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  • Sunday Gratitude – 18.X.2026

    Sunday Gratitude – 18.X.2026

    Hi everyone! Glad to be back here. I’m still struggling with a lot, and there’s a lot that’s really overwhelming. However, I’m going to give it a shot as far as gratitude here.

    Most importantly, probably, is that my son had a surgery on his ear a couple of weeks back, and everything went really, really well. Yes, he had the same surgery back in February on the other ear, and it went really well, but there’s still a good bit of nervousness attached to all these things.

    St Louis arch and church

    Secondly, I recently took part in the Serbian Orthodox Choral Association’s annual choir festival. Because it was only a week after the surgery, I wasn’t going to go, but then there were people who had signed up who either couldn’t go or couldn’t sing, and I was asked if there might be some way that I could go. I managed to get things arranged, and I went. It was an amazing trip, and I hope to write about it separately. Most of us who went ended up driving, including the people I rode with, but everything went off without a hitch, there were no accidents or incidents with the driving, and the event was a lot of fun. I am very grateful for that, and for getting to see the city and experience the city a little.

    If any of you are interested, our choir’s performance can be found here (our group starts at 45:15):

    The weather has gotten cooler, and I’m grateful for that (St. Louis at over 90F was quite a shock to the system). This just seems to be one of those patches that is especially rough, so I’d appreciate your prayers for me and my kids.

    Orthodox Church St Louis

    Thank you ever so much for following; you are amazing!


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  • Beyond the Season Free on Amazon this week or the blog always — Boondock Ramblings

    Beyond the Season Free on Amazon this week or the blog always — Boondock Ramblings

    Beyond the Season, the Christmas novella I shared here on the blog for 12 days in December was free this week on Amazon and I meant to share that news here on the blog but got completely distracted. Thursday is the last day for the sale. A copy of the book can also be downloaded for […]

    Beyond the Season Free on Amazon this week or the blog always — Boondock Ramblings

    I “met” Lisa doing the “‘Tis the Season Cinema” posts, which were really fun. She’s a writer who has multiple books to her name and she’s got an offer on a Christmas novella available now for anyone who might be interested.


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  • Wordle #556

    Wordle #556

    Never played Wordle? Check out my Wordle strategy page!

    Wordle explanations are posted a day late to ensure that no one accidentally sees the solution before playing.

    Line 1: “Judge” gives me something, at least, with the “D”

    Line 2: Still looking for where the “D” should be – and any other letter, for that matter.

    Line 3: Yay! an “O”, but still working on the place for the “D”

    Line 4: “O” and “D”, but I could really use a bit more!

    Line 5: Considering what’s left – what if it’s an odd word… Something that might end in “DO”. Condo? Yes!

    Did you get this Wordle? Tell me about it in the comments!

    Happy Gaming!


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  • Songs of the Season – Anastasia OST – Once Upon a December

    Songs of the Season – Anastasia OST – Once Upon a December

    I saw Anastasia in the (cheap) theater when I was in college and I got the VHS (widescreen) cassette as soon as it came out. (It was the first movie I knew of that also had a website! http://www.anya.com) A little Russia obsessed? Yes. I remember lending the cassette to one of my professors who also was a little Russia-obsessed and he ended up watching it with his grandchildren. His comment, “Bad history, but a good Disney film”. (Ha ha, it’s not Disney!)

    Of course, it is “bad” history, and there were things that they changed a bit with the timeline to make it fit, but it was fairly well researched, all in all, and the music is top-level. I’ve always liked this in particular:

    This is a gorgeous piano solo version of it by Emile Pandolfi as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU85bfT1EUE

    In addition to the “Carol of the Bells” playlist, I’ve started a general playlist of Christmas songs that will include pieces mentioned here, for anyone interested.


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  • Wordle #555

    Wordle #555
    Wordle #555 game board

    Never played Wordle? Check out my Wordle strategy page!

    Wordle explanations are posted a day late to ensure that no one accidentally sees the solution before playing.

    Line 1: “Extra”… a misplaced “E”. Deja vu all over again!

    Line 2: The “E” is in the correct space, at least.

    Line 3: I could use some more letters, misplaced or not.

    Line 4: I went for this because it is a very unusual word, and one I probably wouldn’t get other than playing it. It kind of seemed a waste, in one sense, because it wasn’t the word, but it was helpful in getting the “U” and letting me know that there was no second “E”, which is no small thing, considering how many words have multiple “E”s.

    Line 5: I thought long and hard about what letters could be played next to each other at this point, since we’d pretty much gotten down to the fact that there’s a “U” and an “E” and consonants for the rest. “D” and “G” came to mind, so I played “pudge”, thinking that this had to be the solution.

    Line 6: As soon as I saw that “pudge” wasn’t the word, I knew I was in trouble because I didn’t know if the answer was “budge” or “nudge” or “fudge”. Wouldn’t you know, it wasn’t any of these, but rather “judge”? Oh well. I was doing this in part in the waiting room of urgent care, and… I think I would have been more annoyed with myself breaking a long streak because of losing as opposed to just forgetting to play. As it stood, I only had a tiny streak after forgetting to play the other day. However, my longest streak of 106 seems more and more impressive!

    Did you get this Wordle? Tell me about it in the comments!

    Happy Gaming!


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    If you enjoy my posts, please consider:

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  • Songs of the Season – Gordon Lightfoot – Song for a Winter’s Night

    Songs of the Season – Gordon Lightfoot – Song for a Winter’s Night

    I’d love to find a cover that slows this down a little but not nearly to the extent of Sarah McLachlin’s, though, oddly enough, it was Sarah McLachlin’s version that got me to pay attention to the lyrics for the first time.

    I got to spend time in little rural cabins back in the day, and hope maybe it’s something I can do again in the future.

    In addition to the “Carol of the Bells” playlist, I’ve started a general playlist of Christmas songs that will include pieces mentioned here, for anyone interested.


    dore canto 31 white rose

    If you enjoy my posts, please consider:

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  • Wordle #554

    Wordle #554
    Wordle #554 game board

    Never played Wordle? Check out my Wordle strategy page!

    Wordle explanations are posted a day late to ensure that no one accidentally sees the solution before playing.

    Line 1: “Poise”… a misplaced “E”. Where have I seen this before?

    Line 2: Progress now with three misplaced letters!

    Line 3: Three misplaced letters again, just not the same three, as I “forgot” the “T” in this play.

    Line 4: So we know now where the “R” goes and where the “E” goes through the process of elimination. I’m not seeing any good candidates starting “EA”, since the “A” has to go into spot 2 or 5.

    Line 5: It’s certainly an odd bird, but considering “TRA” as an ending made “extra” come to mind! Phew!

    Did you get this Wordle? Tell me about it in the comments!

    Happy Gaming!


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    If you enjoy my posts, please consider:

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  • Songs of the Season – Postmodern Jukebox – Sleigh Ride (tap version)

    Songs of the Season – Postmodern Jukebox – Sleigh Ride (tap version)

    Very fun.

    In addition to the “Carol of the Bells” playlist, I’ve started a general playlist of Christmas songs that will include pieces mentioned here, for anyone interested.


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    If you enjoy my posts, please consider:

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  • Never be Idle pt3 — Orthodox Christian Quotes and Catechism

    Never be Idle pt3 — Orthodox Christian Quotes and Catechism

    From St. Dimitri of Rostov’s “Instructions; Seek Diligently the Things of Salvation” “Do not bury the talent given to you in the earth through sloth and carelessness; instead strive, be vigilant, ceaselessly adding warmth to warmth and fire to fire, so that you may multiply the good given to you.Then you may daringly say to […]

    Never be Idle pt3 — Orthodox Christian Quotes and Catechism
  • Christmas Gratitude

    Christmas Gratitude

    By all worldly measures, my Christmas this year wasn’t a great one. I spent the weekend at home by myself, miserably sick. It’s the same bug that a couple of my kids have had, so I thought that I’d have symptoms over a couple of days, but be fairly “okay” whilst awake. That just hasn’t been the case, and I think there was so much fluid behind my eardrum on the one side that my eardrum popped. I had a medical “procedure” on Thursday that required a special diet in the days leading up to it, and I suppose that that didn’t help, since I couldn’t really get the nutrients needed to help combat sickness. On Thursday morning, I got a call asking if I would come in 3 hours early to see if they could get me out before the snow hit, and it worked out that I could do that. It was good to be able to eat normally again afterward. They didn’t say much, but I think they are “concerned”, but there’s no use in worrying until the test results are back. I spent the rest of the day with a terrible headache, and began Friday with the “bug” hitting me in full force.

    All in all, not fun.

    As much as it’s not necessarily fun to be by myself, I had no energy to help any child with anything these past couple days. Having the house to myself meant that I could actually try to get better without there being a million things to get done before I could actually just lay down and rest. I am grateful for that.

    I’m grateful that if there is an issue medically, it will probably get dealt with “early”.

    I am grateful for the roof over my head on such bitterly cold days and nights.

    I am grateful to God, for Christmas, that He deigned to come to earth as a baby for our salvation.

    I am grateful for all my friends, near and far, and I hope y’all understand that it’s hard to keep in touch right now.

    I’m grateful to those of you who read and follow and like and comment – at some point, I’d probably write anyway, it’s kind of how I’m wired, even if it were with a pen and paper, but the back and forth is something I really appreciate right now especially.

    A joyous feast of the Nativity for those of you celebrating today! Christ is Born!


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  • Wordle #553

    Wordle #553
    Wordle #553 game board.

    Never played Wordle? Check out my Wordle strategy page!

    Wordle explanations are posted a day late to ensure that no one accidentally sees the solution before playing.

    Line 1: What happened to Wordle #552? I’ve been sick, and I forgot that I didn’t do it until it was too late. I’m just annoyed that I lost my streak! “Excel” gives me a misplaced “E”, which isn’t much, but I’ll take what I can get.

    Line 2: I’ll move the “E” to the end, which does well, and put an “I” in the middle… Progress, but there’s a lot of words that could be played here.

    Line 3: Just going about my business, eliminating more letters.

    Line 4: Help? *gulp*

    Line 5: I had already tried the third vowel thing with “abide”, but I thought that it might be still possible with an “O”. It took a couple of minutes, but then the possibility of “poise” entered my head, and… Yes!

    Did you get this Wordle? Tell me about it in the comments!

    Happy Gaming!


    dore canto 31 white rose

    If you enjoy my posts, please consider:

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    Thank you very much!