Of All Tools, the Knife Reigns Supreme*

No self-respecting man around here goes anywhere without their clasp knife, this one in front of me in church this morning. I remember my delight when, at our first church buffet here, the men were all drawing out their knives to carve slices off the blocks of pig fat, or hams, or chorizos.

Also reminds me of a wedding rehearsal we were doing in our church in Brazil, where I was explaining that the man traditionally walked on the right, so that his right hand was free to draw his sword if needed, whereupon the bride's father whipped out a hidden and huge knife from his belt, "Like this?", he asked.

And then, one of my favourite books ever (required reading!), The Supper of the Lamb, by Robert Farrar Capon, has a whole chapter on the importance of knives, herewith, a rather lengthy, but wonderful, extract of his defense of why all men (he also talks about women) should carry a (very sharp) knife:

For the rest, however, let me simply ask you: How, without a pocketknife, do you pick a piece of privet blossom for a present to give to your second youngest daughter? How peel an orange to prove the goodness of creation? How amaze your friends with your ability to splice rope on a deserted beach? How open the clams you dig of an idle afternoon? ... And lastly, how is the race of men to survive boring lectures, conferences, and committee meetings without a knife to whittle away the time?


Gratefuls:
- picking our own grapefruit for breakfast (extra), still ripe ones, even though the new crop is filling the tree, and even though we took loads to England in March
- church and Adega; we were hoping for the hat trick of Sem Fim, but hasn't worked out, missing that
- sunset Lula walk, stunning pink and orange skies and reflections

* also a quote from Capon's book