The days click along at a good pace, though they remain full of natural wonder. As I was walking to town this afternoon, the landscape from the ground below my feet to the miles distant foothills formed one uniform, oceanic expanse. Just a few degrees Fahrenheit above freezing, the snow banks glistened like salt-lain sand dunes, while the pavement was everywhere covered in stagnant slush and water, a sea without the effects of the moon. With the unslowed traffic passing, there was even a fine seaside mist. It was enough magical realism to satisfy even my senses. Later it began to snow moderately, and the earth has cooled, presenting a more typical winter appearance.

Since I had the fortune to meet a good friend of mine, I invested myself with a good mood, and have not yet been disappointed. Checking the news just now, I was startled to find that, above all else in importance, one of the inventors of the Pill has acknowledged that his creation has created a "demographic catastrophe". Before today, I have scarcely heard criticism of artificial contraception from without the Catholc community (or rather the Catholic remnant, given the indifference of most believers to Church doctrine); perhaps this turnaround of sorts, reminiscent of the conversion of Norma McCorvey, will get the secular world's attention, at least more than the prescient preachings of Pope Paul VI did. (When I was talking with my friend, the blessings of children came up. I related how, during last Sunday Mass, the church was filled with lightly crying babies, eight or ten perhaps, that were likely about to be baptized. While she imagined ten babies about would be a nuisance, I explained my philosophy on the issue- "It is fitting that babies are the only distractions from the holy service, since they are the only things important enough to merit such an interruption.")

Other good news, also courtesy of the Remnant by the way: homeschooling in America is on the increase. Homeschooling, of course, gives children not only, often, a better education than the public schools can provide, and keeps their malleable minds away from the rampant godlessness therein. This development reminds me of something that came to mind as I was reading William F. Buckley's God and Man at Yale over the last few days. When I speak of the atmosphere and character of the professors at Assumption College, not only does it sound far more conservative and down to earth than my Mother's alma mater, it sounds rather better than Yale in the late 1940s, although this is perhaps to be expected given it's a secular university. Having been quite in the trough for a while, the future is very slowly starting to look better. Nonetheless, one can't get too excited, since this is just the reaction to the progressive decline of the public schools. But in these times, every little blessing is worth the counting.

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One last thing. Ron Paul has given worthwhile words of wisdom on the fighting in Gaza. As you listen, remember that this man could've been our president.