Berkeley was my second year and I was by then beginning to be self-confident, and interested in the idea of student life. Or perhaps second-year University students are always like that.  The term 'sophomoric' is no accident. At UCLA I

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-75397712048197277882010-10-31T10:24:00.000+13:002010-10-31T10:24:32.197+13:00

OK, the title is just a play on words from the last post - the injustice in this case being my own telling you I was suffering COPD - when, according to the spirometry that was done on Thursday, this is not so. I have just a few minutes now, having just come home from Mass and getting ready to leave for orchestra (pre-concert rehearsal and then the concert), so here is the collection of stuff,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-78923509578975769752010-10-23T08:25:00.000+13:002010-10-23T08:25:27.366+13:00

Belgian Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard made a stir recently by calling AIDS an example of "immanent justice".  It's an interesting concept - Jean Piaget thought that it was the natural assumption of children - what we call poetic justice is closely related.  I think the Archbishop only meant that AIDS was the natural consequence of certain sorts of behaviour. Be that as it may, I am

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-13958731035831962502010-10-16T11:08:00.000+13:002010-10-16T11:08:51.253+13:00

Notice: this is a theological post it is pure speculation So you have been warned.  If it sounds boring - or, even more likely, if it sounds likely to veer off into heresy (it is - and if any real theologian reads this, I would be very grateful for correction and clarification) - you may close your browser now! OK, so you didn't close the browser.  Don't blame me.  I tried to warn you. Ever

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-4327847568238142922010-10-02T16:01:00.000+13:002010-10-02T16:01:36.870+13:00

The Latin word vacātiō, from which, ultimately, the English word 'vacation' comes (via, I think, French) means, according to Lewis and Short, 'freedom, exemption, immunity, dispensation' - especially, they say, 'exemption from military service.'  The word is derived, in Latin, from vacō 'to be empty, vacant' - and of course we get the word 'vacuum' from it as well. I am on vacation - vacātiō -

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-39882462381888084322010-09-19T16:19:00.000+12:002010-09-19T16:19:28.482+12:00

A friend recently told me of a couple of remarkable incidents in his life - he had told me of them in a discussion of the existence - and character - of God.  I am Catholic; he thinks of God as ... well, I hope he will not mind if I use his words, which, I think, express very well what may be the commonest view of God: I prefer to not use the term God when I try to come to grips with the big

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-13944746807433310432010-09-12T20:29:00.000+12:002010-09-12T20:29:51.394+12:00

OK, really and truly no time to write anything this week-end - nor, probably, next.  Next concert is next Saturday the 18th, and I am struggling.  I have written before about my lip's being numb after the accident.  It is still numb, but that doesn't appear to affect my playing significantly.  What does definitely do so is that I have lost endurance. Brass players will know what I mean - and

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-47688095729589329402010-09-05T16:28:00.000+12:002010-09-05T16:28:33.570+12:00

Only time for a very brief note today.  A friend wrote me recently: I ... wound up thinking religion is a psychological tapestry we use to cover the chinks of unknowable stuff about life and death, and to weave a story of meaning and community. Life is full of mysteries, so there are lots of chinks and lots of religions to cover them.I wonder if that is true. Oh, I suppose I know what the friend

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-20311951484296119922010-08-28T16:42:00.001+12:002010-08-28T16:44:22.461+12:00

Johnny once asked me to write, in these memoirs, about 'zany' things. Trouble is, there are too many of these that I am not going to write about - at least not published on the web - perhaps for shame, perhaps, in some cases, for fear of the consequences... But before I leave UCLA behind completely, I suppose there were a few things that might be classified by Johnny as 'zany' - like: one

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-82842157313270051812010-08-22T19:33:00.000+12:002010-08-22T19:33:22.279+12:00

I spent only one year at UCLA.  It was, nevertheless, of some importance to me as it settled me in as a University student.  I was, I thought, going to be an astronomer.  This had been my intention from primary school.  Nevertheless, I was fascinated by language.  A University of California PhD at the time had a language requirement: either three semesters of one language, or two semesters each

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-21201935468508313562010-08-16T16:15:00.000+12:002010-08-16T16:15:14.772+12:00

I have read in books about a person's having a dream that is very vivid, and whose memory stays with the person, for a long time - years, or even for life - but so far as I know the experience is rare. At least I don't think anyone has ever told me of long-remembered vivid dreams. I have had one dream in my life that was very vivid and has stayed with me.  It occurred in 1973 or 1974 and has

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-85238785540201384252010-08-08T19:56:00.000+12:002010-08-08T19:56:08.259+12:00

I was going to write something substantial today.  I am left now with writing something which is, indeed, substantial, but there won't be much writing to it.  It is not something that I feel able to say too much about.  It is, however, as substantial as anything can be. God loves us. I have a cycle that I follow in going through the Mysteries of the Rosary.  There used to be three sets of five,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-90043403396091971112010-08-01T19:23:00.000+12:002010-08-01T19:23:25.226+12:00

I had occasion, early this morning, to look at a clip of the last few minutes of the movie "The Graduate": The icons in this film clip include, especially strikingly, the locked church, the use of a Cross by Ben at the end both to fend off the crowd - and most movingly, the use of that same Cross to lock the crowd in. I was born in 1942.  Although my own family's life never really matched the

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-4462191469997747262010-07-24T16:34:00.000+12:002010-07-24T16:34:35.548+12:00

Or at least close to it. I was going to write about something else this week-end - the subject of forgiveness, if you must know - but am not ready to yet, and I thought some of you might want to know what the outcome of my court case was. I pled 'guilty.' Sort of.  I went to see a local lawyer.  He allowed as how I was sure to get off from the charge of careless driving (had I said in these

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-7855837014433834182010-07-17T18:20:00.000+12:002010-07-17T18:20:11.909+12:00

I chose St Francis de Sales as my confirmation saint.  He was the Bishop of Geneva, and had won many Calvinists back to the "Old Faith" - so I thought it appropriate that I, a once-Calvinist, should ask for his patronage. Bishops are busy men - and St Francis de Sales was no exception.  However, he found time to write.  And one book that he wrote has been enormously popular, amongst Protestants

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-29815621077024383332010-07-11T15:57:00.000+12:002010-07-11T15:57:09.004+12:00

My cat sleeps a lot (no, this is not my cat - but it's cute, don't you think?) This post is a bit of a muddle - or even more of a muddle than usual, if that's appropriate.  Because I am muddled about sleep. A few nights ago I lay down to go to sleep for the night - and had suddenly the thought that this was a very strange thing to do.  I lay down and was, indeed, ready for bed - but my thoughts

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-68410215765440818682010-07-07T11:13:00.000+12:002010-07-07T11:13:50.310+12:00

I didn't post anything this last week-end - busy, as usual - and I don't usually just cross-post; it smacks of laziness (oh, ok, it is laziness).  But please read the post in this link.  And if you're not a Catholic - at least ask yourself why we Catholics feel this way: the worst thing in the world is being a Catholic - except not being a Catholic.

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-31929755596564371092010-06-27T19:59:00.000+12:002010-06-27T19:59:19.259+12:00

The little boy in front of me in the pew - probably 8 years old as he has been presented to the congregation today with 20 or so others as being prepared for Confirmation and First Communion when the bishop comes down next month - is spinning a Rosary around in self-amusement, whilst Deacon Hans gives the homily. For the most part the congregation are paying attention - at least, they are not

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-89827191698138840572010-06-19T20:24:00.004+12:002010-06-20T05:37:32.458+12:00

Today I went to the baptism of a tiny wee baby - a little crumpled up boy not long acquainted with the sun. On the surface of things, he briefly left the security of his mother's or father's arms to have some invading water hit his head - while in fact he was being embraced in the arms of a new Father and a new mother - the Father who is ultimately at the source of everything, not just this boy's

Robbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769265130680235242noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-90351531532733409872010-06-19T20:06:00.000+12:002010-06-19T20:06:25.138+12:00

On Saturday Mass in Pukekohe, it is my turn to read the first reading.  Some days I rather feel I were not so privileged: After the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash, and the king then listened to them. They forsook the temple of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and began to serve the sacred poles and the idols; and because of this crime of theirs,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-88877685088999212172010-06-13T17:44:00.000+12:002010-06-13T17:44:39.066+12:00

I met my first Australian in my first year at UCLA.  He was the lecturer for my freshman physics course.  The class comprised only perhaps 40 or so students, so teaching it was not just lecturing.  He interacted with us, got us to try different exercises. And discovered, somehow, that I was, originally, from Bakersfield.  He seemed to have thought that an amusing place to be from.  Well, I

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-24642811669102359562010-06-07T07:07:00.000+12:002010-06-07T07:07:42.284+12:00

Carl Olson of the Ignatius Press blog posted on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, beginning with the following paragraph: Shortly after my wife and I entered the Catholic Church in 1997, I had a conversation with an Evangelical friend that was as disconcerting as it was friendly. A.J., who I met in Bible college several years earlier, was curious about the Catholic doctrine that the Eucharist is

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-59091829495642202862010-05-30T20:09:00.000+12:002010-05-30T20:09:39.913+12:00

Real life at last!  I am going to University.  I was put on a long-distance Greyhound coach from Oroville to Los Angeles - some 730 Km according to Google maps - with one suitcase, another smaller bag, and my trumpet.  It was a night trip and I had no idea where to go when I arrived in Los Angeles.  The downtown transport station early on a September morning in 1960 was daunting, but I asked

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-44703978749520664502010-05-22T18:15:00.000+12:002010-05-22T18:15:13.438+12:00

...I had hoped to write another bit about my first year at University, but ... On Wednesday (19 May) we re-installed our main backup server.  This was expected to be completed by sometime Thursday morning. This afternoon Darren (my co-worker) and I finally managed to get it working well enough that I hope we will survive the week-end. I did at least some horn practice.  Next Saturday (the 29th)

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-90555050174432931502010-05-15T16:06:00.000+12:002010-05-15T16:06:07.050+12:00

I was praying this morning for a friend who, recently, asked me whether there were any sufficient reason to suppose Christianity true.  My friend's immediate motive for asking is the fear of death.  When this person wrote to me asking me this, I responded, as Christians do, with reasons for believing in God - and for believing in eternal life. I don't know what effect, if any, my answer may have

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-45581904326982210312010-05-08T18:13:00.000+12:002010-05-08T18:13:09.182+12:00

It has been a long time since I posted anything about my past - and the demands from my children for another post have been ... well, actually, there haven't been any.  But it is true that once upon a time they asked for these memoirs.  And it is true that to date they haven't risen up and cried, "Stop!  Enough!" In addition to the odd circumstance intervening - like car accidents that could -

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-11988609287707192872010-05-02T18:46:00.001+12:002010-05-02T18:46:40.278+12:00

Our parish semi-annual newsletter asked for a short article.  The article below may be of interest to you: 1970 – Honolulu – 27 years old and a brand-new “Jesus Movement” Christian, I was living on a tiny income as a taxi-driver; paying large back debts, and paying other obligations resulting from a very dodgy way of life. I was very excited about being a Christian, however, and had persuaded my

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-37487343421763684732010-05-02T15:59:00.005+12:002010-05-02T17:02:03.488+12:00

Well - the second Vatican Council placed a great emphasis in the need for the faithful to enter into the liturgy with full, conscious and active participation.  At the cross Jesus offered Himself, as the perfect and infinite sacrifice - being both priest and victim, or priest and lamb. There were many and varied responses to this offering at the time: First, there is the pharasaical one, which

Robbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769265130680235242noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-49250245189845651472010-05-02T14:07:00.000+12:002010-05-02T14:07:12.281+12:00

I have been trying to think of an excuse for not having posted anything last week-end, but I have failed.  It is true that on Sunday, the 25th (ANZAC Day), we went to Eddie and Eveline's.  But on the Saturday, though I did go up to see Father Peter Fitzsimons (the Opus Dei) priest, still I had the whole afternoon in which to write - but didn't.  As I had to ask Susan, just now, what I had been

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-23198260201236769992010-04-18T15:37:00.002+12:002010-04-18T15:38:33.097+12:00

The Gospel at Mass today (Sunday 18 April) was from the 21st chapter of John.  In it, Jesus, after asking Peter if he loves Jesus, says: Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.  Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.”Father

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-59200257196758757032010-04-06T11:12:00.000+12:002010-04-06T11:12:58.064+12:00

I had the stitches out yesterday.  My lower lip is still numb.  I wrote the paragraph below to a couple of professional horn players on the web: A week ago today - that is, on Tuesday the 30th of March - I was in a car accident. I was not seriously injured, *except* that my lower lip was smashed against the steering wheel, pushing my lower teeth into it. My teeth are all right. The car wasn't

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-62461836971282440132010-04-01T11:34:00.000+13:002010-04-01T11:34:27.045+13:00

Thank you, all of you have been praying.  I had never considered there might be some issue with the insurance.  When I explained that I had been delivering newspapers, the red flag went up: commercial use. There ensued 24 hours of waiting.  I explained to them that I had not known there was a problem with our using it twice a week for paper deliveries - it was just our family car.  They would

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-35400596379932427042010-03-30T18:59:00.001+13:002010-03-30T19:12:53.916+13:00

Though it might better be titled less mysteriously - something like 'Accident.'  I thought I would tell what happened here, as some of you have talked to me on the 'phone and others have not - word gets around. I left the house at 5 this morning to do Susan's paper run.  When I got up, my stomach didn't feel all that hot - a bit nauseous, in fact - so maybe I have some virus or other (the doctor

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-84381733858860913192010-03-29T18:57:00.000+13:002010-03-29T18:57:53.853+13:00

By Friday night last week, the 26th of March, that is, I was beginning to despair of getting the major solo right that I had to play in the piano concerto that week-end.  Friday night's rehearsal was the fifth rehearsal for the orchestra.  We had practised that concerto each time.  I had practised it a fair bit at home.  I was still really messing up the solo, even though I could play it by

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-86228098474149053742010-03-21T10:55:00.000+13:002010-03-21T10:55:28.162+13:00

Next concert looms.  Rehearsals today (Saturday 20 March) and tomorrow.  Susan preparing for her trip to New Jersey.  She leaves this coming Wednesday afternoon, the 24th March.  Rehearsals Thursday and Friday nights; Saturday afternoon before the concert; concerts Saturday evening and Sunday.  So just a few mixed notes here.  I will probably finish this tomorrow morning. Susan points out that

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-50064076071259307372010-03-14T07:47:00.000+13:002010-03-14T07:47:44.022+13:00

We had, I think, about 30 acres of olives, and that was our primary crop.  However, we had something like 10 acres of oranges, as well. Oranges in our part of California didn't ripen until deep winter.  I think we picked around Christmas, or maybe even January. But perhaps 'ripen' isn't the correct word.  The oranges in Yap are perfectly fine - but they are not orange.  When ripe I don't know

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-27516251807008896162010-03-07T20:07:00.002+13:002010-03-07T20:21:40.438+13:00

Aristotle begins his ethical search by the observation that everything we do is ultimately seeking happiness, though we differ so much as to where happiness is to be found. He observes that happiness seems to be that thing that isn't sought for the sake of something else, but that lies behind all the seeking that we do. Then he embarks on a number of chapters that explore the essence of certain

Robbiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02769265130680235242noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-15574408185415627882010-03-07T18:01:00.000+13:002010-03-07T18:01:56.509+13:00

OK, so you see I am telling you up front, this is an ad!  And it is likely to be of interest only to those of my readers who are Catholics - but any who are concerned about the way of the culture of what is called "The West" in our day may find it useful. It is the "Catholic Culture Project"  I am going to do what I can with this very worthwhile project to help it along, and to do what I can to

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-2180791275044147232010-03-07T16:58:00.000+13:002010-03-07T16:58:24.085+13:00

I am tempted to use the visit of Helen and Robert - Sue's and my daughter and son-in-law - with their two children Georgia Grace (9 years old) and Gus (3 - and a half! :-)) - as the excuse for writing nothing in particular this week-end.  I could shore up its weakness as an excuse by saying that tomorrow, the 7th of March, Sue and I will be spending with Robbie Loretz. The excuse would be, if

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-54422155006138785642010-02-27T14:09:00.000+13:002010-02-27T14:09:06.415+13:00

I did not grow up on a farm. I think if had, my outlook on life might be very different than it is. We lived in Bakersfield, in town, my father an optometrist, until I was 12. I really do not know why my father bought our farm in Oroville.  I wonder if Peter has any ideas.  As I have said in previous posts, he looked into the possibility of building and running a tourist resort in Canada in 1952,

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-6768070406676040052010-02-25T19:37:00.000+13:002010-02-25T19:37:59.263+13:00

Ceci n'est pas une pipe I am just putting this non-post in in order to find out what this supposed auto-mailout to that mail list will do. jj

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-10997623529990121312010-02-16T11:18:00.002+13:002010-02-16T11:18:50.134+13:00

For the one or two of you who have commented anonymously, I wanted to let you know I have turned on the Google 'captcha' app.  It's quite simple to use.  Authors don't have to.  I have had a bit of nuisance spamming in the comments and maybe this will take care of them.  I am reluctant to require a login. In any case, as I said, it only affects a couple of people.  I would love it if it affected

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-8326628921016784852010-02-13T16:36:00.001+13:002010-02-13T18:04:39.977+13:00

Our children played music in one of the 'after-school' music programmes that appear common in New Zealand, although I do not recall hearing of anything similar when I was young in California.  Our four attended the Papakura Saturday Music School regularly from, I suppose, about 1985.  The experience was excellent, in my opinion, although one, at least, of my offspring - who reads this blog - may

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-51900505980507207682010-02-07T16:25:00.007+13:002010-02-07T19:57:46.850+13:00

I was reading Matthew's Gospel, chapter 21, verses 1-22 this morning. It is the passage where Jesus quite deliberately presents Himself as the Messianic King: 1And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, 2Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-82702672572117882502010-01-30T16:50:00.005+13:002010-01-31T20:07:13.842+13:00

There was a number of us in high school who were pretty good friends - I think now of Bob Seward, Lee Gunderson, Brandon Wentworth, Ray Leonard, Lanny Cummins - but within our group two friends seem to me to have been the ones I loved the most. I have talked a bit about David Bennum. The other was Delmer Horn.On his mother's side, Delmer was - he said - descended from pre-Mexican-American War

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4929437075353118939.post-69605626979193411282010-01-24T14:31:00.002+13:002010-01-24T16:32:14.614+13:00

OK, the title has nothing to do with confidentiality, but when I typed 'High School,' the next word just filled itself in. Maybe I should have titled it 'Grease.'Although I suppose the title might lead one to expect me to talk about ... well, matters that ought to be kept confidential. There were such matters in my life, I am sorry to say - but they will remain confidential.So I must restrict

John Thayer Jensenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13500741932687812142noreply@blogger.com0