HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEATRIX POTTER

 

"Believe there is a great power silently working all things for good, behave yourself and never mind the rest."

Beatrix Potter

H/T to The Writer's Almanac.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDPÈRE!

May you have a great day, Tom!

My gift to Tom will be a nice pair of jeans.  When we go out to eat or to a movie, Tom will often ask if he can wear his jeans, and I have to say, "No, not with me."  People wear jeans nearly everywhere, but Tom's jeans are another matter.  They're from Walmart, which would not be so bad, but they usually have holes in them or are stained with black grease or blood from the many small and not-so-small wounds he accumulates from his yard work.  The other day, I persuaded him to go to a store other than Walmart to try on nicer jeans.  It took us a while and many tries before he found a pair that suited him, so now he has one pair that he can wear to a restaurant or a movie and look decent.  Now that I know the style and size, I will buy him another pair for his birthday, and he will have two, which should do nicely for now.

Tom doesn't like to have too much made of his birthday, because it's sort of a sad day for him, since he's one year older, but I see birthdays as a reason for celebrating having made it through another year more or less intact.  Glass half-full or half-empty?   

He's off working at the boat center today.  He was on TV a few nights ago on Channel 8 in New Orleans.  The reporters visited the center and did a fine job with a lovely news piece on the museum during the nightly news.    

FOX 8 WVUE New Orleans News, Weather, Sports New Orleans News, Weather, Sports

EL CINCO DE MAYO - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GAYLE!

Today is my beloved sister Gayle's birthday. She died six years ago on April 27. We celebrated her life in a memorial service on her birthday, May 5, 2006. After the service, we had a quiet gathering of friends and family. Later that evening, we had a not-so-quiet gathering, in other words, a party. Gayle loved parties, so it was fitting.

She also loved that she shared her birthday with the Mexican celebration. Of course! Another occasion for a party.

¡Viva México! ¡Viva El Cinco de Mayo!

Viva Gayle! May we meet in the kingdom!

Friends of Gayle set up The Dillenkoffer Endowment to provide scholarship grants to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered teens.  We know that it's not easy to come out as a teenager. The consequences, at worst, can be nothing less than deadly. I greatly admire all the young men and women who have the courage to step forward and claim their identities in the face of the difficulties.

If you would like to make a donation, here's the link.

(Reposted from last year with slight editing.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHELANGELO!

I've a soft spot in my heart for depictions of the Madonna and Child, and the Madonna of Bruges is one of the loveliest.

Thanks to Doug (Counterlight) on Facebook for the reminder of the birthday. Michelangelo is an old man of 537 years.

Image from Wikipedia.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DESMOND TUTU!

"Forgiving is not forgetting; its actually remembering--remembering and not using your right to hit back. Its a second chance for a new beginning. And the remembering part is particularly important. Especially if you don't want to repeat what happened."
— Desmond Tutu

Image from Wikipedia.

EL CINCO DE MAYO - HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GAYLE!

Today is my beloved sister Gayle's birthday. She died five years ago on April 27. We celebrated her life in a memorial service on her birthday, May 5, 2006. After the service, we had a quiet gathering of friends and family. Later that evening, we had a not-so-quiet gathering, in other words, a party. Gayle loved parties, so it was fitting.

She also loved that she shared her birthday with the Mexican celebration. Of course! Another occasion for a party.

¡Viva México! ¡Viva El Cinco de Mayo!

Viva Gayle! May we meet in the kingdom!

Friends of Gayle set up The Dillenkoffer Endowment to provide scholarship grants to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered teens. If you'd like to make a donation, click the link or click on the plaque on the right sidebar.

We know that it's not easy to come out as a teenager. The consequences, at worst, can be nothing less than deadly. I greatly admire all the young men and women who have the courage to step forward and claim their identities in the face of the difficulties.

UPDATE: Here are the names of the winners this year:

$5K winner-Clay Stacy - St. Louis, MO
$3K winner-Kyla Kiefer - Perryville, MO
$1K winner-Jessie Doggendorf - Dittmer, MO
$1K winner-Hayley Gilchrist - Wichita, KS

A BLESSED AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BISHOP KATHARINE!

Watch over thy child, Katharine, O Lord, as her days increase; bless and guide her wherever she may be. Strengthen her when she stands; comfort her when discouraged or sorrowful; raise her up if she fall; and in her heart may thy peace which passeth understanding abide all the days of her life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

H/T to Torey Lightcap at The Lead.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EPISCOPAL CHURCH!

St. John's Episcopal Church

From Margaret at Leave It Lay Where Jesus Flang It:

The Episcopal Church was born today in 1785 --in Philadelphia... What a terrifying and exhilarating time those post-Revolutionary war years must have been --establishing and experimenting with new governmental forms --and in the church, we became autonomous from the Church of England. (Well --at least that's the myth...) And, some clergy concluded that their ordination vows required them to remain loyal to the crown and the bishops who ordained them, and they fled to places where the crown and their bishops still ruled.

And, of course, you should click on over to Margaret's blog and read the rest. She speaks her thoughts on matters of authoriteh and more.

I thank God for the Episcopal Church, warts and all, where I found a home after 60-plus years in another denomination. At the very first service I attended at St. John's Episcopal Church, after several months in the wilderness, I felt as though I had come home.