Story Of The Day - Legacy

I promise you not a moment will be lost
as long as I have heart & voice to speak
& we will walk again together with a
thousand others & a thousand more &
on & on until there is no one among us
who does not know the truth: there is
no future without love.


Ah, now this one is lovely, isn't it? One of their best.

From StoryPeople.

Got Stopped For Speeding

GOT STOPPED FOR SPEEDING
THE OTHER DAY.
I THOUGHT
I COULD TALK
MY WAY OUT OF IT
UNTIL THE COP LOOKED AT
MY DOG IN THE BACK SEAT

One Sign You're Driving Too Fast........






Thanks to Ann.

Story Of The Day - Theory

trying to remember when it stopped
being theory & turned into real life,
because theory was a whole lot easier


From StoryPeople.

At The Movies - The Venetian Bar

From the Daily Comet:

THIBODAUX — A local eatery traveled back in time Tuesday morning, acting as the setting for a post-World War II meeting between two French women married to American servicemen.

The Venetian Bar and Doughnut Shop, 401 Jackson St., was transformed into an Alabama diner circa 1946. Outside the shop, cars normally parked nearby were replaced by three sets of lights and two trucks hauling movie equipment. The street was silent, except for the words “rolling” and “quiet on the set.”

It was all part of local filmmaking couple Glen Pitre and Michelle Benoit’s latest project, “Chesterfield,” which depicts life for three American military men who marry French brides following D-Day. Pitre and Benoit are serving as executive producers.
....

Pitre’s cousin, Billy Pitre, recommended he and his wife check out the Venetian Bar as a potential set. Everybody who saw it marveled at how it resembles a World War II-era diner, Glen Pitre said.

Grandpère eats at the Venetian Bar. They make good po-boys, and he likes their crawfish stew, shrimp stew, and red beans and white beans and rice lunches. I've eaten there a few times, but it feels more like a man's eatery to me.

I know Glen Pitre, the film man. I haven't seen him in a while, and I'm not sure I've met his wife, Michelle, but I think I must have. Their film company is Côte Blanche Productions. He made a film at Sundance Institute, Robert Redford's production company, titled Belizaire the Cajun, his first English-language movie. We saw several of what Glen calls his Gumbo Westerns, La Fievre Jaune and Huit Piastres Et Demie!, for sure, and enjoyed them. We knew a good many of the actors in the movies, since most, if not all, were local people.

Chris Wood - "Cold, Haily, Windy Night"

Chris Wood performing at the Dent Folk Festival.

Tim Chesterton, at To See And To Follow, posted the video, and I liked it, and I stole it. Tim stole it from YouTube, and I thought it would be all right to steal from a thief.

Chris plays nice guitar, doesn't he, and I like his singing, too. The old folk song is a bit naughty. Enjoy!

A Story Of Two Doctors

Two doctors opened an office in a small town and put up a sign reading "Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones: Psychiatry and Proctology."

The town council was not too happy with that sign, so the doctors changed it to "Hysterias and Posteriors".

This was not acceptable either, so in an effort to satisfy the council, they changed the sign to "Schizoids and Hemorrhoids." No go.

Next they tried "Catatonics and High Colonics." Thumbs down again.

Then came "Manic-depressives and Anal Retentives." Still not good.

How about "Minds and Behinds"? Unacceptable again.

So they tried "Lost Souls and Ass Holes." Still no go.

Nor did "Analysis and Anal Cysts," "Nuts and Butts," "Freaks and Cheeks," or "Loons and Moons" work either.

Almost at their wits' end, the doctors finally came up with a business slogan they thought might be acceptable to the council: "Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones: Odds and Ends."

APPROVED!

Don't blame me. Blame Paul (A.), and I mean that. It's not my fault.

Help Save Padre Mickey's Dance Party

From The Friends of Jake:

Our own Padre Mickey (the Rev. Michael Dresbach) has had a bit of a cyber-tragedy. It seems his loyal Mac Mini has given up the ghost and requires a new logic board. At $600, this repair is virtually the same cost as a new computer, and is way beyond what they can afford as missionaries in Panama.

The Friends of Jake links to the website of St. Francis Episcopal Church in San José, California, where you can make a donation to help El Padre. The congregation supports him in his missionary work in Panama.

It's A Jungle In Here

 

The hibiscus are overgrown and out of control.

 

The potted plant became a vine that attached itself to brick and grows and grows and grows.

 

I fear that one night while we are asleep, the vine may invade our house and strangle us in our bed.



The bees took over the hummingbird feeder. But we need the bees, too.

Did I say that it was a jungle in here?

Hans Kung On The Vatican Overture

From the Guardian:

After Pope Benedict XVI's offences against the Jews and the Muslims, Protestants and reform-oriented Catholics, it is now the turn of the Anglican communion.... Traditionalists of the churches, unite! Under the cupola of St Peter's! The Fisher of Men is angling in waters of the extreme religious right.
....

Clearly, the well-meaning Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was no match for cunning Vatican diplomacy. In his cosying up with the Vatican, he evidently did not recognise the consequences. Otherwise he would not have put his signature to the downplaying communique of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster. Can it be that those caught in the Roman dragnet do not see that they will never be more than second-class priests in the Roman church, that other Catholics are not meant to take part in their liturgical celebrations?
....

But Pope Benedict is set upon restoring the Roman imperium. He makes no concessions to the Anglican communion. On the contrary, he wants to preserve the medieval, centralistic Roman system for all ages – even if this makes impossible the reconciliation of the Christian churches in fundamental questions.
....

Just as we have seen over many centuries – in the east-west schism of the 11th century, in the 16th century Reformation and in the First Vatican Council of the 19th century – the Roman thirst for power divides Christianity and damages its own church. It is a tragedy.

During the papacy of John Paul II, Kung was one of many fine theologians, teachers, and progressive bishops who were silenced or otherwise disciplined by the former Cardinal Ratzinger (and present pope) from his position as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which began life as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Universal Inquisition in the 16th century, although its practices were enforced centuries before. In 1908, the name was changed.

From the National Catholic Reporter on the then Cardinal Ratzinger, aka as The Enforcer:

Others believe Ratzinger will be remembered as the architect of John Paul’s internal Kulturkampf, intimidating and punishing thinkers in order to restore a model of church -- clerical, dogmatic and rule-bound -- many hoped had been swept away by the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 assembly of bishops that sought to renew Catholicism and open it to the world. Ratzinger’s campaign bears comparison to the anti-modernist drive in the early part of the century or Pius XII’s crackdown in the 1950s, critics say, but is even more disheartening because it followed a moment of such optimism and new life.

The piece in the NCR, from April 1999, is a long, but fascinating read. It includes these words:

There is still the possibility, of course, that Ratzinger will not end his career as the hierarchy’s No. 2 man. At some point there will be another conclave, and Ratzinger, if he’s still around, will be in the running for the top job. Could he become pope?

We all know the answer to that question.

UPDATE: Wormwood's Doxy said...

Too bad that Dr. Kung ruined what was otherwise a very good analysis/rant with the inclusion of this piece of tripe:

[The Anglican Communion] is already suffering from the consequences of the heedless and unnecessary election of an avowed gay priest as bishop in the US, an event that split his own diocese and the whole Anglican communion. This friction has been enhanced by the ambivalent attitude of the church's leadership with respect to homosexual partnerships. Many Anglicans would accept a civil registration of such couples with wide-ranging legal consequences, for instance in inheritance law, and would even accept an ecclesiastical blessing for them, but they would not accept a "marriage" in the traditional sense reserved for partnerships between a man and a woman, nor would they accept a right to adoption for such couples.

Heedless and unnecessary for WHOM?!

And I know a whole bunch of "Anglicans" who are working very hard for both civil and religious marriage (and adoption rights) for same-sex couples.

Feh.
Doxy

Doxy is correct. I should have called attention to that serious misstep by Fr. Kung in an otherwise accurate assessment of the pope's overture.

Pray For Lindy

Thank you for your prayers to Jesus and Buddha on behalf of my health. Honestly, I thought I was going to pass out the other day when I wrote to you. But I made it home and into bed. I took my western medicines along with some Chinese concoction which tasted like heck, no kidding. That was a pretty rough night, and last night was only slightly better. But, I do seem to be holding my own this morning. I am drinking lots of water, taking my vitamins, eating pretty well... though, sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what I'm eating. I am clearly on the mend.


I love you all for your prayers and support. Hopefully, I'll be online at home this afternoon and can write more extensively then. I've already taken some pictures and written a little news which I want to get out. Overall, I am having a big time and adjustimg to this very different culture. China may be just the challenge I needed.

Again, thank you for being connected to me. Your support is more valuable than I can say.

Lindy

I did not know that Lindy was sick, but I'm relieved to know that she seems to be getting better.

Lindy moved to China recently. Read about her move at her blog, Still Fruity.