Friday cat blogging

The gals eye each other.

Dude looks up from breakfast.

Jellico waits.

He waited awhile.

Friday shuffle

1. Good Lovin' - Young Rascals
2. Stoned Soul Picnic - Fifth Dimension
3. Zosia Polka
4. Sweet Dreams - Tommy McLain
5. Dawson: Soon-ah Will Be Done - Bach Choir of Pittsburgh
6. Pandora's Golden Heebie Jeebies - The Association
7. Abraham, Martin and John - Dion
8. Anon: Salve Mater Redemptoris - Anonymous 4
9. Make Me Smile - Chicago
10. Sunrise Serenade - Glenn Miller Orchestra

And an extra that Greg Smith posted on Facebook. I've loved this since we sang it in chapel at Westminster Choir College.

Prayers for Roseann

Our friend Roseann from Beliefnet's Anglican/Episcopal discussion board, the blogosphere and Facebook is in the hospital. She needs a kidney transplant and seems to be failing. She's having a tough time keeping a positive attitude. Please help us send healing love and light by whatever method you use to do such things. And support organ donation!

(Click on invitation to enlarge)

2009 thaw

R.I.P. Mary Louise Herrick

Another good organist went to the other side Saturday. Mary Lou Herrick played and directed at Mount Airy Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia for many years. After her husband Clyde died she moved to our town which was actually her husband’s hometown where they still owned a home. Mary Lou was active in the American Guild of Organists and for years sponsored the third prize for improvisation. She studied with and babysat for Vincent Persichetti. She was 81.

Fire comes very close

Fires in Australia are killing people as well as destroying property. One came too close to our friend Alcibiades for comfort. He hasn't blogged about it but he told us he is ok in the comments on OCICBW.

If you are so inclined, please pray for rain for the Australians, do a rain dance or implore the rain gods in any method you think might work.

An uncommon partnership

A partnered lesbian Episcopal priest and a married Mormon man with 3 children have made a documentary film about same-sex marriage and theology. The LA Times has an article here. One of the LDS Articles of Faith is "11 We claim the ^aprivilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the ^bdictates of our own ^cconscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them ^dworship how, where, or what they may. " I wish all Mormons were as open to others as Douglas Hunter has been - without proselytizing.

Someday I hope to meet Susan Russell+. She is one courageous lady - with funky hair. lol

R.I.P. Frank Stearns

A good friend, fellow Westminster Choir College alumnus, gentle soul, cheerful spirit, organist, violist, choir director and so much more went to the other side Wednesday, 4 February 2009. The communities he served have a huge hole in their hearts. You can read more about Frank here.

Friday cat blogging

The gals at breakfast.

Tim after breakfast.

I've noticed an odd sort of fungus on Tim's front feet but I can't touch her feet or hold her to check them. When she was in PT's box yesterday I could see her feet up close thru the window. Ha. It is foam that she has dug from her little shelter in the canoe.

Friday shuffle

1. Graduation Day - The Four Freshmen
2. Strauss: Drei Männerchöre - Chanticleer
3. Daydream Believer - Monkees
4. Handel: Israel in Egypt, Thou in Thy Mercy - Parrott, Taverner Consort
5. Bach: A Major Flute Sonata, Largo e dolce - Preston, Pinnock
6. Crimson and Clover - Tommy James & the Shondells
7. Moments to Remember - The Four Lads
8. Beethoven: Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage - Shaw, Atlanta
9. Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto 1, Allegro non troppo - Richter, Karajan
10. Rebe Elimelekh - Jowel Klezmorim

Why should I be an Episcopalian?

My favorite Super Bowl moment

occurred during Puppy Bowl V. Unfortunately you must go to YouTube to watch it. Takes me back a few years...

Great idea

On David Duke's website he writes that he said this to a reporter:
I am glad these traitorous leaders of the Republican Party appointed this Black racist, affirmative action advocate to the head of the Republican party because this will lead to a huge revolt among the Republican base. As a former Republican official, I can tell you that millions of rank-and-file Republicans are mad as hell and aren’t going to take it anymore! We will either take the Republican Party back over the next four years or we will say, “To Hell With the Republican Party!” And we will take 90 percent of Republicans with us into a New Party that will take its current place!

I pray (t)he(y) will do this! Then those of us who used to be Republicans - fiscally conservative, polite, thoughtful, compromising, intelligent, willing to discuss, etc. - will have a political home again.

And then there is this

Harmonica Player Kills At Carnegie Hall - Watch more Entertainment

Cross-quarter Day

Today is Cross-quarter Day - halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox.


Today is also Groundhog Day. I don't know about Punxsutawny Phil's eyesight as it is very cloudy here.

Read more about today including Candlemas and St Brigid at Telling Secrets, the blog of one of my favorite people. She has the most interesting insight on most everything and should be on your regular reading list.

And now from the opposite end of the Sixth Street Bridge

A little Verdi...

Hat tip to Grandmère Mimi and the Cwazy Wabbit.

Go Steelers!


I hope I don't jinx them...

Yea, Stillers!!!!!!!!!!

Guess this means I have to wear gold and black Tuesday..

You, too, can put your words on a bus

Bus slogan generator.

Marian McPartland

There is a lovely interview with the jazz pianist and host of Piano Jazz at The Episcopal Cafe.

You can hear the concert at Trinity Wall Street here.

Father Matthew Moretz on Evangelism

It amazes me that some believe that evangelism requires scaring the hell out of people then inviting them to church. Or vice versa. NOT!

I don't believe you can "convert" people by promising prosperity if they attend worship regularly and give money.

If you have never seen Fr Matthew on YouTube, you are missing some great "amateur" video messages. You can find him online at The Geranium Farm or in person at Christ's Church, Rye, NY.

Your Spiritual Number is Two

You bring kindness and harmony into other people's lives. Whenever a situation or idea seems extreme, you try to lend some balance. Right now, your life is about benefiting from choices you've made in your past. You have done your best to be a good person, and it is starting to pay off. You are an idealist with interesting ideas. You can't help but see all of the beauty in the world. But you are also aware of the world and its limitations. You have realistic expectations.

What's Your Spiritual Number?

Friday shuffle

1. Cry Baby - Garnet Mimms and the Enchanters
2. White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
3. Everyday People - Sly & the Family Stone
4. You're That Certain Someone - Warrior River Boys
5. Mr. Tambourine Man - The Byrds
6. PDQ Bach: Missa Hilarious, Sanctus
7. Good Morning Starshine - Oliver
8. Schubert: Mass in G, Benedictus - Upshaw, Atlanta, Shaw
9. Lover-O-Lover Polka
10. My Boyfriend Polka

More snow photos

Downtown Greenville

Jamestown

The golf course

Our road

The homestead

Cathouse mess

Tommie eats lunch while I survey the ice mess that has the cathouse roof covered with water and ice. Fortunately the box has a plastic bottom so it shouldn't get wet. I hope Sunday's 40 temperature will allow me to get rid of the ice and patch the plastic roof. I nailed a closed cell foam pad over the carpet so the water will run under it. I have a heater there to help melt the ice but the noise scares the cats. We'll see if PuddyTat gets bold and ignores it for the comfort of her box. She won't need the heating pad. The little heater really makes the entire space quite warm. I'll probably turn it off during the night.

Friday cat blogging

It is this kind of day. Tommie and PuddyTat have been cuddled in her box almost all the time since last evening. Sorry the cats have made such a mess on the window. It is almost impossible to clean it without dismantling the cathouse.

Later in the day, Dude came out to eat and met PuddyTat. She said, "Sorry, I'm not interested", and walked away as he watched.

Jellico appeared to eat this morning. Tommie watched from the box but didn't even sing. The furry cat runs when he sees me so I didn't bother him. He hasn't been around lately so he needs to eat.

Already campaigning

Sarah Palin has launched a political action committee - SarahPac. The ABC story is here. Perhaps the comedians won't need a bailout after all.

Feeling guilty

The last time we had this much snow I didn't have a garage or anyone to plow me out and it didn't last this long. I parked my car up at the road and walked to the house with a little plastic sled to carry groceries and other items and to ride occasionally. Now I have a wonderful neighbor who takes good care of me. He plows but I still have to shovel the car out as well as paths to the door and the cathouse for the felines. I usually also keep the spaces under the feeders clear for the ground feeding birds. Not this time. I'm not strong enough to shovel this much wet snow. So I'm feeling guilty. But the birds do have food and water just like the cats.

I want me one of these

Complete with all the bishops. You can get one too. The story is at Padre Mickey's Dance Party.

The world's cutest grandnephew and grandniece

Glad I'm not RC

Pope Benedict XVI has forgiven and reinstated four breakaway bishops. You can read Time Magazine's article here. One of those denies the Holocaust ever happened. It is one thing to forgive. It is another to allow these men to preach their hatred, prejudice, ignorance. Is his church so desperate for clergy that he must resort to this utter lack of conscience?

I don't know where this man is living but it is not in the 21st century. Will someone please tell him that the first world has moved beyond him and the rest of the world will follow eventually making his office irrelevant. Of course, many of us believe that already. How long will it take for most of his flock to agree? Those wheels grind slowly but they do grind.

More Friday cat blogging

Gave PuddyTat a new box and a cleaner area today. The box is somewhat larger than I would like but it is all I could find other than ones that are too small. I fastened a towel around the top so it will sag a bit making the top slightly lower. Of course PT will not allow Tim or Dude to occupy her space but she will cuddle with Tommie. Tim has her foam in the garage so I don't worry much about her. The only thing these two share is orange and PT is more tannish than Tim. They probably have the same father - Tancat. Otherwise they are radically different people. Tim is much larger and has a much heavier coat. PuddyTat is gentle unless she's mad. Tim is feisty. I hold out my hand and Tim moves her head to where she wants scritched. She will bat me if I withdraw too soon. She used to do it with her claws extended but she seems calmer now. She doesn't want petted elsewhere while PT likes me to scritch the length of her body. Tim is a year younger than PT who will be 11 this spring.

Tom must have found a lady as he hasn't been around today. Neither has Jellico. One or both will probably be back with a bloody spot eventually.

Another reason to avoid the label "Christian"

Biblical Battered Wife Syndrome: Christian Women and Domestic Violence

By Kathryn Joyce
January 22, 2009

"What is a good enough reason for divorce? Well, according Rick Warren's Saddleback church, divorce is only permitted in cases of adultery or abandonment—as these are the only cases permitted in the Bible—and never for abuse."

Read the rest of this scary and revealing article at Religion Dispatches.

For the life of me I can't understand how anyone who claims to follow Jesus could abuse anyone, especially someone supposedly loved. But then, it seems to me that many of the people who claim the label "Christian" have no clue about the message of the Gospels. I will share the eucharist with them but I don't want to be grouped with them.

Friday cat blogging

"Warm" and sunny weather lured Tommie out of shelter.

While PuddyTat contemplated joining him.

Friday shuffle

1. Britten: The Succession of Four Sweet Months - Sixteen
2. Living in the Past - Jethro Tull
3. My Guy - Mary Wells
4. Bach: Sonata in C Major - Stephen Preston, flute
5. Barrel of Fun - Country Cooking
6. Little Brown Jug - Glenn Miller
7. Bang a Gong (Get it on) - T.Rex
8. American Woman - Guess Who
9. Satie: Première Pensée Et Sonneries... - Riri Shimada
10. Purcell: Dido and Aeneas, When I am laid in earth - Jennie Blackham

Loss

A college classmate committed suicide. His partner died intestate on a cruise. The parents apparently took control and left my friend out. He never got over it. I wonder if the parents are "good Christian folks".

Sometimes I dislike religion intensely. I find it difficult to respect people who blindly follow the pronouncements of the pope or the Mormon prophet or anybody claiming to have a direct line to whatever god and know all the rules for salvation, whatever that is. Most but not all of God's creation are less interested in one sex than in another. If it isn't rape or abuse, it is normal. If it doesn't produce offspring who will add to the rolls and the coffers, it is not wrong or harmful to God's plan. It is normal.

Sheez. I wish people would learn to value each other, especially people who claim to follow Jesus. They wouldn't have to worry about salvation or much of anything else. The world would be much more peaceful.

Somewhat speechless

I don't seem to be able to put into a coherent message how I feel about our country and the future now that Barack Obama is president and Bush and his administration are gone. Will people maintain the atmosphere of good and evil, right and wrong, black and white that group fostered or will we put that ugliness behind us and get on with life? Will people who call themselves "Christian" maintain the arrogance the previous administration preached - they are right and all others are wrong - or will they read the Gospels and learn the message of loving service Jesus brought?

President Obama. Wow.

The Invocation HBO didn't include

The annual meeting

ECW provided subs and drinks before the annual parish meeting this morning. Four vestry members were elected. A new era begins with a new Senior Warden. And someday soon I will be an Episcopalian.

Why I go thru lotsa bird seed

Yes, that pole leans like that. Someday I need to fix that.

Friday shuffle on Saturday

1. He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother - The Hollies
2. Barber: Violin Concerto, II Andante - Stern, Bernstein
3. Black Mountain Rag - Doc & Merle Watson
4. Just My Imagination - Temptations
5. Elgar: There is Sweet Music - Finzi Singers
6. Summer Wind - Monte Alexander
7. Schoenberg: Friede auf Erden - Westminster Choir
8. Suicide Polka
9. Polka Dots and Moonbeams - Ray Brown Trio
10. What a Difference a Day Makes - Dinah Washington

Friday cat blogging on Saturday

I think Tim is lonely. She is very vocal with the strangest sounds I've ever heard from her. She sat in the cold there for quite awhile. She could get some warmth from one of the holes in the annex that you can see but she won't. She hasn't been in her foam bed since it got really cold so I assume she has been under the neighbors' house. When she is in the garage she will talk to me but she won't let me near her.

I haven't seen Dudie so he may be next door also. Tommie comes and goes. He has been sharing the box with PT all afternoon. She was in her box when I got home last night but had gone by 3 am and didn't return till late this morning. I worry about the cats when the weather is so cold. But they all seem to be surviving and healthy. The worst problem is feeding them. The food freezes so I try to put bits out when they are around. The temperatures are supposed to moderate overnight and tomorrow. I hope. It would be nice to have my furnace working.

Church planting?

There seems to be lots of impetus for planting new Episcopal churches in the US to stem the declining numbers. I suppose there are places where new parishes could grow and be healthy. But what about those of us who already exist and are basically limping along unable to afford clergy? Or find clergy who can work part time? Or find supply priests?

Who pays the people who try to start new Episcopal missions? Are they volunteers? Or "working" priests? Might they be better used to grow an existing parish somewhere rather than start competition?

Is it better/cheaper to start anew without the encumbrance of a building? Should those of us with historic structures be forced to leave the buildings? Seems a peculiar idea since TEC is suing to retain many probably useless buildings which may just be a money drain.

Much of what I read on the blogs and the HoB/D list relates to urban situations. What about the rest of us? We seem to be expendable. Nobody cares about a parish with ASA of 50 or 20 or however many Episcopalians.

The problems with TEC are not how to deal with homosexuality or whose interpretation of scripture is right or wrong or even declining membership. The problems are all these small parishes who carry on the traditions and are now struggling to exist as seminary education creates massive debt for graduates, when students can even be recruited, and clergy salaries and benefits are simply not affordable.

Personally I would prefer seminary trained clergy because they tend to have broader experience and are more interesting. I'd give that up just to have a reliable supply priest who will be there a couple of Sundays a month for the eucharist and take care of weddings and funerals. I'd be happy to have a deacon. I know many find the idea repulsive but perhaps we need to have vocational education for priests for situations like ours?

Weather oddity

I have a barometer which belonged to our parents. It has been amazingly accurate for a decorative item. It has a pointer which I set years ago when the barometric pressure was particularly low. (I wasn't home when the tornado went thru and didn't think to look when I got home several hours later.) Last week, our pressure went below the marker to 29.46. Today it is almost as high as I've seen it at 30.42. I know that doesn't mean much to most people but it is interesting to me.

Reminder to self

Self: You need to add more insulation to the attic and you need to install heat tape to get rid of this ice buildup.

Widgets

I never get tired of feeding the "fish" in the widget on my blog. Scroll down to see it on the right.

I like to lead the penguins around on Sharecropper's blog too.

How mindless can we be?

Why I like to put suet out

A downy

A titmouse

Adam

My sister-in-law sent an update on her nephew Adam who was in a horrible traffic accident before New Years Eve. My original prayer request is here.

No changes on the MRI from the last two catscans so he is not getting worse. Today was good. He moved his arm and scratched his chin and squeezed his hand when we told him to do it. Small steps. Tough trip back and forth for 2 hrs each and then talking to the docs and trying to get Medicaid. My sister is still strong but tired tonight. Tomorrow is another day.

Prayers for Adam and all those caring for and working with him appreciated.

A curiosity

Sometimes I mix an egg with some milk, heat it slightly then give it to the cats. Tonight the stuff they didn't lap up froze almost immediately. When it is frozen, it is almost transparent. The next time a feline comes around I nuke it and it turns white again. I wonder how, why, etc.

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 4 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

One of them is a Facebook friend. I believe she is a college student in Maine. There is another in Beatrice, NE. I was tempted to try to call her years ago when I passed thru the state but I didn't stop anywhere. The fourth is in Phoenix, AZ.

This time everyone will be included

The Right Reverend Gene Robinson, Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, will give the invocation at the first of the Inaugural Week activities at the Lincoln Memorial, Sunday, January 18, at 2:00 pm. The Concord Monitor article is here. You can read the note +Gene sent to friends at the Episcopal Cafe among many other places. I wish it were being broadcast by someone other than HBO which would be a stupid investment for me since I almost never watch movies.

Why I don't like to put suet out

You know I dislike photos, Mom

Sometimes the church...

drives me nuts. There are reasons why only certain people have certain privileges in certain religions. I'm not inclined to think very highly of most of those reasons or restrictions. To me, most seem to insure prestige, power and wealth for the privileged few, mostly white males in so-called western societies.

This morning, the third time in six weeks, the weather kept our Episcopal supply priest away. It is not easy for us to suddenly change to Morning Prayer because we rarely do it and only a couple of people are licensed. And few like it. So we do what we have begun calling the "third setting" - simply omitting the homily and the eucharist.

What bothers me is the insistence that only properly ordained priests can properly bless the elements. Even deacons don't have that privilege. I believe I and most other lay persons are perfectly capable of presiding at the eucharist in an emergency in God's "eyes". I don't mean that in an arrogant way. I respect the rules even tho I suspect Jesus would roll his eyes and shake his head and wonder how he can possibly reach some people. Actually he probably does that constantly, especially in many institutions which claim exclusive knowledge of him.

I believe that the ELCA suspends the "rules" in emergency situations but I have no idea if our situation would be considered an emergency. It certainly is for us.

Sometimes I wonder if I really want to be an Episcopalian. Oh well, I want to try to help the parish so why not? God cares how I live, not what what dogma I believe is God's true word literally.