Joseph F. Radosevich

We park at the St. Louis Art Museum when we go the St. Louis Zoo because the parking is close and either free or just $15. We took the kids to the museum last year, but mostly we just use the parking. On our last trip, we needed a bathroom on the way out and went in the front door thinking there would be one close by. Instead, we had to trek through the museum to find the bathroom in the new wing of the museum. While we were wandering, we passed a few things of some skill, but we mostly passed lots of trashy art. The rear end of a Ford Crown Victoria with spray paint on it. A pile of shoes. According to my wife, the museum used to have a huge Monet hanging. We didn't see it last time we went. We saw some really good things mixed in with ridiculousness. I'm not sure what the curator is after right now. Don't get me started on the Milwaukee Art Museum.  With visual art, we are at the mercy of our local museum's budget and curator. If they have money and taste, then the mu

Gardening I harvested red onions to cure in the garage ahead of wet weather this week. The red onions had all fallen over and dried at the neck, so I knew that it was time. We've been using some of them for a few weeks whenever we wanted some for cooking. Books  I'm really enjoying War and Peace and the new Bret Lott book, Gather the Olives . I don't know how different  War and Peace  is from the full version because I don't remember much of what I read before. I got a new book in the mail, Old Testament Parsing Guide . I had to buy the version from 1990 because there aren't many copies available for the updated one volume edition. There must not have been many printed, and most people just use a Bible software for parsing help. My goals for my language learning and my preference to work away from the computer meant I wanted a paper copy. This book is really fun. Along with it, I'm reading Using Old Testament Hebrew in Preaching  by Paul Wegner. Movies We'v

 I read 1 Cor. 13:1-2 this morning. Here is a version of 1 Cor. 13 applied to myself: If I preach an amazing sermon but don't have love, then I am nothing. If I lead an amazing funeral and everyone tells me that I did a wonderful job but don't have love, then I am nothing. If I lead a growing church but don't have love for others, then I am nothing. If I change my part of the world and many people recognize me but I don't have love, then I am nothing. If I get my way and all my dreams come true but I don't have love, then I am nothing.  If I have tremendous leadership skills and get things done but don't have love, then I am nothing.

We've had a really good onion year. We've got some softball-size Spanish Sweet yellow onions. This is a red onion that I picked for dinner. I'm not sure I planted enough to store through Dec. but we have plenty to pick and eat now. We will let most of them continue growing and then dry out. That is mesclun in the basket below that I picked to go with lettuce for salads. I tried a different method of planting mesclun mix this year. This is a sweet mix that I planted in three rows. I've planted spicy mix before, but it isn't as good. This way helps me harvest them easier. I harvested the first row in this picture below before harvesting the second. They should regrow.  This is a red okra called "Candle Fire" that I planted as part of a grow-along with the University of Illinois Extension Good Growing podcast. They sent me these seeds. The pods are supposed to be smooth and red which is different than the other six we planted. This is my hot pepper bed. It ha

I've been a Bret Lott fan since college. That means I've been reading his books for 20 years. With the release of his new book, I thought it would be the time to make an annotated list of his books. There are four that I haven't read. I plan to fix that this year, and I will update this post when I do.  Lott writes in lots of different categories. I'm going to list them according to categories and then rank them and give notes. One of my favorite things about Lott's writing is that he takes chances and doesn't just repeat the same things over and over. You can see that when you put the books into categories. I am listing them by how I rank them.  Novels A Song I Knew by Heart . This is my favorite of his novels. It doesn't do it justice to describe it as a modern retelling of the story Ruth. It is a lovely, slow story of brokenness, redemption, and healing where the places that the two women live become a part of the story.  Dead Low Tide . This is actually

 We celebrated our 16th anniversary last week with a date to get coffee and tea and flowers for the front porch.

 Here's a collection of things I've been thinking and doing. It is hard to trust sports podcasts that start with gambling ads. I don't understand why they accept those advertisers. I'm making sauerkraut which means that the active work is done, and then I wait. It takes about 3 weeks to ferment to our liking. I use glass weights and a one-way valve on top to keep them clean while they ferment. I like sauerkraut with more texture and sourness. I had some commercial sauerkraut for the first time in years. It is much softer and has less of the great bite that homemade has. You don't have to use the equipment that I use to get good, cheap sauerkraut. It's a neat miracle that cabbage, salt, and time make a great food--I realize that it takes bacteria in the air that collects on the cabbage somewhere along the way to make the sauerkraut. I finished All the King's Men , and am starting an abridged version of War and Peace . I actually read War and Peace  years ago