Sally Thomas

Everywhere she goes, he goes. She’s brought him here for Sunday tea. He’s been with me two weeks , she says and deftly shifts him on her knee. The rest of us try not to see the fine blue feed-tube up his nose or how his spine won’t hold him up. She says, I’ve called him Samuel. . . . . Continue Reading »

A falcon on a wire Against the laden sky Scanned his brown empire With a black-ice eye. Nothing beneath him stirred In that sunless instant But my heart, for a keen-eyed bird Blind to me, or indifferent. . . . . Continue Reading »

A friend of mine, in her college days, had a bumper sticker that offered this peaceful counsel: Don’t Buy War Toys. Once, she and a companion were stuck in a traffic jam on the highway, next to several young men in a pickup on their way home from deer hunting. The traffic was creeping along, one . . . . Continue Reading »

As a friend of mine observed recently, there is something medieval about Halloween. The masks, the running around in the dark, the flicker of candles in pumpkins, the smell of leaves and cold air—all of it feels ancient, even primal, somehow. Despite the now-inevitable preponderance of media-inspired costumes, Halloween seems, in execution, far closer to a Last Judgment scene above a medieval church door, or to a mystery play, than it does to Wal-Mart. Continue Reading »

Many thanks to our fearless readers of the last six months. I’ll still be blogging several days a week at First Thoughts, as well as updating my personal blog, Castle in the Sea. We’re already off the blog bar, so I don’t know whether anyone will see this, but if you do, . . . . Continue Reading »

Lo, October is hastening by, and the great Solemnity of All Saints is nearly upon us. If you were thinking of celebrating with vintage religious goods of one kind or another, here are some ideas.Vintage Medals: Saint BenedictSaint Maria GorettiMary Star of HeavenSaint InesHoly TrinityVintage . . . . Continue Reading »

Well, for starters, you get this. I haven’t given much attention in, say, the last twenty years to “World’s Sexiest” awards, which must explain why I hadn’t realized that the “World’s Sexiest Christian” is a schnauzer. You could get one of these to go . . . . Continue Reading »

Check out this slideshow of modernist churches around the world. Having grown up Methodist, I was intrigued by this gallery of United Methodist Churches. An illustrative factoid from Hamburg. Steeplescapes in Bogota, some unidentified Oklahoma location, and Camden and Wiscassett, Maine. More . . . . Continue Reading »

I forget how exactly I stumbled across this, but I found it strangely beautiful. . . . . Continue Reading »

Be prepared. Meanwhile, if you haven’t already, read The Anchoress on the brown scapular and avoid any Black Swan Events. Be well. . . . . Continue Reading »