My Hair Is Too Long And Too Wild

Today, I went at the wrong time for my appointment to get my hair cut. The appointment was at 11:30 AM, but I went at 1:30 PM. I wrote the time on my pad on the regrigerator, but that seems not enough, because I didn't look at the pad. I forgot a previous appointment in the week before Christmas. That was a wild week, and I forgot to write the time of the appointment on the pad.

After today, I was beginning to worry about myself. Am I getting senile? In addition, I'm usually running late when I keep the appointments - altogether an unsatisfactory customer. Will my hairdresser ban me for missing so many appointments?

I had to do a little shopping, and the wind is blowing hard today, so I really looked as wild and crazy as I felt, with my out-of-control hair blowing in the wind, like Phyllis Diller at her worst, if you're old enough to remember that. I began to think about what distracted me from my appointment today, and I realized that I am furious that our ambassador to the UN cast the only "no" vote to a resolution asking for a cease-fire in Gaza. Not a settlement, not an armistice, but a cease-fire to get humanitarian aid into Gaza. I want the killing and maiming to stop, at least for a while.

Lord, have mercy.

Feast of the Epiphany

 

I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practises abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

(Revelation 21:22-27)

Above is a picture of the Nativity set which my mother made with the Three Wise Men and the camels added to the tableau. I haven't displayed the camels for several years now, taking the lazy way out, but I unwrapped them this year for the picture.

The Hormone Guide

Women will understand this!

Men should memorize it!

Every woman knows that there are days in the month when all a man has to do is open his mouth and he takes his life in his hands! This is a handy guide that should be as common as a driver's license in the wallet of every husband, boyfriend, co-worker or significant other!

13 Things PMS Stands For:

1. Pass My Shotgun

2. Psychotic Mood Shift

3. Perpetual Munching Spree

4. Puffy Mid-Section

5. People Make me Sick

6. Provide Me with Sweets

7. Pardon My Sobbing

8. Pimples May Surface

9. Pass My Sweat pants

10. Pissy Mood Syndrome

11. Plainly; Men Suck

12. Pack My Stuff

and my favorite one:

13. Potential Murder Suspect



Don't blame me. Blame Doug. Besides I'm long past all this. Mine is a perpetually sunny disposition.

UPDATE: Menopausal Women At The Mall

There's a message for us all in the video. Watch for it.



H/T to Ann.

Our Supper Tonight

Would you like to know what we ate for supper tonight? No? Well, I shall tell you anyway. Grandpère and I dined on sautéed green tomatoes and roast tenderloin of wild hog, cooked by the chef in the family, GP. Both dishes were delicious. You could say it was a minimalist meal, but it sufficed. A glass of wine furnished the finishing touch.

I should have taken a picture, because GP did not bread the tomatoes, and all the pictures that I find are of breaded green tomatoes. He seasoned them and sautéed them without killing them, if you know what I mean. The pork tenderloin was tender and juicy but was much less fatty than store-bought pork.

"We Are Deeply Saddened...."

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori about the ongoing violence in Gaza:

We are deeply saddened by the first-hand reports we are receiving from Al Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza about the casualties they are treating under the most horrific circumstances. Not only do they lack basic medical supplies, but with windows blown out they are even struggling to keep patients warm. The high number of civilian deaths and injuries, which continue to include noncombatants, women, and children, will only prolong the violence years into the future. Israel’s disproportionate response to the rockets being fired into its cities may well encourage violence beyond Gaza and Israel. The first steps toward peace will only come if all parties unite behind an immediate ceasefire. Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded the world that “an eye for an eye soon leaves the whole world blind.” May we seek to end this blinding violence.

January 5, 2009

From EpiScope.

H/T to Ann.

Good News From California

In a decision issued today, the California Supreme Court held unanimously in favor of the general church, affirming in full the judgment of the appellate court in the case between the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and three disaffiliated parishes including St. James, Newport Beach. In its opinion the court stated,

Applying the neutral principles of law approach, we conclude that the general church, not the local church, owns the property in question. Although the deeds to the property have long been in the name of the local church, that church agreed from the beginning of its existence to be part of the greater church and to be bound by its governing documents. These governing documents make clear that church property is held in trust for the general church and may be controlled by the local church only so long as that local church remains a part of the general church. When it disaffiliated from the general church, the local church did not have the right to take the church property with it.

In a separate opinion Judge Kennard states, "I agree with the majority that the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (Episcopal Church) owns the property to which St. James Parish in Newport Beach (St. James Parish) has held title since 1950. This conclusion is compelled by Corporations Code section 9142, subdivision (c)(2). But I disagree with the majority that this provision, which applies only to religious corporations, reflects a “neutral principles of law” approach."

The decision makes clear that parish property is held in trust for the general church, a finding that would seem to make it unlikely that churches that left the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin to join the Anglican province of the Southern Cone will be successful in retaining their property.

From the Episcopal Café. There's more at their site.

Finally, good news out of California.

Thanks to Being Peace for the tip.

Please Continue to Pray For Sue And Fr. Ed

JCF has left a new comment on your post "Please Pray For Sue And Ed":

Update:

I'm back in Michigan: saw FrEd (he has t-shirts that say "FrEd", and is joking referred to sometimes as "Fred") today at church.

Things aren't good. Sue came home---but apparently prematurely. They've tried to re-arrange the rectory (2-story) to accomodate her downstairs, but she fell in the middle of the night going to the bathroom, and Ed couldn't get her back up (had to call 9/11, for the paramedics to lift her. This brought back memories for me, of the multiple times this happened to my mom&dad, in the two years before my mom died of ALS).

Ed's going to try to get her into at least a week at the rehab center, tomorrow. Her pain still isn't well controlled [Plus, even AFTER she heals, they may well have to replace her knee anyway! :-0]

PLEASE continue to pray for them? (It hurt me, just to see the obvious pain that FrEd is in---nevermind Sue!)

Prayers for Sue and Fr. Ed for healing and and that they get the assistance that they need quickly. Lord, have mercy.

UPDATE: Original prayer request and story here.

It's Still Christmas - Day 12 - On Their Way

"Three Wise Men" from a late 6th century mosaic at the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, Italy.

For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory, and I will set a sign among them. From them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud—which draw the bow—to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations. They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring a grain-offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. And I will also take some of them as priests and as Levites, says the Lord.

Isaiah 66:18-23

Image from Wiki.

Life In Gaza - Ameera Ahmad

From the Guardian:

Ameera Ahmad, 25, gave birth to daughter Layan six months ago. Here, she tells of life under siege and of her struggle to bring up a child after 18 months of Israeli blockade

During the months of the blockade, everything in my life has changed. Before, I would wake up and hope that tomorrow would be better than today. But it never happened. The reason is simple. It is because I live in Gaza, where all dreams and hope vanish because of the situation we live in.

Even the most basic things are really hard to find. My daughter, Layan, is six months old. Things are so tough here that even when I needed to buy baby formula for her, I can't find it. All the money that my husband Fady and I had saved up we have spent during the last three months. I never imagined that my children would grow up like this, in this awful predicament. Poor and always threatened.

Blocked in by sea and land on all sides, even in the south by Egypt, the state of the economy is dismal. The only way in or out for people, humanitarian aid, and products is through checkpoints whenever and wherever the Israelis choose to open them. Of course, Hamas should stop shooting rockets into Israel. But the Palestinians in Gaza are people of no hope. Now the Israeli invasion of Gaza is a reality, along with the continued bombing. In the short term, the Israelis may stop the rocket fire, but what is the long-term plan? The longer the Israelis pound Gaza, the more world opinion will turn against them. Where is the advantage for Israel? What is the end game?

Look at the result of the Israelis attempt to destroy Hezbollah in Lebanon. The group exercises more influence in the country now than before the Israeli attacks. The Israelis should take a lesson from Lebanon and rethink their policies toward Gaza. The more killing and maiming and hardship, the more Palestinians will see Hamas as their only hope.

Back to Ameera:

It is strange. When you walk around Gaza and talk to people in the streets you think that people look happy and normal, getting on with their lives. It is only when you look into their eyes that you see the fear.

Before Layan was born, my husband and I used to talk a lot about whether we should try to leave. Whether it would be better if she was not born here. We still think about leaving Gaza, but we can't get out because of the siege.

The Israelis only let out some people who are really ill and a few people with special passes. The rest of us are trapped. Even then, it is hard to find someone to offer you an invitation from outside which might make it possible to leave.

UPDATE: Juan Cole says:

It may still be 10 or 20 years in the future. But because of Israel's economic and demographic vulnerabilities, for it to lose the war of global public opinion may ultimately be more consequential than either macro-war or micro-war.

UPDATE 2: Blogger Brian R said...

Mimi, I agree with you. I have no support for Hamas but feel Israel is going too far. All I can suggest is people find a way to give practical aid by support for the Al Ahli Arab Hospital. It is run by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. I have been able to support it through Anglicord here in Australia but am sure Americans can find a way to send support by a search on the net. Because of its location in the centre of the City, the Hospital is able to receive casualties from a number of heavily populated neighbourhoods. It works closely with the Palestinian National Authority Ministry of Health, so when there is a demand for patient care, Ahli Arab Hospital is the first to receive the overflow from the government hospital in the central area of Gaza. While a Christian (Anglican/Episcopal to be precise) run hospital it helps all people so I feel it is a way I can give a small practical gift rather than just sitting here wringing my hands.

Brian, that is an excellent suggestion. Here's the address for the website to make a donation.

UPDATE 3: Ann Fontaine suggests another way to help, Episcopal Relief and Development.

Click on Ann's name to read her sermon from yesterday, which also deals with the subject of Gaza.

Bush Is "Smaller Than Life"

From Frank Rich in the New York Times:

WE like our failed presidents to be Shakespearean, or at least large enough to inspire Oscar-worthy performances from magnificent tragedians like Frank Langella. So here, too, George W. Bush has let us down. Even the banality of evil is too grandiose a concept for 43. He is not a memorable villain so much as a sometimes affable second banana whom Josh Brolin and Will Ferrell can nail without breaking a sweat. He’s the reckless Yalie Tom Buchanan, not Gatsby. He is smaller than life.

But dammit he's done great damage for all his pinched spirit and small-mindedness. Great numbers of us (79%) here in the US will not miss him when he's gone, but we acquiesced when he proceeded to do his dirty deeds.

The one indisputable talent of his White House was its ability to create and sell propaganda both to the public and the press.

Apparently, Bush was a flim-flam artist of the highest caliber, or many here in the US were gullible and ignorant. Take your choice.

Now that bag of tricks is empty as well. Bush’s first and last photo-ops in Iraq could serve as bookends to his entire tenure.

The faked turkey for the troops at Thanksgiving that they could not eat and the shoes! Yes, the man of courage who flung the shoes. What's become of Muntazer al-Zaidi?

According to Reuters:

he trial of an Iraqi reporter who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in Baghdad has been postponed pending an appeal over whether the incident amounted to an assault, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
....

Zaidi's lawyer Dhiaa al-Saadi told Reuters the defense was appealing to have the charge reduced to insulting a visiting head of state, which would carry a two-year maximum sentence, because throwing shoes could not have put Bush in actual danger.

The beatings he received after his arrest should be enough of a punishment. They should let him go. If he goes to prison, he will become more of a hero than he already is.

Back to Frank Rich:

Condi Rice blamed the press for the image that sullied Bush’s Iraq swan song: “That someone chose to throw a shoe at the president is what gets reported over and over.” We are back where we came in. This was the same line Donald Rumsfeld used to deny the significance of the looting in Baghdad during his famous “Stuff happens!” press conference of April 2003. “Images you are seeing on television you are seeing over, and over, and over,” he said then, referring to the much-recycled video of a man stealing a vase from the Baghdad museum. “Is it possible that there were that many vases in the whole country?” he asked, playing for laughs.

Remember Rummy the rock star, the sexy homme d'un certain âge? Oh my! Such innocents we were. Such obliviousness to the disasters which would follow.

How will the world remember the two terms of Bush's presidency? He's trying to paint the picture by the numbers of his legacy for us.

But the brazenness of Bush’s alternative-reality history is itself revelatory. The audacity of its hype helps clear up the mystery of how someone so slight could inflict so much damage. So do his many print and television exit interviews.

The man who emerges is a narcissist with no self-awareness whatsoever. It’s that arrogance that allowed him to tune out even the most calamitous of realities, freeing him to compound them without missing a step. The president who famously couldn’t name a single mistake of his presidency at a press conference in 2004 still can’t.

16 days to go.