So, way back in October–I think–I wrote about the first snowfall of the season. Well, it’s now the dire end of January, and we have gotten our first actual accumulation of snow, and it’s cold enough to crunch beneath your feet. Why, yesterday I even had to get out the shovel.

Now, I don’t know about all this climate-change-weather-cycle-global-warming-greenhouse-effect-natural-artificial stuff, but I do know that if Northwest Ohio is not getting significant accumulations and frigid weather until the last days of January, then something t’aint right. No, sir. Not right a’tall.

On the heart warming side, mid-morning I saw two youngsters lugging shovels making the rounds trying to earn some cash by shovelling driveways. When they knocked on the door, I was sitting in our Poang chair not two feet from the front door. I was working, so I didn’t answer. They knocked twice then went away. It may warm my heart to see the youngins bein’ all industrious, but it doesn’t mean I’m also not an inveterate hermited cheapskate.

Jeremiah 1:4-10
Psalm 71: 1-17
1 Corinthians 14:12b-20
Luke 4:21-32

One of the hallmarks of evangelical Christianity is its emphasis on the individual. God may have loved the whole world, but you, as an individual, must make a personal decision to follow Christ; you, as an individual, will be judged in the end for your own actions not those of others; you, as an individual, must take up your own cross and follow Christ. While there are scattered stories in the New Testament of families being baptized, the norm seems to focus on these individual conversions like Saul’s. Here in America, I sometimes feel that the call to a personal relationship with Christ seems to get caught up in a somewhat secular sense of Individualism, but today’s readings suggest that however perverted that call to individuals may have become, God still calls out individuals to do His work.

Christ makes some disquieting observations about the way God works as he responds to those in his home town who want him to do miracles like he’s done elsewhere. He recalls two instances of God’s miraculous work in the Old Testament: the Widow Zarephath and the Leper Naaman. In each case, there were many who were suffering, whether through famine or disease, but God only chose to work miracles in the lives of a single person. Furthermore, the examples that Christ chose were miracles done for those who were the lowest in the eyes of the Israelites. The implications of his observation so upset those listening that they wanted to throw him off the nearest cliff.

The Old Testament readings for today depict individuals praising God for calling and supporting them as individuals. God tells Jeremiah that “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” Whatever other use we can put these declarations to, the initial and immediate meaning is that God was specifically setting Jeremiah apart to some great work. He wasn’t calling a family or a people or a nation; he was calling Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nations. In the Psalm, the psalmist isn’t claiming to have been set apart, but he is praising God for sustaining him “ever since I was born.” His song is a song of God’s steadfastness and saving deeds in this one person’s life.

So, we have three readings that emphasize and declare the way God works to save and succor individuals. What then are those individuals to do? As I continue observing the Lectionary Muse in action, I note that very often three of the readings will be very closely linked, but that there will regularly be one reading that doesn’t seem to fit. It is the disparate reading that forces us to see the others, perhaps, through a different lens than we would normally choose. In this case, we see Paul continuing his exhortation to the church in Corinth to stop thinking so highly of themselves and think about the edification of the body. Yes, people want miracles. Yes, speaking in tongues is wonderfully strange and miracle-like. But who does it build up? It does build up the person speaking in tongues, but unless there’s a translation, that’s the end.

I thank God that I speak in tongues more than you all; nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

Let us look again at the other examples of God working in individual lives. What was God’s purpose in calling Jeremiah? To be a prophet to the nations. What did God deliver the psalmist from his enemies? So that the psalmist would “recount your mighty acts and saving deeds all day long…I will recall your righteousness…and to this day I tell of your wonderful works.” And what was Christ’s work on earth if not to edify and save the world? While it is very true that God works in individual lives, these readings suggest that the purpose of those acts of individual saving is not just to save that one person but to speak to and instruct many.

We see this pattern throughout the New Testament. Christ heals one so that he may go and tell others. He spends time with the apostles–not just for their sake–but so that they can go forth and make disciples of the whole world. God may work on an individual level, but his vision is much greater.

The Lectionary Muse and my head had a disagreement this week. I wanted to dig into Paul’s admonition to pray with the spirit and the mind together. Unfortunately, the other readings didn’t allow that course. While some may say I’m bending to the tyranny of the lectionary, I would suggest that my shift is precisely the gift that the lectionary bestows. It is very much in my normal way of reading to focus in on the anti-anti-intellectualism applications of Scripture. The other readings caused me to look at the passage through a set of lenses I wouldn’t necessarily run to immediately. Thus I am taught.

MASH has always had a special place in my heart. I remember evenings spent at my grandparents’ house with everyone gathered around the TV to watch. Over the years, I’m sure I’ve seen all the episodes, but when the DVDs started coming out I was interested in seeing what the show looked like unedited and, mercifully, without the inane laugh track. Watching the episodes without the promptings of some network noodlehead was a revelation. I found myself laughing at things I didn’t before and pondering others that were meant to be jokes. Most importantly, I saw that the show, generally, allowed the audience to make its choices about such things.

Despite my love for the show, I never really felt the need to own all 11 seasons. I have some specially selected seasons that represent significant transitions in the life of the show, and, as such, I simply had to have season 11.

The first pleasure in viewing season 11 of MASH is seeing how strong the show ended. One of my reasons for not wanting every season is my feeling that the show seemed to start repeating things in the later years. I’m not knocking the show: 11 seasons is a long time for any show, especially one with such a defined and short historical period from which to draw. However, whatever the the weaknesses of previous seasons, the writers and actors pulled out all the stops for the last season and recaptured the zaniness and poignancy of the groundbreaking episodes. In fact, there were episodes which I have long loved that I didn’t know were part of the last season.

The second, and perhaps major, treat of season 11 is the 2 1/2 hour series finale, a show that would become the most watched television episode of all time. It stands on its own as a riveting story, but it also provides a solid emotional ending to the stories of these characters viewers had come to love over the years. We see Hawkeye finally succumb to the madness he’s been fighting the whole war; we see BJ struggle with the inhumanity of the army system; Charles’s own defenses become his enemy; and we see Margaret step out on her own. The only note that rings slightly off-key is Klinger’s speedy romance and marriage to Korean refugee Soon Lee; it felt like the writers were desperate to somehow squeeze a wedding into this sit-com, whether it fit or not.

In the end, it’s hard not to tear up an any number of times in the finale as it reminds us of all that came before and fulfills the themes that had been founded before. It’s one of the few TV shows that figured out a fitting way to say “Goodbye.”

The opening chapters of Catherine Kenney’s The Remarkable Case of Dorothy L. Sayers establish Sayers’s goal to elevate the mystery genre beyond pop lit to literature. Sayers wanted to write mystery novels that were more than just puzzles. While there can be little argument that Sayers later mysteries succeed in this mission, a perusal of her early works shows an author mastering the form but only occasionally rising above the form. Sayers herself recognized the shortcomings of these earlier works. However, while DLS herself may wish to dismiss these early works, they are themselves excellent examples of the mystery form. In Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness, and Unnatural Death, Sayers establishes much of the world and tone of the world which will later give us the glorious Lord Peter & Harriet Vane novels. For enthusiasts of later works, these early novels provide some biographical details into our favorite characters. We learn about Bunter’s friendship with Peter in the trenches of WWI. We meet Mrs. Climpson on her first missions for Lord Peter. However, these early novels also contain some disconcerting hiccups of character development. For instance, in Clouds of Witness the novel ends on a scene of our heroes in a state of public drunkeness. Earlier in the story, Peter has a nervous breakdown, exhibiting signs of PTSD brought on by the stress of proving his brother innocent of murder. While these touches of humanity certainly serve to break down the cipher-like quality of Wimsey’s character in Whose Body?, they don’t flow organically from the story. Rather than add to the completeness of Sayers’s created world, the scenes jar the reader and seem tacked on.

Whatever the failings of Sayers’s early work, they are excellent mysteries in their own right, and they provide an intriguing snapshot of her attempts at furthering the complexity and literary expectations of a genre that was already showing signs of growing tired.

1. Whose Body? (1923)
2. Clouds of Witness (1926)
3. Unnatural Death (1927)

Well Twelfth Night has come and gone and so has our wonderful Twelfth Night party during which we read Shakespeare’s wonderful play of the same name. One of these days I’ll have to figure out what exactly the Twelfth Night of the season has to do with the story, since it’s not all that obvious. The party was the debut of my second batch of homemade ale. Everyone who tried it liked it. A guest on a later occasion was just a bit bowled over by its quality, but I chalk that up to his still getting over serious jet lag and culture shock from a trip abroad.

As with T1, I started with a Grape & Granary ingredients kit although this time I tinkered. The base recipe was G&G’s English Special Bitter, an ale with a long and storied tradition in England. The style is noted for its drinkability, and, despite the name, it really isn’t so much bitter as it is not sweet. The “special” in ESB is that it is slightly higher in alcohol content than regular bitter, but it is not so high that it loses its appeal as a “session” beer.

My tweaks came in the form of 1lb of dark DME for color and spices which I added to make a festive holiday ale: cinnamon, orange peel, and nutmeg. I was so pleased with this concoction that I fancy I’ll be making it again for next year’s Twelfth Night, but I must admit to being slightly disappointed in the lack of flavor the spices added. While their presence is certainly there, it’s more of a “you’d notice it if they weren’t there” sort of thing, and I was aiming for a somewhat more noticeable flavor or aroma. So, next year there will be more.

Enough of that, here’s the details:

1. 3.3 lbs Munton’s Light Malt Extract syrup
2. 2 lbs Briess Gold Dried Malt Extract
3. 1 lb Dark DME
4. .06 lb Chocolate malt
5. .25 lb Crystal 60 malt
6. .75 oz Nothern Brewer hops
7. 1 oz English Kent Golding hops
8. 3 sticks cinnamon
9. 1/2 oz sweet dried orange peel
10. 1 TB fresh ground nutmeg
11. Nottingham Ale Yeast

The spices were added to the boiling wort on the following schedule:

1. 2 sticks of cinnamon for the last 15 minutes
2. The orange peel for the last 10 minutes
3. 1 stick of cinnamon and the nutmeg for the last 1 minute

Brewdate: 11/17/06
O.G.: 42
S.G on 11/22: 10
Roused on 11/22
Racked to secondary: 11/25
Bottled: 12/1
First served: 1/6

ABV: 4.3%

Tasting notes
Appearance
The ale is a deep amber, almost red, with a decent cream colored head. It is very clear with just a painting of sediment in the bottle.
Aroma
No strong aromas although there is the slightest citrusy freshness.
Taste
I really like it. There’s some bitterness but not overly hoppy. The orange peel adds just a touch of sweetness or freshness that doesn’t overpower. You feel the cinnamon mainly in the back of the throat, almost not a taste but a feeling. It’s malty and balanced.
Mouthfeel
Medium bodied. As noted in the Taste, the cinnamon provides an interesting bite that may be more feeling than taste. Or is that the nutmeg?
Drinkability
Very enjoyable. The ABV is low enough that you can have more than one without overdoing it. This is an ale motivated by taste.

Overall, I’m extremely pleased with this effort and looking forward to improving next year.

Every year about this time disc golfers around the country particpate in an exercise called the Ice Bowl. The idea is that folks get together to play disc golf in extreme conditions that golfers tend to avoid: cold, wind, snow. Due to the extreme nature of this exercise, the results usually don’t figure into official rankings and such. The proceeds from such events are usually donated to charity or groups try to accumulate canned goods for local charities. The official motto of the enterprise is “No Wimps; No Whiners.”

Today in Tiffin, we didn’t have an Ice Bowl as much as we had a Mud Bowl. Torrential rains earlier in the week submerged two or three holes under over a foot of water. While most of the water has receded, the ground is saturated and sloppy. Temps have remained above freezing, so the ground remains soft.

However, in the mud and slop of Tiffin’s Hedges-Boyer park, golfers from the area, from Toledo, and from as far away as Lancaster, MI gathered to play disc golf and raise funds for Patchworks House, a group that provides support for families that are going through difficult internal struggles. The format of the tournament was interesting in that the first round we played individually with the opportunity to buy mulligans. After the first round, players were paired up according to their scores. The highest and lowest scores were a team. Then the next lowest/highest, etc. We then played doubles. At the end of the day, both of our scores were added together to produce each person’s total score.

The sloppy conditions made it extremely difficult to achieve any solid footing, so power throws were unusual. It was a day in which finesse and technique were very important. I didn’t have any spectacular throws nor did I make any amazing shots, but I also didn’t have any horrific holes. It was perhaps the most consistent tournament play I’ve ever achieved. I ended the day shooting 120 for 38 holes, and, very exciting for me, I came in 2nd in the Intermediate Division.

Most importantly, it was announced that our small band of sportsfolk raised nearly $1300 for Patchworks House.

Well done!

When I heard that the band Over the Rhine was going to be offering its own special blend of coffee I was at once excited and concerned. On the one hand, the description of coffee “specially blended for artists, writers, musicians, day dreamers, and night walkers” is abstractly appealing while its “fresh-roasted, organic, free-trade” appellation call to the coffee snob activist in all of us. On the other hand, well, what’s a band doing selling coffee?

When we got back from the groups fantastic Taft show, I decided to bite the bullet, pony up, and get myself a pound to go with the t-shirt I bought at the show. A few days later, the beans arrived having just been roasted 48 hours earlier. How’s that for fresh?

Over the Rhine Blend has a deep, very full body set off by a touch of tang. It reminds me alot of Peet’s Coffee’s Major Dickason’s Blend. The acidity is supported by a rich, chocolately roast that reminds me of cocoa and oranges. OTR doesn’t reveal which coffees go into their blend, but I’m banking on a good bit of Indonesian coffee for the earthiness, possibly some African/Arabian beans for the fruitiness, and something from Central America for the acidity. The brew is dark and leaves a pleasant residue in my cup when brewed in my favorite press pot. In short, it’s an excellent coffee that could have a decent chance of unseating Peet’s Garuda Blend as the house coffee in Chez Truffin.

At $12.50/lb, the coffee itself is competitively priced, but the $5.00 shipping charge pushes the price to $17.50. To be fair, I pay about the same for Peet’s, but the price has been why I’ve been searching out local options that at least would save me the shipping cost. Of course, to date, I haven’t found anything that compares.

In the final analysis, Over the Rhine Blend is a top-notch, heady brew that deserves a place right up there with the greats of the coffee world. Mmmm.

Sherry and I vascillate between describing Tiffin as “in the middle of nowhere” and “on the edge of no-where.” In either case, our location means that we miss out on many quality film releases each year since the nearest “art house” is two hours away. Also, as noted elsewhere, 2006 was a rough year for us, and we didn’t get out to as many films as we wished. Therefore, we even missed many highly recommended films that were shown within our viewing area. So, with those caveats, I present my list of the top new release films that I did see this year in no particular order:

• Word Play
• The Descent
• Nanny McPhee
• Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D
• The Prestige
• Casino Royale
• The Good Shepherd
• The Departed

Much of our NetFlix consumption has been TV shows, but I did discover some great older films this year through DVD. Here’s my favorites:

• Hidden Fortress
• Kon Tiki
• The Boston Strangler
• The Eyes of Tammy Faye
• My Neighbor Tortoro
• Jason and the Argonauts
• Sleuth
• The Gleaners and I
• The Tin Drum