The Wisdom Of Walking The Dog

Last night we discovered that our hot water heater was leaking. Good thing we discovered it, because our whole downstairs once flooded once from a leaking water heater while we were sound asleep. We stepped onto a soaked carpet when we got out of bed. Had I not decided to take Diana along when I went for a walk with our house guest, we may not have discovered the leak, because the dog lead hangs on a hook in the closet where the water heater stands. We turned off the heater and the water source and drained much of the water out by letting faucets run, so we only had wet towels around the heater this morning, instead of a flooded house.

The plumber and his helper are here with a new water heater, and we've asked him to install a pan and a drain leading outside in the event that this happens again. We will leave them here to do their jobs as we head off to New Orleans for my doctor's appointment.

"Resist!"

If you have not read Church of England Bishop Peter Selby's address to "Inclusive Church's residential conference Word on the Street - Swanwick - 7 October 2009", then you must. It is absolutely brilliant. It's what I and many of us on this side of the pond and a few on the other side have been saying, but Bishop Selby makes the points beautifully.

While I was away I tried to read the online version for days and never succeeded, because I had little computer access. Last night, I printed it and read it as my bedtime reading. Excellent!

Home Again - Part 2

Whoa! Do I have a busy day ahead of me! I made it through all the security points with an expired drivers license. My first priority is to get a valid drivers license.

Also, I ask your prayers because tomorrow morning, I have an appointment with an optometrist at Ochsner Medical Center to start the process for having cataract surgery. What can I say? I'm scared. I know, I know. It's a simple surgery, and I will be much better off afterward, blah, blah, blah, but nevertheless....

UPDATE: Perhaps I was not clear. My surgery is not tomorrow. The visit tomorrow is to get the ball rolling to set a date for surgery. I am frightened way ahead of time.

Story Of The Day - Big Job

When do you get to be a grown-up? she
said. When you can read & write & lie
without laughing, I said & her eyes got
big & she said she didn't know it was
that hard

From StoryPeople.

In Thanksgiving for Frank...

...and please continue to pray for Frank and Carol. From David@Montreal:

dearest Giants of Prayer & Practice
Just in from a long walk with Willie the blessing daschund, and the phone was ringing
Frank, my very dear cousin, fighting leukemia with genetic therapy with an imperfect genetic match had called Mam when he couldn't get me on the phone.
Late last week he and Carol were headed into Vancouver for one of his twice-weekly days of outpatient treatment at the hospital, when all of a sudden Frank felt an incredibly sharp pain and tearing deep inside his calf.
The pain persisted all the way to the hospital where he was admitted as an emergency.
Turns out two pieces of cartilage had become so brittle from all of the different treatments Frank's been undergoing and two rogue pieces of cartilage were circulating in his body via the blood. Minor piercing of the lungs, some damage to the heart but thankfully no damage to either major veins into or out of the heart. The pain in his calf was indeed a tear of some seriousness which is being left to heal itself.

After the situation had been normalized, apparently the head of the whole cancer program came in to shake Frank's hand- to tell him how he couldn't understand, how with all Frank's been through, and now this, that he's still alive. To quote' you should have been dead, several times over.'
Carol said, with tears in his eyes, Frank told the doctor he was being kept alive by prayer alone- 'It's my cousin's gang of saints' (that's you guys)
Apparently the doctor at first misunderstood, thinking Frank and Carol might be Mormon, until Frank explained we're Anglican/Episcopalian/ RomanCatholic/Buddhist
Frank apparently waxed quite lyrical about the bunch of you, and by the time he'd finished the doctor was shaking his head, smiling with tears washing his own cheeks.

Literally Franks first call when he got home today, was to try and get me, and then to talk with Mam, to say thank you, thank-you, thank-you to the Giants & to ask for your continued prayers.
To quote my beloved cousin, he's never felt so loved in his whole life, and that's saying a lot, as he had two wonderful parents (an only child) who adored the beautiful human being they'd been given.

I'd also ask for prayers for my sister Susan, who has spent the Thanksgiving week-end in hospital following a minor stroke with complications- tests still being run on the second day as they haven't quite got it all figured out.

En passant, I've also recommend two posts, by beloved siblings in Christ:

a DY-NA-MITE sermon by our beloved sister Elizabeth at Telling Secrets. Sublime, poetic, and the essence of our vocation to live as the Body of Christ, this is one of Elizabeth's very, very best- and believe me this sister CAN preach!

and Paul's account of his Sunday at Byzigenous Buddhapalian. This man is positively one of the most generous great hearts in Anglican/Episcopal blogs, and in his two post he shares putting together a Eucharist celebration in a church which apparently had been reclaimed by the Episcopal Church. In addition to a full time secular job, a very serious writing career, and part-time priestly duties at another Episcopal mission, Paul put together a celebration which was lovingly accessorized, beautiful and prophetic.

Thank-you my beloved Giants,
Thank-you from Frank, Mam, and I

Home Again

Late this afternoon I arrived safely back into the heat and humidity of New Orleans and then on to the heat and humidity of Thibodaux. Our friend Hugh, who has been here fishing with Grandpère, took us out to eat in an Italian restaurant in the next town over.

I had a lovely time in Connecticut and in New York city. I am now going to bed, for I am tired. More later.

General Confusion

I used to be pretty clear on what was real & what I made up, but with everything going on in the world, none of that seems to matter, so I just decided to talk less & smile to myself more, so as not to add to the general confusion


From StoryPeople.

While I Am Gone...

"Dream A little Dream Of Me"



Ella and Louie. What more could you ask for?

How 'bout dat scattin'?

I'm Leaving On A Jet Plane

First I'm going to New York City, and then I'll go by train to visit my friends in Connecticut. I'll wave good-bye to her husband before he leaves to drive down to Louisiana to do fall fishing with Grandpère and my son. My friend belongs to a choral group that is quite serious about practices, so she can't miss. Instead of traveling to Louisiana with her husband, she invited me to visit her in Connecticut. That sounded good to me. GP and I were in their wedding many years ago, but we moved and lost touch with each other for a long spell, and then I found them several years ago through the internet. We've kept in touch and visited back and forth since then.

In truth, I'd just as soon be out of the way of the testosterone-driven fish stories and expressions of dismay about the stock market. Plus, I hope to see fall color while I'm in Connecticut. I'll spend a few days with my friend, and then I'll head to beautiful midtown Manhattan and around and about in New York City for a few days.




I love New York, I do. Apparently Robert Indiana's LOVE sculpture is all over the place. The New Orleans Museum of Art has a copy of it in the sculpture garden. According to Wiki, "The original Love outside sculpture, created in 1970 of cor-ten steel, stands in the sculpture garden at the Indianapolis Museum of Art."

I won't have a computer with me, so there will be little or no blogging while I'm gone. I'll turn off the comment function before I leave tomorrow.

See y'all when I get back.

Meet "Her Holiness"

This past weekend, our friend, Ann Fontaine, attended the diocesan convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming. I don't normally link to Stand Firm, but this nugget was too good to pass by. In the discussion about the convention at the blog, this comment appeared:

Why is it that no one from Dio Wyoming is EVER quoted except Ms Fontaine, the unelected Pope of that diocese,

From now on, you will please address Ann as "Your Holiness" and when you speak about her, you will say "Her Holiness". Respect due.