Here are some of my favorites, the current contents of my “Unexpected Sightings” set. To access all the sets, click here.
![Daily Bread](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/8/6653367_8808c8855f_s.jpg "A slice of bread that fell on my path as I was walking in the park March 16, 2005. I was praying the Our Father and had just gotten to the words, "Give us this day our daily bread."")
!["The End of Catholicism"](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3192/2342827977_f735e7af62_s.jpg "In an Anchorage bookshop, the section of Catholic books ended with an ominous border sign: "The End of Catholicism."")
![as close as we got](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/6/7213392_c85ff6f1b9_s.jpg ""Who is that idiot out there with the camera?" Nancy was asked. "My husband!" she replied. (We had been told, in case of just such a situation, not to run. I backed off very slowly and the grizzly bear passed me without a glance in my direction.)")
![small continent](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/6/18205350_9d5df3c9f4_s.jpg "blossoms on an elderberry bush; elderberry is "flier" (or "vlier') in Dutch -- Nancy's family name; seen in the park near our house 8 June 2005")
![Mother's Coffee](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/91/272366553_725d253a32_s.jpg "the cup was the gift I brought home to Nancy from Canada; "always reliable" is the motto of Mother's Coffee... (Fiona's Coffee Shop in Camrose, Alberta, Canada)")
![When I grow up](http://farm1.static.flickr.com/123/336340280_d1c78dd25f_s.jpg "In our neighborhood, in the midst of Christmas, this sign appeared on a kitchen window. It means: "I hope there will be less war when I grow up."")
![pro-life ads](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1395/826445079_062d3d154f_s.jpg "The main Dutch pro-life organzation, VBOK, is well known for its posters. The message is: "Unplanned pregnancy? Thedre is help for both mother and child. Call...."")
![San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3053/2568195306_b9efeb7dcf_s.jpg "The Church of San Lorenzo, looking at the six-century end from the thirteenth-century addition. Half way down the aisle are two ambones (pulpit-like raised structures), the one on left for reading the Epistle, the one on the right for reading the Gospel.
One our last day in Rome, Nancy and I made began the day with a long walk to the Church of San Lorenzo Fuori le Myra (St Laurence Outside the Walls), the altar of which is over the spot where St Laurence was buried in 258. The oldest part of present church, replacing a smaller structure built in the fourth century at the order of the Emperor Constantine, is from the 7th century. Then at the end of that day, we walked to the Church of San Lorenzo on Panisperna, erected on the spot where Laurence died. As it happens, it was just around the corner from the hospice where we were staying. While it was too late to get into the church, it seemed providential to end our two weeks of pilgrimage in Rome at this particular place -- all the more so as our next stop was our home in Alkmaar, a town whose patron saint is St Laurence!
Here is a short text about St Laurence:
Lawrence is said to have received his religious instruction in preparation for baptism from Archdeacon Sixtus (later Pope Sixtus II) in Rome.
When Sixtus became Bishop of Rome in 257, he ordained Lawrence a deacon and placed him in charge of the administration of Church goods as well as care for the poor.
During the anti-Christian persecution under Emperor Valerian in 258, numerous bishops, priests and deacons were put to death, while Christians belonging to the nobility or the Roman Senate were deprived of their goods and exiled. Pope St Situs II was one of the first victims of this persecution, being beheaded on August 6.
According to a story told by St Ambrose of Milan, Lawrence, meeting Pope Sixtus on his way to his execution, asked him, "Where are you going, my dear father, without your son? Where are you hurrying off to, holy priest, without your deacon? Before you never mounted the altar of sacrifice without your servant, and now you wish to do it without me?" Pope Situs responded, "After three days you will follow me".
Following the death of Pope Sixtus, the prefect of Rome demanded that Lawrence turn over the riches of the Church -- chalices, candlesticks and anything else of value. St Ambrose relates that Lawrence, having asked for three days to gather together the wealth, worked swiftly to distribute as much church property to the poor as was possible in order as to prevent its being seized by the prefect.
On the third day, at the head of a small delegation, he presented himself to the prefect, and when ordered to give up the treasures of the Church, instead he presented the poor, assembled in ranks -- the crippled, the blind and the suffering. “These were the true treasures of the Church,” he told the outraged prefect. "In its poor, the Church is truly rich, far richer than your emperor."
This act of defiance led directly to his martyrdom.
Lawrence is said to have been executed slowly on the grill of an iron outdoor stove. During his torture Lawrence cried out "I am already roasted on one side. If thou would have me well cooked, it is time to turn me on the other side." His final prayer was for the conversion of Rome.
Later in the day he was buried in the catacomb that is now under and adjacent to the Church of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura.
St Laurence’s death had a great impact on the people of Rome. According to Prudentius, it was the death of idolatry in Rome. Laurence’s place of burial immediately became a place of pilgrimage.
Jim
* * *
Photos having to do with the two Roman churches linked to St Laurence are at the end of the “Rome Pilgrimage” set on our Flickr site:
<a href=\"http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/sets/72157605352157251/\">www.flickr.com/photos/jimforest/sets/72157605352157251/</a>
* * *")
![Sinterklaas 15 Nov 08 (2)](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3289/3032122596_3ed9137c5e_s.jpg "best seen at a larger size -- click on the "all sizes" button above the photo")
![Pray for Peace](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3360/3504668299_f16eab1c94_s.jpg "a cancellation mark I grew up with -- meanwhile nuclear weapons were being regularly "tested" in the open atmosphere of Nevada and later the Pacific Ocean")
![mother & daughter](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3562/3539881964_8f31d72ed8_s.jpg "They're both in black-and-white but with very different degrees of coverage. I happened to be walking behind them and was glad to see how affectionate they were --however different their approach to clothing many be, there was no sense of a "generation gap."")
![grey heron](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2440/3577295205_6d1ef1374b_s.jpg "on the Singel, the canal that surrounds the "old town" area of Alkmaar")
![grey heron](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3375/3578101298_513dcd7cd9_s.jpg "on the Singel, the canal that surrounds the "old town" area of Alkmaar -- I've rarely if ever been able to get so close to a heron")
![Haarlem 19 Sept 2009 (75)](http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2525/3937384833_4cc8b97f8f_s.jpg "A "drogerijen" is a drug store, but this shop now seem mainly to sell vitamins, medicinal teas, etc.. The "gaper" -- the Dutch word for yawner -- over the door and on this shelf inside represents someone opening his mouth to receive a pill or other medication. These days such impressive and colorful figures are seen more often in museums than over doorways.")
![Noah's Ark icon](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4018/4338027250_7626eaba2e_s.jpg "This rarely-painted icon is on the lower left on the iconostasis in the baptismal chapel of St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church in Amsterdam. The iconographer is Natalia Ermakova.
Regarding the detail on the lower right: Noah sends out first a raven and later a dove to see if the waters have subsided. The raven sitting on the rock finds only the drowned creatures (like the cat next to him) and stays where it is, while the dove, holding the olive branch it found, is shown returning to the ark.
The raven is mentioned in Genesis, chapter 8, verse 7. The rabbinic tradition points out that it was essential for this raven to survive, as one of its descendants would be needed to feed Elijah!
In the Wikipedia entry on Noah's Ark, in a section on Islamic texts about the prophet Noah, it is noted that "Noah spent five or six months aboard the Ark, at the end of which he sent out a raven. But the raven stopped to feast on carrion, and so Noah cursed it and sent out the dove, which has been known ever since as the friend of mankind."")
![Jane Austin cup](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4005/4589890981_1d5cac6777_s.jpg ""Pardoning me for neglecting to Profit by your advice." (Lyn Isbell's cup of choice.)")
![Maria on the Metro](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4635192863_e8a65c1a92_s.jpg "While in Amsterdam to retrieve my lost mobile phone, I happened to meet Maria selling the Daklozekrant ("Homeless Person's Journal") on Metro line 53.")
![Siena: an image of paradise](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1372/4733145185_29c92f4fd8_s.jpg "I find this painting it an especially haunting image of the door into paradise: forgiveness. The painting was part of a temporary exhibition -- "The Arts in Siena in the Early Renaissance" -- at Santa Maria della Scala in Siena, an ancient hospital that in recent years has become a museum. It's worth enlarging the photo to a larger size to better see the details -- different sorts of reconciliation. The artist is Giovani di Paolo of Siena. He lived an exceptionally long life -- 1398-1482. This work is dated 1445. It was loaned to the exhibition by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.")
![in the sacristy (5 Dec 2010)](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5285/5234926483_59e638da4f_s.jpg "A square section of eucharistic bread (it is called "the Lamb") has been removed from this prosphora for consecration during the liturgy. This unconsecrated bread will be cut into small sections for distribution following communion.")
![Departure Time](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5247/5345060471_97335b9e80_s.jpg "Today -- 10 January 2011 -- a children's book Nancy translated into English, "Departure Time" by Dutch author Truus Matti, was honored by the American Library Association. Here's a letter to Nancy from the book's US publisher.
* * *
From: Stephen Roxburgh
Date: 10 January 2011 17:38
Subject: Congratulations
To: Nancy Forest-Flier
Dear Nancy,
It is with great pleasure I tell you that DEPARTURE TIME by Truss Matti has been named a Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book by the American Library Association.
The Batchelder Award is a citation awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a language other than English in a country other than the United States, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
Here is a link to their website, which has last years winners listed:
<a href=\"http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/batchelderaward/index.cfm\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/ba...</a>
The Award will be announced publicly this morning at the mid-winter American Library Association conference in San Diego, California at 10:30 EST.
I want to say, personally, that I think the book is brilliant, the strongest fantasy I've read in many years, and your translation brings it beautifully into English. I am enormously proud to publish it in the United States. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Stephen Roxburgh
President & Publisher
namelos llc
* * *
more about the book:
<a href=\"http://www.namelos.com/title_detail.php?TitleID=186\" rel=\"nofollow\">www.namelos.com/title_detail.php?TitleID=186</a>
* * *")
![Lux & Jim](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5138/5511802582_1035f1f834_s.jpg "watching the Belgian children's program "Bumba" (photo by Cait)")
![Dan - Volkskrant 23 Mar 2011](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5222/5552186369_945484f865_s.jpg "Two days after the NCR Handelsblad interview with Dan about his doctoral dissertation on the right-wing agenda in post-9/11 superhero films, another national newspaper, De Volkskrant, ran its own interview with Dan. The headline: "There's Nothing So Neo-Conservative as Batman Setting Things Right." Dan argues that the films provide a subtle but emotionally-charged justification for American breaking international law in pursuit of what it regards as its national interest.")
![Dan in the NRC (21 March 2011)](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5095/5547158510_70546dfa1e_s.jpg "An interview with Dan inspired by his doctoral dissertation, "Superheroes and the Bush Doctrine: Narrative and Politics in Post- 9/11 Discourse." The headline reads "Ideology works best if you don't think about it too much." On Thursday (24 March) Dan will be defending his dissertation at the University of Amsterdam. The NRC Handelsblad is Holland's leading daily.")
![Dan interview in De Morgen](http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5179/5555516778_261757b808_s.jpg "This time an interview in a leading Belgian newspaper, De Morgen, appearing the same day that Dan's doctoral promotion is set to take place at the University of Amsterdam. The text in bold reads: "Superhero films are not simply innocent entertainment. Batman & Co. not only save the world; their cape also covers a neoconservative cargo. Spiderman as supporter of George W. Bush? In his dissertation, the Dutch-American researcher Dan Hassler-Forest looks at the phenomenon of the superhero through political-ideological glasses."")
![Catholic Worker Soup - Emmaus House, Troy, NY](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4108/5059012252_70d6b3ab37_s.jpg "John Williams in Seattle tells me that "this is originally from Michael Garvey's great classic, 'Confessions of a Catholic Worker.' The recipe also included the fact that, 'There is no such thing as too much garlic or too many onions.'" (I found a similar recipe in the Cornell kitchen at the Peter Maurin Farm in Marlboro, NY.)")
![Einstein window](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6020/6002987890_87024a2db4_s.jpg ""Reality is an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
text on one window of the American Book Center in Ansterdam")
![Nederland Leest](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6049/6328382775_2ca2248631_s.jpg ""Netherlands Reads" -- part of a wide poster of nude readers in the window of the Alkmaar Library. (The book title is "Life is Rapturous." It's available free from the library -- also downloadable as an e-book.)")
![Whole Earth (AS11-36-5355HR, detail)](http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7021/6581605835_552dd50afc_s.jpg "The photo that was sent to me shortly after the crew of Appolo 11 returned from the Moon voyage. It was taken July 20, 1969, on the return flight to Earth. I had difficulty receiving the photo as it was not sent by "an authorized corespondent."")
![Paris 2013: St-Julien-le-Pauvre / St Julian the Hospitaller](http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8381/8511615544_0903507f6e_s.jpg "John Williams, a long-time Paris tour guide, tells me that this is "the oldest sign in Paris." It is located at 42 rue Galande, just around the corner from the eastern-rite church of St-Julien-le-Pauvre. The earliest mention of the stone is from 1380. Here is an approximation of how John tells the story:
Julian, the son of nobles, grew up to have a passion for hunting. One day he killed a doe and her fawn and was about to kill the stag as well, but the stag spoke in a human voice, saying, "How dare you kill my family! The penalty is that one day you will kill your mother and father." Julian immediately took an oath that he would hunt no more. To make sure he could not even by mistake kill his parents, he moved away from them. Serving the king well, he prospered and at last had his own castle and a beautiful wife. He seemed destined to live happily ever after. But he missed the pleasure of hunting and decided he had abstained long enough. While away on the hunt, his parents arrived at his castle and received a warm welcome from his wife, who, seeing how tired they were, offered them use of their bed. Meanwhile a devil whispered in Julian's ear, "While you are hunting, your wife is embracing another man." Julian rushed back to his home, saw a man and woman in bed, drew his sword and killed them both, only to find his wife sitting with other women in another part of the castle. She gave him the good news of his parents' visit. Julian quickly realized the great sin he had committed -- and had done so on the very day he broke his vow. "I will never again know rest," he said, "until I know God has accepted my repentance." He and his wife together made a vow to live a penitential life, giving away their wealth and making their home in a small cottage by the river Seine where they daily ferried people across the stream. One day a half-frozen leaper asked for hospitality and then begged the couple to row him across the river. Though the weather was stormy, the couple agreed. In the middle of the crossing, the leaper revealed himself as Christ. He assured Julian, "Your repentance is accepted. Both you and your wife will soon rest in God."")
![Rhossili, Gower Penisula (with Worm's Head in the distance)](http://farm8.static.flickr.com/7284/8745633976_ddd0d3b3e5_s.jpg "It really is a dragon-shaped island. In Old English (for example in Beowulf) "worm" meant dragon.")
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