New Roads, La. (Since We're On The Subject)

The Randall Oak

Here's a bit of information on New Roads from the LSU Agricultural Center. Pictured above is the Randall Oak, a HUGE tree that is over 300 years old. The tree is on the property adjacent to ours. The story (legend?) is that James Ryder Randall wrote the words to "Maryland, My Maryland" under the tree, while he was Professor of English at Poydras College, which was once located on the property. One day, I'm going to post a picture of the tree with a person standing near it to give you a true sense of how large the trunk actually is.


The Pointe Coupee Parish Courthouse

Listed on the National Historic Register, this building was originally built in 1902 of Romanesque Revival architecture. On the grounds is a statue of Major General John Archer LeJeune, World War I hero for whom Camp LeJeune, North Carolina is named.

I like the turrets.

Thus endeth the geography lesson.

Support Bishop Clumber!

You must go, do not hesitate, go right now to the In Support Of Bishop Clumber website! It's important! As Bishop Clumber says:

Do you have a comment of support for Bishop Clumber or The Real Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh? Please email ozzie dot clumber at gmail dot com with your messages, knowing that they will be shared with him, and also may be posted to this site.

I'm going to leave a message of support. What about you?

PS: The name of the person that you email to support the former Episcopal bishop of Pittsburgh, Robert Duncan, is Malarkey. I'm not joking. You can't make this stuff up.

The Wash (After Gustav)

Shown below is the result of our misbegotten idea to run the washer on the generator. The washer stopped half way through the cycle, with the tub full of water, and we had to hand wring the whole large load and hang the wet, half-clean laundry anywhere we could find a spot. Shown is the front porch and the small entry porch on the side.

 

 

See the mops in the corner of the porch in the second picture? We had to borrow mops from the neighbors, because water blew in under and on the sides of the three doors shown in the pictures. Next time around those will need to be boarded up, because the doors are not a tight fit in the frames.

That is a pathetic looking load of laundry - embarrassing, really. Why am I publishing this?

Gustav In New Roads

These pictures from the aftermath of Gustav in New Roads, Louisiana, were taken AFTER the initial clean-up. I didn't have the presence of mind to take pictures before the clean-up started.


Big Tree Down

Across the highway, which runs in front of the house, you can catch a glimpse of False River, the oxbow lake that was once a part of the Mississippi River, but was cut off when the river changed course.


Gathered Piles Of Tree Limbs

In the center rear of the picture, those are not bushes growing, but piles of fallen branches.


Persimmon Tree Down


Ripe Persimmons On Fallen Tree

The fruit at the top of the tree would never have been picked, because it was a very tall tree. The good news is that the folks who like persimmons had a field day.

How Sarah Palin Was Elected Governor

From the The Raw Story:

In perhaps one of the strangest twists to date in the story of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a video now shows the governor crediting her electoral success to a preacher who claims to successfully hunt witches.

The speech, shown below, was filmed in June. Palin describes the visit of Pastor Thomas Muthee to the Wasilla Assembly of God in 2005.
....

In 1988, Pastor Muthee and his wife traveled to Kenya after being "called by God." Setting up shop in the basement of a grocery store, they claim to have brought 200 people "to God" and away from the town's "spiritual oppression."

The source of the oppression? Witchcraft, Muthee says. When researching the community, they found that a woman named "Mama Jane" ran a divination clinic that drew a large following in the town.

“We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place,” Pastor Muthee said.

Read the rest and watch the video of Sarah Palin's speech at The Raw Story.

Keith Olbermann had the story tonight on Countdown. He said that Jeremiah Wright (Obama's former pastor) looked like Fr. Flanagan next to Pastor Thomas Muthee. You can't make this stuff up.

More on the story of Mama Jane, the "witch" from The Christian Science Monitor.

About Those Oil Rigs That The Fish Love

From Forbes:

WASHINGTON (AFX) - At least 20 oil rigs and platforms are missing in the Gulf of Mexico and a ruptured gas pipeline is on fire after Hurricane Katrina hit the region, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a source from a US Coast Guard unit operating in the area.

'We have confirmed at least 20 rigs or platforms missing, either sunk or adrift, and one confirmed fire where a rig was,' Petty Officer Robert Reed told AFP.

The missing rigs were in the Gulf of Mexico, Reed said, citing Coast Guard overflights of the area and information from oil companies.

Post-Ike Response, Gustav Response Continues

From the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana:

We will be delivering food and supplies to hard-hit Lafitte Thursday and Friday. And Saturday, a team of volunteers from throughout the diocese will be going to Bayou du Large to begin gutting. If you'd like to join us, please contact Pete Nunnally at (504) 259-1417 or pnunnally@edola.org.

We're also working with local parish leaders and exploring partnerships with local organizations to distribute supplies where they are most needed in Terrebonne and LaFourche Parishes, and we also continue to work with Mother Gay in Plaquemine in our continuing Gustav response.

Since Ike hit, deacons have been delivering sandwiches and goods to Lafitte and Crown Point, while the Office of Disaster Response has been distributing water, bleach, and gloves to Bayou du Large, as well as assessing gutting needs to be addressed Saturday.

Trinity School and Country Day School have collected canned goods which they will deliver to Lafitte, and the Mobile Loaves and Fishes truck will also be sending sandwiches to Lafitte. In addition, we have been fielding offers from churches throughout the New Orleans area to help out wherever needed with chainsaw debris clearing.

Outside of our diocese, the Diocese of Kansas is prepared to deploy small teams to our diocese to volunteer.

We continue to respond to the needs of our diocese, and we thank all of you who give of your time and money to help us in this effort.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

I was overwhelmed by the prayers and good wishes and kind words on my birthday, my friends. I'd like to answer each of you who left a comment, but that's not possible. We had not planned our celebration of my birthday for yesterday since Grandpère was out of town. It's a good thing we didn't, because the power problem came up.

He missed all the fun of the power outage. I spent much of my day on the phone with the power company, doing the number punching to get to the service that could help me and then punching in my phone number and account number or shouting into phone to a technology voice with no person behind it. You all know what it's like.

In between my dealings with Entergy, I'd peek into my blog and read the lovely comments, and that lifted my spirits immensely. Thanks to the bloggers who posted about my birthday, even MadPriest, who seems to have "lost" his post rather quickly. I was fortunate to get someone to come out yesterday to set up my temporary power supply until the workers can find the bad spot in the wire, dig up the yard, and put in another splice. I had to pick up my grandchildren at school, and I just knew that the repairmen would come while I was gone, but they did not. So for now we are set.

I used my laptop a good bit yesterday, but I like my desktop much, much better. I feel so cramped using the laptop. Also, I'm browsing with Explorer, which I do not like, but I have heard of a few problems with using Firefox with Vista, so I have not downloaded it yet. So far, Vista seems fine. I haven't run into any bugs yet, although I've heard of the problems that others have.

Brownout!

Well, I'm having an interesting morning day. I had a partial power outage in my house. Some rooms had power, others did not. Then the electricity came back on, but in brownout mode where the outage had been. The brownout scared me more, because of what weak power can do to appliances and computers. I was working at my computer when I lost power.

I've been on the phone several times with the power company, Entergy, not the best company, with their punching numbers game, and I've been in touch with the electrician, who is due here shortly. Grandpère is out of town, of course. He misses all the good stuff.

Several years ago, my neighbor cut the main line that brings electricity to my house. (The utilities are buried.) Since then, the power company has come twice to repair the line. It could be that again, or I suppose it could be something in the house wiring. What fun! Dim, bright, dim, bright. Should I switch the main breaker to "off"?

I'm on my laptop connected through DSL through my phone service.

UPDATE: The electrician came, and it's definitely the power company's problem.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Step right up folks and wish me a "Happy Birthday!". I know you will anyway, so I'll give you a place to send your good wishes. Can you imagine! I've been on God's not-so-green-anymore earth for one year short of three quarters of a century. That's a loooong time.

I've had my ups, and I've had my downs. I've taken the high road, and I've taken the low road, but, all together, it's been a good run.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you....

Thanks be to God!

And it's Ruth's birthday, too!

Economy a "Mixed Picture"

I heard on NPR that Dana Peroxide said the economy was a "mixed picture". This after Bush and McWorse have been consistently saying that the economy is "fundamentally sound". Could they actually be slouching toward reality?

The Word From Houston

My friend in Houston came through Ike quite well. She lost power for a only a few hours, and her internet connection is back up. She has an elderly friend staying with her until her power is restored, and also another friend's dog. My friend is my age, so, of course, she is not elderly - yet. She'd better not be, because that would mean that I am elderly, too. Here's what she had to say:

But it's sunny and cool - much more pleasant for "clearing brush".

I'm sure that Poppy and Barb are hard at work, too.

Feast Day Of Hildegard Of Bingen

Illumination from the "Liber Scivias" showing Hildegard receiving a vision and dictating to her scribe and secretary

Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honor. Then it pleased the king to raise a small feather from the ground, and he commanded it to fly. The feather flew, not because of anything in itself but because the air bore it along. Thus am I, a feather on the breath of God. Hildegard of Bingen

Readings:

Psalm 104:25-34
Sirach 43:1-2,6-7,9-12,27-28
John 3:16-21

PRAYER

O God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Please go read It's Margaret's post on Hildegard. It's beautiful.

UPDATE: More lovely music on the feast day of Hildegard from Tobias Haller.

Hildegard's words from the Lectionary.

Image from Wiki.

"Deep American Thoughts"

From Counterlight.

On Blinking - Or Not Blinking

Two funnies on "I didn't blink".

"My Gal" from the New Yorker and "S.... P..... Won't Blink" from Jon Stewart at Comedy Central.

I had resolved not to mention her name for a while, but I broke my resolution. Well, on second thought, not really. I (Mimi) did not mention her name.

The Church Militant

From the Albany, NY, Times-Union:

GREENWICH -- Over a salad lunch on an outdoor patio, Assistant Bishop David Bena is so positive and chipper it's hard to connect him with the words of a letter to the editor on the table.

"Well, that's interesting," Bena says cheerfully. "I've never been called a guerrilla warrior."

This is life on the front lines of an emotional rift cleaving the Anglican Communion, the 77-million-member Christian federation that encompasses the U.S. Episcopal Church.

Five years ago, Bena was serving as assistant bishop in Albany when Episcopalians took what he considered a misguided step: electing the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Bena was one of three people to stand up and protest at the consecration ceremony where Robinson, who has received death threats, wore a bulletproof vest.

Today, Bena still wears a bishop's ring, but he no longer belongs to the Episcopal Church. Since last March, the Mechanicville resident and former Marine has worked as assistant bishop in an upstart group called the Convocation of Anglicans in North America.

The Virginia-based outpost of the Nigerian church was established to shelter breakaway conservative Episcopalians, who were outraged over Robinson's consecration and clash with the Episcopal Church on doctrine and interpretation of scripture.

Bishop Bena serves under the authority of the staunch anti-gay Archbishop Peter Akinola, leader of the Nigerian Anglican Church, who apparently believes that he is contaminated by the mere touch of a gay person:

ABUJA, Nigeria, Dec. 20 — The way he tells the story, the first and only time Archbishop Peter J. Akinola knowingly shook a gay person’s hand, he sprang backward the moment he realized what he had done.

Archbishop Akinola, the conservative leader of Nigeria’s Anglican Church who has emerged at the center of a schism over homosexuality in the global Anglican Communion, re-enacted the scene from behind his desk Tuesday, shaking his head in wonder and horror.

“This man came up to me after a service, in New York I think, and said, ‘Oh, good to see you bishop, this is my partner of many years,’ ” he recalled. “I said, ‘Oh!’ I jumped back.”

Whence such fear?

In the Albany diocese, Bena helps run the Welcome Home Initiative, a Christian healing program for combat veterans held at the diocese's spiritual retreat here in rural Washington County.

The bishop draws on his experience as a former Marine bombardier/navigator who flew 252 missions in Vietnam. He dropped 3 million pounds of bombs over 13 months. Over a 27-year military career, he also served as an Air Force chaplain.

Bena was in his element leading prayer during a recent retreat, his right arm elevated and his podium surrounded by symbols of the two institutions that dominated his life. A flag- and gun-bearing honor guard stood behind the altar, while a cross hung on the wall overhead.

The church militant, indeed! While I applaud Bishop Bena's outreach to combat veterans, I would have hoped that he could have done without the "gun-bearing honor guard" behind the altar during the service.

UPDATE: I see that I neglected to give credit to my good friend, Fran for the link to this article.

"Dollar Got The Blues" - "Gatemouth" Brown

From the Houston Chronicle:

ORANGE, Texas — Hurricane Katrina chased bluesman Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown from his adopted home in New Orleans -- to the Texas Gulf coast.

Brown died in exile in Orange, where he grew up.

Now another hurricane has disturbed his rest.

The 1982 Grammy Award winner's casket was one of dozens belched up by the ground when Gulf and rain from Hurricane Ike flooded Hollywood Cemetery.

Gatemouth did not R.I.P. Here's Gatemouth performing in Hamburg, Germany, in 1983, and here we are again, 25 years later, with the dollar blues.

Thanks to Paul (A.) at OCICBW for the tip.

Joe "The Mouth" Biden Gets Going

In a conversation with a friend this morning, I discovered that she used the same pet name for Sen. Joe Biden that I did. I assume that he was chosen as Obama's running mate for his vast knowledge of foreign policy and because he would use "The Mouth" to enlighten the electorate on many issues. I've been getting a little impatient waiting for "The Mouth" to get to work. Well, he did today in Michigan, according to TPM. Her's a quote from his speech:

Eight years ago, a man ran for President who claimed he was different, not a typical Republican. He called himself a reformer. He admitted that his Party, the Republican Party, had been wrong about things from time to time. He promised to work with Democrats and said he'd been doing that for a long time
....

We saw how that story ends. A record number of home foreclosures. Home values, tumbling. And the disturbing news that the crisis you've been facing on Main Street is now hitting Wall Street, taking down Lehman Brothers and threatening other financial institutions.

We've seen eight straight months of job losses. Nearly 46 million Americans without health insurance. Average incomes down, while the price of everything -- from gas to groceries -- has skyrocketed. A military stretched thin from two wars and multiple deployments.
....

Eight years later, we have another Republican nominee who's telling us the exact same thing:

This time it will be different, it really will. This time he's going to put country before party, to change the tone, reach across the aisle, change the Republican Party, change the way Washington works.

We've seen this movie before, folks. But as everyone knows, the sequel is always worse than the original.
....

Barack Obama believes that progress in this country is measured by how many people have a decent job where they're shown respect. How many people can pay their mortgage. How many people can turn their ideas into a new business. How many people can turn to their kids and say "It's going to be okay" with the knowledge that the opportunities they give will be better than the ones they received.
....

That's why his tax cuts - benefit the middle class. That's why he'll make it easier for families to afford college for their kids. That's why he says everyone should be able to have the same health care that members of Congress have. That's why his energy plan will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, bring down gas prices, and, in the process, we'll create five million new green jobs. Those are the changes we need.

Yo, Joe! State in simple, straightforward words what has happened over the last eight years of the Bush administration. Then ask, "Do we want four more years, or eight more years of the same?"

In plain English, Obama will not increase taxes on anyone earning under a quarter of a million dollars a year. If anyone tells you different, then they are lying.

Thought For The Day

Before the oil and gas companies contributed in large part to the destruction our wetlands in Louisiana, with their criss-crossing pipelines, we were much better protected from hurricanes. Therefore the oil and gas companies, who are, even now, raking in record profits at your expense and my expense, should pay for the restoration of our wetlands.

We Both Missed It

As if our lives haven't been eventful enough, we had another event this morning. It's not Christmas, and it's not Easter, but Grandpère announced that he was going to church with me. I said, "Really!" He said he thought he should go to give thanks to God that the members of our family are all safe and our homes made it through Gustav and Ike with no damage or relatively light damage. And isn't that exactly right?

At the time in the service for prayers for birthdays and anniversaries, GP turned to me and asked me what was the date of our anniversary. He did know it was this month. I thought for a minute and said, "It was yesterday." We both missed the anniversary of 47 years of wedded bliss, and the rest of the family forgot, too. We are all still rattled and revved up from the serial hurricanes. GP and I went up for prayer with the hope of spending further years together. Afterwards, we went to lunch in a local restaurant for a quiet celebration with just the two of us. I got a little buzz from my one glass of wine, and all is now cool.

"For Cynthia and Grandmère Mimi"

Jim at JindalWatch put together this video in honor of his niece, Cynthia, and me. Cynthia lives in Houma, Louisiana, and we both left our homes to escape Gustav. It's beautiful. Jim, I loved that you used the picture of Our Lady of the Driveway and that you posted the Latin for the "Hail Mary".

Thank you. You made me cry. I seem to be crying quite a bit lately. People are so very kind.