YES, I DO

 

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

A GOOD DAY IN CHURCH

Stained glass at St John's Episcopal Church, Thibodaux LA

Today was a good worship day for me at St John's.  For a change I was early, and I had the opportunity to sit quietly for a spell before listening to the Prelude, Beethoven's "Sonatina in G Major", performed beautifully by our music director on the piano.  Therein lies a lesson that rushing in at the last minute, or worse, following the procession down the aisle, is not the best way to arrive for a service.  The liturgy was done well and properly; the sermon was interesting and enlightening; and the musical choices were very much to my taste.

Still, good days for me have less to do with the service itself - the preacher, the music, who is present, than with an attitude of heart open to praising and thanking God.  Some mornings, my attention to prayer is limited, for distractions abound, and my mind wanders everywhere but to the meaning of the words in the prayers and hymns.  This morning, I slipped easily into prayer and remained attentive longer.  Grace, all is grace, but I expect not rushing into the service at the last minute plays a part.  As I've already said, there's a lesson here.  Still, what is also true:

The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.

After the service, our visiting priest did a show and tell about our fly spoon and said how rare it is to find such a spoon among the altar vessels.  He explained that in the olden days before air-conditioning, when windows in the church were open, insects flew in, and flies were attracted to the wine.  If a fly or other insect flew into the chalice and couldn't make its way out, the fly spoon was used for removal.  Below is a picture of St John's fly spoon.

Fly spoon

The spoon is silver, not gold, and is not tarnished as it appears in the photo.  The refection in the bowl of the spoon is of the stained glass window above the altar depicting St John the Evangelist, our patron saint.  The reflection on the cross may be the same.

I knew the purpose of the spoon, because I served eight years with the wonderful women in the Altar Guild.  Though I tried my best, I was not well-suited to preparing the altar, for I am not a detail person.  The priests I served under were understanding, and my fellow members were kind, but I suspect they sometimes despaired of me ever getting it right.  In truth, I never did. 

NOTE TO SELF

 

Before buying clothing you think you will need for an upcoming trip, first look in your closet.

SOCIAL ATTITUDE TEST

My results on the Social Attitude Test:

Political Values

Radicalism    94
Socialism    87.5
Tenderness    56.25

These scores indicate that you are a progressive; this is the political profile one might associate with a university professor. It appears that you are skeptical towards religion, and have a pragmatic attitude towards humanity in general.

Your attitudes towards economics appear communist, and combined with your social attitudes this creates the picture of someone who would generally be described as left-wing.

To round out the picture you appear to be, political preference aside, an egalitarian with many strong opinions.

This concludes our analysis; we hope you found your results accurate, useful, and interesting.

I am a communist and skeptical about religion. Who knew? My thought is if you consider yourself a person of faith, which I do, you'd damn well better be skeptical about religion. I confess I thought I would score higher in tenderness.  Nearly everyone I know who took the test has the characteristics of a university professor.

Some questions were difficult to answer or not what I thought good questions, so I hit the middle button on those, which may have skewed my score.  The choices number five, from strongly disagree to strongly agree.

There you have it.

THWART THAT NOISY CELL PHONE USER!

After a tiring day, a commuter settled down in his seat and closed his eyes.

As the train rolled out of the station, the young woman sitting next to him pulled out her cell phone and started talking in a loud voice:

"Hi sweetheart. It's Sue. I'm on the train."

"Yes, I know it's the six thirty and not the four thirty, but I had a long meeting."

"No, honey, not with that Kevin from the accounting office. It was with the boss."

"No sweetheart, you're the only one in my life."

"Yes, I'm sure, cross my heart!"

Fifteen minutes later, she was still talking loudly.

When the man sitting next to her had enough, he leaned over and said into the phone, "Sue, hang up the phone and come back to bed."

Sue doesn't use her cell phone in public any longer.

Don't blame me.  Blame Ann.

STORY OF THE DAY

St John's Cemetery, Thibodaux, Louisiana

My favorite way home is past the cemetery since it's 
about the only place in the whole town where people 
keep their opinions to themselves

From StoryPeople.

A PREACHER AND A LAWN MOWER

A preacher was making his rounds on a bicycle when he came upon a little boy trying to sell a lawn mower.

"How much do you want for the mower?" asked the preacher.

"I just want enough money to go out and buy me a bicycle," said the little boy. After a moment of consideration, the preacher asked, "Will you take my bike in trade for it?"

The little boy asked if he could try it out first, and, after riding the bike around a little while, said, "Mister, you've got yourself a deal."

The preacher took the mower and began to crank it. He pulled on the rope a few times with no response from the mower.

The preacher called the little boy over and said, "I can't get this mower to start." The little boy said, "That's because you have to cuss at it to get it started."

The preacher said, "I can't cuss. It's been so long since I became a Christian that I don't even remember how to cuss."

The little boy looked at him happily and said, "You just keep pulling on that rope. It'll come back to ya."

Don't blame me.  Blame Doug.

STILL THE STUPID PARTY

A significant chunk of Louisiana Republicans evidently believe that President Barack Obama is to blame for the poor response to the hurricane that ravaged their state more than three years before he took office.
....

Twenty-eight percent said they think former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, was more responsible for the poor federal response while 29 percent said Obama, who was still a freshman U.S. Senator when the storm battered the Gulf Coast in 2005, was more responsible. Nearly half of Louisiana Republicans — 44 percent — said they aren't sure who to blame.

Republicans in Louisiana have not heeded Governor Jindal's advice to stop being the stupid party.  The poll results demonstrate a classic example of Louisiana Republicans' disregard for facts. Everything is Obama's fault.  Facts, dates, history, none of that matters. Unfortunately, it's not just Republicans in Louisiana who live in the unreality bubble.

People here and throughout the country cannot accept the fact that Obama is president, because he is black and because he is a Democrat, thus the birthers who blather endlessly about the invalidity of the president's birth certificate. Racism plays a large part in the disdain for Obama, but, if you observe the commentary about Hillary Clinton from certain quarters, you see it's not entirely about racism.

Indeed, Jindal himself has not followed his own good advice advice.  He spent $800,000 of state money trying to pass his program to eliminate state income taxes an impose a sales tax to replace the revenue which was wildly unpopular and went nowhere in the legislature.

The next debacle was the administration's attempt to fund private schools by using public school money, which prompted a lawsuit that cost the state who knows what amount of our tax money to defend the suit.  In the end, the Louisiana Supreme Court decided that the use of public school funds violated the Louisiana constitution, so Jindal had to scramble to find money that was already committed to pay tuition in private schools for low income families and return money to public schools.

And now the latest in the state's privatization of health care.

A private company that took over management of state behavioral health programs last year has not complied with contract terms, a state audit released Monday found.

The $354 million two-year contract with Magellan Health Services allows the state Department of Health and Hospitals to impose sanctions, but none have been, the Louisiana legislative auditor wrote.

The company doesn't pay claims in a timely manner.  A friend who is a psychologist told me that before he read the article, he know the company would be either Magellan or another company known for not paying claims on time.  Kathy Kleibert, head of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says:

The program has been successful, she said, by allowing DHH to expand access to care for more people and provide better service. It allowed DHH to increase the number of providers from 800 to 1,700.

All well and good, but if the providers don't get paid, they will not continue to provide services.  Duh. 

I'm sorry for us, the citizens of Louisiana, that Jindal and his cohorts have failed us in so many areas of governance, which leads me to the governor's latest poll numbers from Public Policy Polling.  Only 28% of voters in Louisiana approve of Bobby Jindal's performance, while 59% disapprove.  Three years ago Jindal's approval rating was at 58%, with 34% of voters disapproving of his performance.  The governor's numbers are sinking like a stone.

UPDATE: For more on Jindal's polling numbers see CenLamar. 

BLUE MOON, FULL MOON

In the clouds

In the clear

Blue moon, full moon, red moon, green moon
Tonight we see the bright light
Of the rare moon of many names.
Go out, scout, and tout with a shout
The blue, full, sturgeon, red, corn, grain moon.

My pictures are not the greatest, but they are my pictures.

Here's what it's all about.

IN THE BLOOMIN' GARDEN - FLOWER POTS ON THE FENCE

Portulaca or Purslane

Portulaca or Purslane

Ivy

Portulaca or Purslane

All credit for the work involved in planting and upkeep of the garden goes to Grandpère, who is a gifted gardener and a very hard worker.  The idea for flower pots on the fence may have been mine, but I can't say for sure.