GETTING OLDER

NOW THAT I'M OLDER, HERE'S WHAT I'VE DISCOVERED:

1. My wild oats are mostly enjoyed with prunes and all-bran.

2. I finally got my head together, and now my body is falling apart.

3. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.

4. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.

5. If all is not lost, then where the heck is it ?

6. It was a whole lot easier to get older than to get wiser.

7. Some days, you're the top dog, some days you're the hydrant.

8. I wish the buck really did stop here, I sure could use a few of them.

9. Kids in the back seat cause accidents.

10. Accidents in the back seat cause kids.

11. The world only beats a path to your door when you're in the bathroom.

12. When I'm finally holding all the right cards, everyone wants to play chess.

13. It's not hard to meet expenses. . .they're everywhere.

14. These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter. . .go somewhere to get something, and then wonder what I'm "here after".

15. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.

16. HAVE I POSTED THESE BEFORE?…or did I?

STORY OF THE DAY - WORDS OF COMFORT

There are days I drop words of comfort on myself like 
falling rain & remember it is enough to be taken care 
of by myself.

From StoryPeople.

JANE AUSTEN ON A BANK NOTE

 

Jane Austen's portrait will replace Charles Darwin's on the Bank of England's 10-pound bank note. The bank note concept, as shown in the photo is nicely done, but I and others want to know why a quote from "the insipid Miss Bingley," a character in Pride and Prejudice, is featured: "I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading!"  In truth, Miss Bingley is bored by books, and she only pretends to read to impress Mr Darcy.

Does Jane approve? I'm always pleased when she is honored, though Jane, her sister Cassandra, and her mother were dependent upon the generosity of family members after the death of her father. How sad that she earned very little from her books during her short life, when today she is considered by a good many admirers to be one of the finest writers of English fiction ever. Although I'm pleased that Jane receives the attention now that she never attracted in her lifetime, her portrait on a bank note seem highly ironic to me. Perhaps Jane, a master of irony, is having a laugh. I hope so.

The Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, admired Jane's novels, and he let it be known that he wouldn't mind a dedication in her next book.  Jane did not admire the Prince of Wales, but when royalty sent out the word, she thought it best to comply, which she did, reluctantly, when her next novel, Emma, was published.

In October, I hope to visit England again, so I will be spending Jane.

It's not Jesus on toast, but it's something.

PRESIDENT OBAMA HONORS LOUISIANA'S OWN

Ernest Gaines

President Barack Obama on Wednesday bestowed prestigious National Medal of Arts to famed New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint, Louisiana author Ernest J. Gaines, and Lake Charles-raised playwright and “Lincoln” screenwriter Tony Kushner.
....

Obama called it a special treat to honor all the musicians, writers, directors, artists and others who have inspired him and the rest of the nation.

“Frankly, this is just fun for me, because I feel like I know you all because I’ve enjoyed your performances,” Obama said. “Your writings have fundamentally changed me — I think for the better.”

Obama singled out Gaines, 80, who is best known for his novels “A Lesson Before Dying” and “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” along with singer and pianist Toussaint, 75, for their inspirations.

On three occasions, I met Ernest Gaines and his lovely wife, Dianne, once when he received an award from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, another time when he was honored at a reception in New Roads, Louisiana, and at another gathering in Baton Rouge.  As a young African-American boy, Gaines' life in rural Pointe Coupee Parish was hard.   In his fiction, which is set in Bayonne, a fictionalized Pointe Coupee Parish, Gaines does not gloss over the reality of life in rural Louisiana, but what amazes me about his writing and my conversations with him is the absence of bitterness.  Dianne is originally from New Orleans, so we shared stories about growing up in the city.  Gaines and his wife now live in Oscar, Louisiana, on land that was part of River Lake Plantation, where he lived until the age of 15, when he moved to Vallejo, California, to live with his mother.  The Gaines' present home is near the small farm where Grandpère grew up and which he inherited when his parents died.

What I miss today more than anything else - I don't go to church as much anymore - but that old-time religion, that old singing, that old praying which I love so much. That is the great strength of my being, of my writing.
....

When I'm sitting in the church alone, I can hear singing of the old people. I can hear their singing and I can hear their praying, and sometimes I hum one of their songs. 

(Ernest Gaines) from BrainyQuote.

Allen Toussaint

Allen Toussaint is one of the best of many excellent New Orleans musicians, one who came home after Katrina and the federal flood to help his city recover and to help and encourage local musicians.  As an ambassador for New Orleans music, Toussaint traveled with the local musicians to show off their talents around the world.

Afterward, Toussaint called the day historic and said that getting the Medal of Arts from the president was the greatest award he could receive.

“I’m so glad that America treats its own in such fine fashion,” Toussaint said. “It’s absolutely wonderful. And the president and the first lady as hosts, they are impeccable.”

“Me being from Louisiana, I feel all of where I’m from wherever I am,” he added. “As I was there receiving my award, I was thinking of New Orleans and Louisiana, etcetera.”

 Below is a video of Toussaint performing "There's a Party Goin' On".



The third honoree, Tony Kushner, spent his formative years in southwestern Louisiana.

Kushner also spoke fondly of growing up in Lake Charles.

“It was a great blessing to grow up in Louisiana, and I think it heightened my awareness of the beauty of the world because it’s such a beautiful place,” he said. “I love the people I grew up with. I think being a Southern writer had an enormous impact on the way that I speak and the kind of lyricism that I aspire to.”

If I ever knew Kushner spent his childhood and youth in Lake Charles, I had forgotten.

Frank Rich’s original review of the 1993 Broadway run of Millennium Approaches, published May 5, 1993

This play has already been talked about so much that you may feel you have already seen it, but believe me, you haven’t, even if you actually have. The new New York production is the third I’ve seen of “Millennium Approaches,” as the first, self-contained, three-and-a-half- hour part of “Angels in America” is titled. (Part 2, “Perestroika,” is to join it in repertory in the fall.) As directed with crystalline lucidity by George C. Wolfe and ignited by blood-churning performances by Ron Leibman and Stephen Spinella, this staging only adds to the impression that Mr. Kushner has written the most thrilling American play in years. 

Tony Kushner

“Angels in America” is a work that never loses its wicked sense of humor or its wrenching grasp on such timeless dramatic matters as life, death and faith even as it ranges through territory as far-flung as the complex, plague-ridden nation Mr. Kushner wishes both to survey and to address.

Three honorees from Louisiana out of a total of twenty-three makes me proud.  Despite the politicians' low regard for funding education and the arts, the gifted excel anyway.

The names of the other recipients of the National Medal of Arts are here.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HAPPY ROYAL FAMILY

How does Kate do it? Of course, I was never, ever beautiful like the new mom, but I looked like the living dead the day after giving birth to my firstborn.

THREE FOR YOU

THREE FOR YOU

Drive By

A guy broke into my apartment last week. He didn’t take my TV, just the remote. Now he drives by and changes the channels. Sick bastard!

Sex

Condoms don’t guarantee safe sex anymore…A friend of mine was wearing one when he was shot by the woman’s husband.

Easy Jet

Paddy calls Easy Jet to book a flight. The operator asks, "How many people are flying with you?" Paddy replies "How do I know! It's your plane!"

JESUS ON TOAST

As they say on Facebook: Like.

Thanks to Penelopepiscopal.

PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR SEARCH FOR A PRIEST FOR TRINITY AND ST JOHN'S EPISCOPAL CHURCHES

St John's Episcopal Church

Since neither congregation of our two churches, Trinity Episcopal Church in Morgan City, Louisiana, nor my church, St John's Episcopal Church in Thibodaux, Louisiana, can afford a full time rector, we are exploring a partnership to share a priest who will serve half-time in each parish.  The members of the two churches shared a meal at a restaurant and a barbecue at the home of a parishioner in Morgan City.  In addition, people from both congregations have attended services at the other church.

Trinity Episcopal Church

The search committee, which includes an equal number of members of both parishes, has been chosen, and they have met with each other and with the vestries of the two churches.  So far, the process is going forward smoothly.

Please pray with us that the search committee will find a priest who is compatible with the congregations of the two parishes, that the two vestries will concur, and that the priest is willing to serve as pastor to our churches.  A member of St John's wrote the prayer below, which I will place in a prominent position on my sidebar to remind me and anyone who wishes to join with us in prayer during this process.

Dear Lord, we ask your help in guiding and directing St John's and Trinity in our search for a new rector.  Where there are differences, help mold us into one heart and one mind, being ever mindful of the needs of each other.  Where doubts and uncertainties may arise, grant us faith and courage to ask what you would have us do.  And finally Lord, give us the spirit of your wisdom to find someone who will adopt our families as part of their family, and strengthen us as faithful ministers to do your will.  In Jesus' name we pray.  Amen.

R. I. P. HELEN THOMAS

Thomas was the first female officer of the National Press Club, the first female member and president of the White House Correspondents' Association, and the first female member of the Gridiron Club.

Helen was one of the best, a bulldog journalist, my hero. Once she had hold of a story, she wouldn't let go.  When presidents tried to veer away from the subject of her question, she persisted and called them out.

ALICE WALKER READS SOJOURNER TRUTH - "AIN'T I A WOMAN?"

Sojourner Truth (1797-1883): Ain't I A Woman?
Delivered 1851
Women's Convention, Akron, Ohio

Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say.

 Stolen shamelessly and with gratitude from my dear friend margaret who blogs at "leave it lay where Jesus flang it".

Collect of the Day: Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer, Sojourner Truth and Harriet Ross Tubman, Liberators and Prophets, 1902, 1894, 1883, 1913

O God, whose Spirit guides us into all truth and makes us free: Strengthen and sustain us as you did your servants Elizabeth, Amelia, Sojourner, and Harriet. Give us vision and courage to stand against oppression and injustice and all that works against the glorious liberty to which you call all your children; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.