DIVORCE PENDING?

A judge was interviewing a woman regarding her pending divorce and asked, "What are the grounds for your divorce?"

She replied, "About four acres and a nice little home in the middle of the property with a stream running by."

"No," he said, "I mean what is the foundation of this case?"

"It is made of concrete, brick, and mortar," she responded.

"I mean," he continued, "what are your relations like?"

"I have an aunt and uncle living here in town, as well as my husband's parents."

The judge took a deep breath and asked, "Do you have a real grudge?"

"No," she replied, "we have a two-car carport and have never really needed one."

"Please," he tried again, "is there any infidelity in your marriage?"

"Yes, both my son and daughter have stereo sets. We don't necessarily like the music, but we can't seem to do anything about it."

"Ma'am, does your husband ever beat you up?"

"Yes," she responded, "about twice a week he gets up earlier than I do."

Finally, in frustration, the judge asked, "Lady, why do you want a divorce?"

"Oh, I don't want a divorce," she replied. "I've never wanted a divorce. My husband does. He said he can't communicate with me."
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Divorce granted!

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

ON CHECKING THE DRIFT IN THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION

Lionel Deimel struck gold. At least, I think he has with the statement by Bishop John Akao, chair of the Church of Nigeria Theological Resource group, on the original intention of the Anglican Covenant in the Church Times. (Not yet online, but David Virtue posted the statement in its entirety.)

The idea of an Anglican Covenant was suggested by the Global South to check the drift of some members especially in TEC and Canada as well as some other parts of Europe like Germany and Britain in the wake of revisionist agenda manifested radically by the recognition of same -sex relationships by the Church, especially the consecration of two same-sex practitioners as bishops in The Episcopal Church of America.

Aside: Are "same-sex practitioners" members of a new medical specialty of which I've never heard?

The Global South's intention was to "check the drift" in certain churches in the Anglican Communion with the Anglican Covenant. How does one "check the drift" without consequences? Indaba is not what the Global South had in mind.

The bishop has no kind words for the Episcopal Church:

The offending TEC remained defiant and recalcitrant despite series of appeals and resolutions. This attitude of TEC to the entire Communion smacks of arrogance and colonial mentality against the African voice.

Read the quote from Bishop Akao's statement at Lionel's blog as to why the Anglican Covenant is no longer acceptable to the Global South, along with Lionel's commentary.

The original intention of the Anglican Covenant was to force the churches in the Communion into compliance with "the faith handed down", as certain member churches interpreted the faith. Let's not forget that the disciplinary consequences for non-compliance are still present in the final draft of the covenant, admittedly in a softened form, in the objectionable Section 4.

RUTH BROWN - DADDY DADDY

"Daddy Daddy" was the kind of song we danced to when I was in high school. Yes, I know. "Daddy Daddy" is naughty naughty, and I could not own this type of song at the time. Where would I play the record? On the family Victrola? I don't think so. Almost all the rock and roll songs of the period had naughty lyrics.

TIME TO SEND YOU AWAY...

...to read two excellent blog posts. I've included quotes to entice you to read further.

First from Doug on the miserable State of the Union at his blog Counterlight's Peculiars:

These days, we find ourselves in a fun house world of morality where a large group of already very wealthy people committed what is probably the largest act of larceny in history, almost wrecking the global economy, and yet it is the rest of us suffering the consequences who are told to feel ashamed for our wanton ways. Our representatives go out of their way to coddle the very people who ruined us all, and meanwhile try to take away our last remaining protections against the predations of the market economy. They tell us solemnly to "take responsibility," while dodging their own responsibility for creating this whole crisis. People who keep overseas tax shelters, even in times of war and crisis, are congratulated on their patriotism.

Next on the daft Anglican Covenant from Lionel at Lionel Deimel's Weblog:

Alas, Rowan has increasingly become a threat to the Church of England and to the Anglican Communion. He is, in the end, a political appointee of the English government who has exploited the respect given his office to wield power he has not been granted, to interfere in the affairs of churches not his own—rumor has it that Rowan’s was the hand behind B033, for instance—and to press for a Covenant that will change the nature of the Anglican Communion and, some would say, of Anglicanism itself.

The rich want more money, and the powerful want more power, and to hell with the rest of us.

GLENUIG INN - ARISAIG SOUND

Pictured above is MadChauffeur, aka as MadPriest, aka Fr Jonathan Hagger, who blogs at Of Course I Could Be Wrong.... When I requested permission to use his picture and told him that the stars of the post would be langoustines, he insisted that if I used his picture, he had to be at the head of the credits, and there he is with his wonderful suntan. Foxy, isn't he? (Psst...his blog is well-titled, as he is often wrong.)

MadChauffeur was the driver for the greater part of our trip in the Northwest of Scotland last August. Links to my other posts on the travels of the Mad Three, MadChauffeur, Cathy, and me, may be found on the right sidebar under the heading "Scotland".

Pictured below are the stars of the post, the mouth-watering, to-die-for langoustines which we ate at Glenuig Inn on the Arisaig Sound. The proprietor, Steve, who was also a bit of a fox, even though he was bald, told us that the langoustines went from the water into the pot. That's how fresh the delicious shellfish were.



The Glenuig Inn offers contemporary-style accommodations, which are nothing fancy, but quite comfortable and clean, and the proprietors make much of being green, which is a good thing, surely. The restaurant serves delicious food, and it is there that I fell madly in love with the savory taste of langoustines. I didn't order them for my first meal, but MadChauffeur did, as a starter, I believe, with only about 6 in his dish, but he didn't like them, so he gave me his leftovers. How could he not like them?!!! Well, you can be sure that for my next meal I ordered langoustines, and perhaps for every meal after that, except breakfast, while we stayed at the inn. As you see below, the buildings are nondescript, but the setting at the end of nowhere is gorgeous.



For most of our stay there, we didn't spend a lot of time at the inn, except in the evening, for we used it as a jumping off spot to visit other places.

Below are the lovely flowers at the front door of the restaurant/pub part of the inn. We saw gorgeous flowers in gardens and pots all over the places we traveled in Scotland.



The adorable boy with auburn curls and a couple of sheep, along with beautiful scenery which surrounds the inn on every side are pictured below.



See the adorable sheep crossing in front of the inn. Cathy, the prime wildlife photographer in our group, was in heaven when the sheep approached, although cows are her first love.



MadChauffeur left us stranded without wheels for a day, as he headed home to Newcastle, so, since Cathy and I did not want to spend money on an expensive taxi into Mallaig, we entertained ourselves in the vicinity of the inn. We wanted to take a nature walk, but it rained all morning, so we were confined indoors, except for a pleasant lunch at the tea shop just a way up from the inn - pleasant except for the moment when a woman at the next table knocked a floor lamp over onto me. Fortunately, only the shade hit me, but I had raspberry-flavored tea all over my jeans.

On the way to the tea shop, we passed the old church pictured below.



The weather cleared in the afternoon, and Cathy and I walked to a beach on a lake (I believe it was a lake, but I'm not sure. It was water, water, everywhere.) not far from the inn, where we had a lovely, peaceful, soothing sit-down in view of the beautiful surroundings.

Note: I'm told the body of water was very likely an inlet of Arisaig Sound.



We sat on rocks just above the scene pictured below. There's something about a beach....







Here I am in the restaurant at the Arisaig Inn. You can see MadChauffeur's shoulder and side, but I feared he'd think more than one photo of himself de trop, so I cropped him out.





The picture to the left has nothing to do with our time in Arisaig, but I found the photo when I was searching for a picture of langoustines, and I could not resist posting it here. It's a Scottish dish called Tian of White Crab. I had the starter at a restaurant in Tobermory upon the recommendation of MadChauffeur, and, once again, it was food for the gods, food to die for. Can you tell I'm a foodie? Have I rhapsodized enough over the food in Scotland for you to know how much I enjoy good dining?

The following morning, Cathy and I left for the Isle of Skye, where we hired a car, and Cathy drove for the rest of our trip. Several posts on our travels and dining on the Isle of Skye may be found in the list under the "Scotland" heading on the sidebar.

GAY PASSION OF CHRIST SERIES

(Photo by Dorie Hagler)
From the Jesus in Love Blog:

A gay vision of Christ’s Passion starts tomorrow here at the Jesus in Love Blog. New posts will run daily for three weeks from April 8-29.

Each daily post features art by gay New York painter Douglas Blanchard, text by lesbian author Kittredge Cherry of Los Angeles, and a short Bible passage. The three-week blog series includes all 24 paintings in Blanchard’s epic masterpiece “The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision.”

Doug blogs as Counterlight at Counterlight's Peculiars. His "The Passion of Christ" paintings are marvelous, indeed. Doug was kind enough to give me permission to post the images of selected paintings from the series during Lent last year and the year before. I urge you all to follow the posts at Jesus in Love. Kittredge Cherry writes beautifully, and the pairing of Doug's paintings and Kittredge's text, along with appropriate passages from Scripture, will make for excellent Lenten meditations.

Thanks to Ann Fontaine for the link.

UPDATE: Part 1 of "The Passion of Christ: A Gay Vision" started today at the Jesus in Love Blog. It is excellent.

THE LARYNGOSPASMS - "RING OF FIRE"

QUESTION OF THE DAY

Why is it that in discussions and negotiations within Congress and with the administration on balancing the budget and where cuts will be made so little attention is given to the cost in lives and treasure of the several wars in which the US is presently engaged?

GOD CHOOSES DAVID TO BE KING

ANDREA DEL CASTAGNO -The Youthful David
National Gallery of Art, Washington

‘Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.’

1 Samuel 16:7

He sent and brought him [David] in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, ‘Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.’

1 Samuel 16:12

But God did not choose David because of his appearance but because of what God saw in his heart.

Image from the Web Gallery of Art.

THEY ARE STILL DYING IN IRAQ

A U.S. Army carry team transfers the remains of Army Staff Sgt. Quadi S. Hudgins, of New Orleans, La., at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Tuesday. Hudgins was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas.

DOD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation New Dawn. They died April 2 of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their position with indirect fire in Babil, Iraq.

Killed were:

Staff Sgt. Quadi S. Hudgins, 26, of New Orleans, La.

Sgt. Christian A. S. Garcia, 30, of Goodyear, Ariz.

They were assigned to the Maintenance Troop, Regimental Support Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, Fort Hood, Texas.

From NOLA.com:

Hudgins was featured in a story about soldiers boxing at Fort Hood in the Fort Hood Sentinel in March 2010. It said he had been fighting his way to-and-from school in his "highly territorial" New Orleans neighborhood.

He quoted his uncle telling him: "If I was going to fight somebody I might as well do it in the ring."

May Staff Sgt. Quadi S. Hudgins and Sgt. Christian A. S. Garcia rest in peace and rise in glory.

An Internet Prayer For Peace

O God, you are the source of life and peace.
Praised be your name forever.
We know it is you who turn our minds to thoughts of peace.
Hear our prayer in this time of crisis.
Your power changes hearts.

Muslims, Christians and Jews remember, and profoundly affirm,
that they are followers of the one God,
Children of Abraham, brothers and sisters;
enemies begin to speak to one another;
those who were estranged join hands in friendship;
nations seek the way of peace together.

Strengthen our resolve to give witness to these
truths by the way we live.
Give to us:
Understanding that puts an end to strife;
Mercy that quenches hatred, and
Forgiveness that overcomes vengeance.
Empower all people to live in your law of love
Amen.

From GodWeb.