Grand old tree

Alongside St. Mary's Cathedral.

Special prayers for my old friend and writing buddy Dirk, recovering from heart surgery.

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Several people have asked what my novel is about. Here is what the great American Catholic novelist Flannery O'Connor said.

"When you can state the theme of a story, when you can separate it from the story itself, then you can be sure the story is not a very good one. The meaning of a story has to be embodied in it, has to be made concrete in it. A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate.

When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell him to read the story."