First Day of Spring -- March 20, 2022 (Vernal Equinox)

 from Old Farmer's Almanac (almanac.com)

When Is the First Day of Spring?

In 2022, the March equinox happens on 

Sunday, March 20, at 11:33 A.M. EDT. 

In the Northern Hemisphere, this date marks the start of the spring season.

Do they celebrate "Pulaski Days" (March 6 - 13, 2022) in Pulaski, Wisconsin?

Visit this website and countdown clock:

https://casimirpulaskidays.com/ 

Big Ten Men's BB Tournament (March 2022): to be held at Indianapolis, IN

 from 247 sports dot-com

March Madness is quickly approaching. That also means we are closing in on the Big Ten Tournament.

The 2022 Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament will take place at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. The conference tournament will get underway with a pair of first-round matchups on March 9 and conclude with the championship game on March 13.

Each of the league’s 14 teams will participate in the Big Ten Tournament. The top 10 seeds in the conference will receive a first-round bye, while the top four seeds will bypass the first two rounds.

1) Wisconsin Badgers (14-4)
2) Purdue Boilermakers (13-5)
3) Illinois Fighting Illini (12-5)
4) Ohio State Buckeyes (11-5)
5) Iowa Hawkeyes (10-7)
6) Michigan State Spartans (10-7)
7) Rutgers Scarlet Knights (10-8)
8) Michigan Wolverines (9-8)
9) Indiana Hoosiers (8-9)
10) Penn State Nittany Lions (7-10)
11) Northwestern Wildcats (6-12)
12) Maryland Terrapins (5-12)
13) Minnesota Golden Gophers (4-13)
14) Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-16)

New Month = March 2022

 Visits to "Seeking Faith and Understanding" http://faithfor2008.blogspot.com

Feb. 28, 2022    81 page views

Month of March total = 540 as of March 31,  2022

March 5, 2022 25 page views

March 9 = 25 page views

March 10 = 23 page views

March 11 = 25 page views

March 15 = 27 page views

March 16 = 23 page Views

March 21 = 45 page views

March 25 = 28 page views

March 29 = 20 page views

March 30 = 37 page views

Joan (McAllister) Newsome (friend of our family) -- widow of Jack L. Newsome

 from IL Great Rivers Conference (online obituary)

2/12/2022

Joan Delores (McAllister) Newsome died Saturday February 12, 2022 in San Diego, CA where she lived with her daughter Sara Burns.  She was 88.

Joan was born February 3, 1934 in East St Louis, IL.  Her life as the wife to a United Methodist minister led her to live in a number of locations giving her a life full of good friends and fond memories. 

She and her husband retired to Champaign-Urbana, IL where Joan volunteered at what’s now known as OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center.  Joan was an excellent pianist and artist and a lifetime lover of all dogs. 

In addition to Sara, she also leaves behind her daughter Cyndi, sons Randy and Curt, and her beloved grandchildren Elisa and Will Essner and Riley and Ross Newsome.  She is preceded in death by her husband, the Rev Jack Newsome, who was steadfastly married to her for more than 65 years. 

Condolences can be sent to a son, Randy Newsome, 615 Blue Bonnet Trail, Marietta, SC  29661.

Winter Weather advisory - Thurs. 2 p.m. until Friday 8 a.m. SW Michigan counnties

 WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT

FROM 2 PM EST THURSDAY TO 8 AM EST FRIDAY...

WHAT...A mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain expected.

Total snow accumulations of 2 to 4 inches and ice accumulations of less than one tenth of an inch. WHERE...Portions of northern Indiana, southwest Michigan. The greatest potential for light ice accumulations along and south of US Route 24. WHEN...From 2 PM EST Thursday to 8 AM EST Friday. Most of the mixed precipitation and potential of light ice accumulations Thursday night. IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions.

The hazardous conditions will likely impact the Thursday evening, Friday morning commutes.

President's Day: Three occasions when POTUS transferred power during scheduled Anaesthesia

 Vice-Presidents during the Bush 43 and Biden 46 terms of office have acted under the 25th Amendment 

This online article at THEHILL dot-com details the instances when

Vice-President Dick Cheney

and Vice-President Kamala Harris might also be counted among those who had Article I powers of the 

Presidency for the brief periods when the Chief Executive was under medical anaesthesia :

President Biden temporarily transferred power to Vice President Harris on Friday Nov. 19, 2021 before he went under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy.

Biden had procedure done at Walter Reed Medical Center as part of his annual physical, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

"As was the case when President George W. Bush had the same procedure in 2002 and 2007, and following the process set out in the Constitution, President Biden will transfer power to the Vice President for the brief period of time when he is under anesthesia," Psaki said. "The Vice President will work from her office in the West Wing during this time."

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/582331-biden-to-transfer-power-to-harris-while-he-gets-colonoscopy

Canto III - Paradiso (Dante Aligheri : transl. Allen Mandelbaum) paperback edition 1986

 Page 25, Lines 79 - 96

The essence of this blessed life consists 

in keeping to the boundaries of God's will,

through which our wills become one single will;

so that, as we are ranged from step to step

throughout this kingdom, all this kingdom wills

that which will please the King whose will is rule.

And in His will there is our peace: that sea

to which all beings move -- the beings He

creates or nature makes -- such is His will.

Then it was clear to me how every place

in Heaven is in Paradise, though grace

does not rain equally from the High Good.

But just as, when our hunger has been sated

with one food, we still long to taste the other --

while thankful for the first, we crave the latter --

so was I in my words and in my gestures,

asking to learn from her (Beatrice) what was the web

of which her shuttle had not reached the end.

There was a time -- from Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality"

 from Poetry Foundation dot-org website

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,

       The earth, and every common sight,

                          To me did seem

                      Apparelled in celestial light,

            The glory and the freshness of a dream.

It is not now as it hath been of yore;—

                      Turn wheresoe'er I may,

                          By night or day.

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

World's Largest Strawberry - grown in Israel

from CNN online article (Feb. 19, 2022)

 Israeli farmer Chahi Ariel has grown the world’s heaviest strawberry, according to Guinness World Records.

At 289 grams (10 ounces), the strawberry was about five times the average weight of a regular berry of the local Ilan variety, said Nir Dai, a researcher at Israel’s Volcani Institute where the strain was developed.

The strawberry was 18 centimeters (7 inches) long and 34 centimeters (13 inches) in circumference, according to the Guinness entry.

Ariel had been hoping he was onto a winner when they saw how big the fruit were growing on his family farm last year. He has been waiting for confirmation it was a record while keeping the giant strawberry in the freezer as proof.

 

Winter Weather Watch - Thurs. 2/17/2022

 

Winter Storm Watch (SW Michigan counties)

• Berrien, MI
• Cass, MI
• St. Joseph, MI

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM THURSDAY MORNING 

THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING... 

* WHAT...Heavy mixed precipitation possible. Total snow accumulations of 4 to 7 inches and ice accumulations up to one tenth of an inch. 

* WHERE...Portions of southwest Michigan. 

* WHEN...From Thursday morning through Thursday evening. 

* IMPACTS...Plan on slippery road conditions Thursday afternoon and evening. 

The hazardous conditions will impact the evening commute.

Maple Sugar Tapping Day - Feb. 19, 2022

 from VisitSouthBend dot-com

• Bendix Woods County Park32132 State Rd 2New Carlisle, IN 46552
• 574-277-4828

Price:

Free

Time:

10:00 AM to 12:30 PM

The sap will soon be running, and it’s time to tap! Volunteers are needed to get the Bendix Woods Sugar Bush ready for making maple syrup! Experienced sugar-makers will take you out into the woods on Saturday 2/19 and show you how to tap maple trees and hang sap tubes to collect sap. This activity is outdoors, so be sure to dress for the weather. Registration required by February 15, 2022.

Sat. Feb. 19 (local Comic Book Convention) - South Bend Indiana

 from southbendtribune dot-com article

SOUTH BEND - The South Bend Comic Book Convention takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 19, 2022 at Comfort Suites, 52939 U.S. 933.

Dealers will sell a variety of new and old comic books, toys and collectibles. They also will consider buying old comic books from attendees.

Admission is free.

For more information, call Alan at 309-657-1599 or visit epguides.com/comics.

Studebaker Park, Elkhart, IN to host "Frosty Five Run" (5K or 5-mile course) Sat. Feb. 12, 2022

from ABC 57 news website

ELKHART, Ind. -- The Elkhart Parks and Recreation Department will host the Thirteenth Annual Frosty Five Run at Studebaker Park at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Runners will have the option to complete in a five-kilometer or five-mile run on a cross country styled course.

The path will start in Studebaker Park and follow the River Greenway Trail along the Elkhart River on both paved roads and scenic trails.

“This race marks the halfway point of winter. We encourage people to venture out and have some fun. You won’t feel the cold with your running mates by your side,” said Paula Turk, the event’s Race Director.

Registration is required prior to participating in the race.

To register or to learn more about this year’s Frosty Five Run, visit here.

The entry fee is $35 which includes chip timing, awards and post-race refreshments. Event-inspired shirts will also be available for $10. 

Paradiso, Canto 1 (Allen Mandelbaum dual language translation) Lines 1 - 12

 "The glory of the one who moves all things

permeates the universe and glows

in one part more and in another less.

I was within the heaven that receives

more of his light; and I saw things that he

who from that height descends, forgets or can

not speak; for nearing its desired end,

our intellect sinks into an abyss

so deep that memory fails to follow it.

Nevertheless, as much as I, within

my mind, could treasure of the holy kingdom

shall now become the matter of my song."

Suspended IU Basketball players re-instated for Sat. match-up with MSU (Feb. 2022)

 Daily Hoosier dot-com

Indiana University men’s basketball coach Mike Woodson has announced via release that the five players disciplined on Tuesday against Northwestern will be available to play on Saturday at Michigan State.

Tamar Bates, Michael Durr, Xavier Johnson, Khristian Lander and Parker Stewart did not play against the Wildcats in Evanston, a game the Hoosiers lost 59-51.

In the release, Woodson hinted that missed curfews were to blame, or at least played a role, in the one-game suspensions.

“It’s important that all team rules are followed and a curfew applies to everyone in our program for a reason,” said Woodson

when is MARDI GRAS 2022 (winter until Ash Wednesday) observance in New Orleans and Louisiana?

M ardi Gras in New Orleans is a one to three month stretch of the year in which the streets come alive with music, art, and costumed revelers. Beginning on Twelfth Night, January 6, the best season of the year is upon us: king cake, bead-tossing, and parading begins and only increases as we make our way toward Mardi Gras Day. This year the season is a long one, with Mardi Gras Day on March 1, 2022.

There’s so much to celebrate during Carnival season, where locals rule 

and visitors are more than welcome to join in on the fun. 

On the weekends leading up to Fat Tuesday, parades roll all over town. 

Spectators gasp at the colossal Endymion floats and delight in the 

political satire of Krewe du Vieux. There’s something to do during 

every week of the Mardi Gras season.

Whether it's new traditions like Krewe of Chewbacchus (with its Star Wars-inspired tomfoolery) 

or decades-old stalwarts Zulu and Rex (which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year), 

visitors are encouraged to explore our Mardi Gras traditions. from NEW ORLEANS dot-org

Unlocking ULYSSES: Telemachus holds the key (Lecture on Feb. 11, 2022) - University of Notre Dame

from LECTURES & Conferences (www.nd.edu/ )

Thomas O'Grady: “Unlocking 'Ulysses': Telemachus Holds the Key"

Time: Friday Feb. 11, 2022, 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

 

Location: 1050 Jenkins Nanovic Halls

James Joyce's Ulysses was published in Paris on 2 February 1922.

In 2022, the Keough-Naughton Institute has built a year of lectures, symposia, and events around interrogating and celebrating the work that is widely considered the most important novel of the 20th century.

Join us for our first "Global Ulysses" event, on 2 February 2022

https://events.nd.edu/events/2022/02/11/thomas-ogrady-unlocking-ulysses-telemachus-holds-the-key/

100 years of James Joyce's ULYSSES (1922 - 2022): Notre Dame Hesburgh Library exhibit and lecture

 Wed. Feb. 9, 2022

"Joyce, Proust, Paris, 1922," a lecture by Barry McCrea

The exhibition will occur from 2 to 5 pm. in the Hesburgh Library's Rare Books and Special Collections Room (first floor). It will feature a first edition of Ulysses and other rare and interesting editions, including one illustrated by Matisse. Also featured will be contemporary artistic works inspired by Leopold Bloom's and Stephen Dedalus's wanderings. (Some components of the exhibition, including the first edition, will be on display all semester in the anteroom of the Rare Books and Special Collections Room.)

At 3:30, Barry McCrea, Keough Family Chair of Irish Studies and Concurrent Professor of English, Irish Language and Literature, and Romance Languages and Literatures, will give a short talk on "Joyce, Proust, Paris, 1922."

Brief remarks as well by:

Ms. Sarah Keating, Ireland's Vice-Consul to Chicago and the Midwest

Laura Knoppers, George N. Shuster Professor of English Literature and Chair, Notre Dame Department of English

Aedín Ní Bhróithe Clements, Irish Studies Librarian and Curator of Irish Collections at the Hesburgh Libraries.

Drizzle watch advisory - Monday Feb. 7, 2022 (Berrien County, MI)

 Berrien County

Description

...Slippery Conditions Possible Early this Morning... Patchy light freezing drizzle was developing and will continue through 9 AM before mixing to light snow. A thin glaze of ice may develop on primarily untreated and elevated surfaces, including bridges and overpasses. If traveling early this morning, remain alert for changing road conditions and allow extra time to reach your destination.

When do Political Parties get in the way of more Voting? Is this Voter Suppression? What do you think?

 from a Weekly Statehouse Update (Jan. - Feb. 2022) -- WVPE.org National Public Radio affiliate 

Elkhart, IN for Northern Indiana

Posted Friday Feb. 4, 2022

House Republicans voted Monday (Jan. 31, 2022) to further restrict when Hoosiers can vote by mail.

The GOP wants to encourage in-person voting – but Democrats call the measure “voter suppression.”

Currently, there are several reasons Hoosiers are allowed to cast a mail-in ballot. One is if you won’t be available to vote on Election Day. Under a bill, HB 1116, headed to the Senate, you would now also have to attest – under penalty of perjury – that you won’t be available to vote in-person any time in the 28 days before the election.

https://www.wvpe.org/indiana-news/2022-02-04/weekly-statehouse-update-adjunct-teachers-lowered-taxes-on-some-tobacco-products

75th Anniversary Medieval Institute's Alumnus Lecture: Andrew Irving on the "Uta Codex"

February 17, 2022 5 p.m. Medieval Institute Reading Room, 7th Floor Hesburgh Library

Univ. of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

live-streamed on Yahoo.com

Celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Medieval Institute with the third in this year's series of alumni lectures. We're bringing Andrew Irving, assistant professor in religion and heritage at the University of Groningen, back to campus.

About the talk: What does a liturgical book do and how does it do it? The Uta Codex, a famous gospel book produced at the Abbey of Sankt Emmeram in the first third of the eleventh century named after its donor, Abbess Uta, has been called "perhaps the most important work of Western Illumination of its day" (Swarzenski 1901). Its complex illumination series and its much reworked treasure box have received extensive scholarly attention (Cohen 2000; Pfändtner & Gullath 2012). What has remained largely absent from analysis, however, is a wholistic consideration of what this astounding book and box was for. On the basis of careful material analysis this lecture will use affordance theory to re-examine the uses of the book, and explore the implications for the description and analysis of liturgical manuscripts more generally.

Andrew Irving is tenured assistant professor of Religion and Cultural Heritage at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Netherlands. His research centers on the production and use of liturgical manuscripts, with a particular focus on manuscripts from Southern Italy. His work has been published in Scriptorium, Archiv für Liturgiewissenschaft, and Bibliologia. Irving studied liturgy at Notre Dame before writing his Ph.D. in the Medieval Institute, on the Eleventh-Century Gospel Books of Montecassino. After a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale's Institute of Sacred Music, he taught church history at The General Theological Seminary (New York) before working W. Martin Bloomer (Notre Dame) for year at the Cologne Centre for eHumanities with on the Digital School Book project tracing the fortuna of the schoolbook text, the Disticha Catonis. That collaboration has since borne fruit in the critical edition of Erasmus' edition and commentary on the Disticha published in the Amsterdam Opera omnia of Erasmus (ADS).

https://events.nd.edu/events/2022/02/17/75th-anniversary-alumni-lecture-with-professor-andrew-irving-ph-d-12/

Goshen College trio (2 brothers, 1 sister) - Concert at Shipshewana of The Voice winning group

 posted by WNDU (NBC affiliate - South Bend, IN)

SHIPSHEWANA, Ind. (WNDU) - We’re learning that a local trio of siblings that won NBC’s “The Voice” is planning a performance here in Michiana.

“Girl Named Tom” is the first group to win the singing competition, and they were awarded $100,000 and a recording contract. 

During their time on The Voice, Girl Named Tom made history by becoming the first act in all 21 seasons of the show to have four of their songs in the Apple Music Top 10 at the same time, reaching #1 twice on the main Apple Music Top 200 chart with their covers of Joni Mitchell's "River" and Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain." They were also the most-viewed The Voice Season 21 act on YouTube, with nearly 9 million views.

Bekah's soulful voice, mixed with the unique timbres of her brothers, make for an exquisite unity of three distinct parts. Their rural Midwestern roots tend to come through everything they do, with classical training and pop-leaning ears also evident in their sound. GNT performs anything from country tunes to beatbox pop to a cappella folk/hymn singing

But you don’t have to wait for an album release because they’re performing at the Blue Gate Theatre in Shipshewana, IN on April 23, 2022 at 8 p.m.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, Feb. 4,  at 10 a.m. at thebluegate.com, or by calling 260-768-4725.

https://www.thebluegate.com/shipshewana/blue-gate-theatre/event/girl-named-tom

$29.95 to $44.95

New Month February 2022

 Yesterday - Groundhog Day - 47 page views at this Google Blog (Searching for Faith and Understanding)

Feb. 3, 2022 (Thursday) = 22 page views

Feb. 4 = 20 page views

Friday 2/11 = 30 page views

Feb. 12 = 44 page views

Feb. 13 = 25 page views

Valentine's Day =  21 page views

Feb. 18, 2022 = 32 page views

Feb. 22, 2022 = 45 page views

Feb. 27, 2022 = 28 page views

Last day of month = 81 page views

http://faithfor2008.blogspot.com/ 

February (28 days) = 644 total page views

Elkhart County Symphony - "Next Generation" program Feb. 6, 2022 afternoon - at the Lerner Theatre

 

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2022

The Lerner Theatre – 4 p.m.

“Next Generation”

Gaze into the sonic future of Elkhart County with “Next Generation” as we welcome our guest artists, the Goshen High School Orchestra, to perform on The Lerner Theatre stage with us Sunday, February 6, 2022.

We will begin our performance with José Moncayo’s Huapango and selections from Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3 in C minor before Goshen High School students join us under the lights for a selection from Alexander Borodin’s Symphony No. 2 in B minor.

Niles district library hosts Chess Tournament - Sat. Feb. 5, 2022

 

Chess Tournament

Sat Feb 5th 10:30 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Chess Tournament

First Saturday of the month | 10 am - 2 pm | Rotunda | All Ages

Chess Tournaments are for Chess Federation members. If you would like to join us for an official UCF Tournament, stop by the Rotunda, Niles Library, Niles, MI.

Full Snow Moon is visible -- Feb. 16, 2022

 from posted online article at ALMANAC dot-com (Old Farmer's Almanac website)

February’s full Snow Moon reaches peak illumination at 11:59 A.M. EST on Wednesday, February 16. For the best view of this Moon, look for it that night or the night before; it will drift above the horizon in the east around sunset and reach its highest point in the sky around midnight.

Why Is It Called the Snow Moon?

The full Moon names used by The Old Farmer’s Almanac come from a number of places, including Native American, Colonial American, and European sources. Traditionally, each full Moon name was applied to the entire lunar month in which it occurred, not just to the full Moon itself.

The Snow Moon

The explanation behind February’s full Moon name is a fairly straightforward one: it’s known as the Snow Moon due to the typically heavy snowfall that occurs in February. On average, February is the United States’ snowiest month, according to data from the National Weather Service. In the 1760s, Captain Jonathan Carver, who had visited with the Naudowessie (Dakota), wrote that the name used for this period was the Snow Moon, “because more snow commonly falls during this month than any other in the winter.”

Jan. 31, 2022 SWAT situation handled at Niles (3rd and Bond Streets) - Berrien County, MI (southern edge)

from ABC 57 online article at TV website

NILES, Mich. -- Reliable sources confirmed to ABC57 that a SWAT team 

and US Marshalls surrounded a residence in Niles near Bond Street and 

3rd Street on Monday evening.

Authorities were serving a warrant to a suspect inside the 

residence, sources confirmed.

Sources confirmed that the scene is clear. 

[10 p.m. News broadcast on CW 25]