The neighborhood

Trinity Memorial, Warren, PA

Trinity Memorial Church in Warren, PA installed a new priest-in-charge yesterday. Our retired priest and I had sold cookies there two years in a row awhile back but I was never inside the building. I regret not getting a photo of the new man but someone was always in the way.

The Right Reverend Sean Rowe encouraged us to be missionaries.

The view of the Allegheny River from the front doors.

Friday cat blogging

This lovely lady's sitter invited me for tea and dessert this afternoon. She has unusual beautiful coloring, soft orange and smoke. Apparently she purrs like crazy but has no voice. She has a sister who is ill whom she seems to miss. She is visiting her staff's mother Sally for awhile.

Friday shuffle

1. Turkey in the Straw - Vassar Clements
2. When God Dips His Pen of Love - The Cox Family
3. Hurt So Bad - Little Anthony & the Imperials
4. Reflections - Diana Ross & the Supremes
5. See You in September - The Happenings
6. Moussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, Hut on Fowl's Legs - Knussen, Cleveland Orch
7. Sharpe: Sunset - Ambridge High School Steel Band
8. Phibbs: Rainland - Bach Choir of Pittsburgh
9. Runaway - Del Shannon
10. Dizzy - Tommie Roe

Christmas music kept coming up but I won't play Christmas music until Christmas. I'm too lazy to link for now. Maybe later.

Yes!

HT to Ellie via MP

Donald Duck meets Glenn Beck

Christ Church has a priest again

The Rev. Dr. Richard Elberfeld began his tour of duty at Christ Church Meadville this morning. Yea!

The suicides must stop

I believe there are two main causes of this problem - religion and ignorance. They are related. By instilling fear and hatred of "others", religion encourages ignorance. When "others" are seen as "evil" or somehow less than human, which prejudice does, they hide. Many people refuse to deal with what and whom they don't know. Some strike out in defense. The "others" don't dare expose themselves for fear of the actions of the ignorant. As a consequence, nobody benefits and lots of folks are excluded and hurt.

Personally I blame religion for most of the prejudice. Every clergy type person who preaches that homosexuality is sin and urges the flock to change or exclude or hate is guilty of promoting murder - spiritual if not physical. I pray Godde will find a way to teach them that Godde loves all Godde's children. I especially pray that those who are hiding their own perceived sin be freed from their own preaching and condemnation and come into the light of Christ as taught in the Gospels. We were given the Holy Spirit to do just that if only we would listen to her.

Two new blogs of interest

From St. Laika's:

Absolutely everyone is welcome at St. Laika's.

We are an ecclesial community without any formal membership. You are part of it if you want to be part of it.

We are pan-denominational and nobody is excluded because of their personal beliefs or lack of belief. Our worship is from the Christian tradition and our liturgy is borrowed from any source that takes our fancy.

We are an emergent church. We go where God leads us. We are an experiment that is attempting to blur the edges between the virtual and the real worlds. It is our intention to have a presence outside of the internet. We are an international group but each of us is based firmly in our own local context. We are what we are.


From Anchorhold:

Thomas Merton once said that "the only thing to remember about prayer is to begin where you are." The Anchorhold is a blog about remembering, about beginning and about how to know where we are - where we really are. It is a blog about spiritual practice.

Whatever the term "spiritual practice" means to you right now, you are welcome here. This is not a place for finished saints! Let's explore the relationship between prayer and action and what it means to pray without ceasing. And let us support each other in the process.


Please visit.

Friday cat blogging and much more

PuddyTat says, "Good morning!" to Tommie.

The neighbors have two bunnies. The one in back is very furry. The black and white one is lop eared. The near one is quite friendly, the other easily scared.

The clouds this year have been very interesting. I love the Hartstown Swamp especially when the water plants begin to turn red which usually precedes the trees. This is on the north side of 322, the others to the south. They are embiggenable.

Friday shuffle

1. Soldier Boy - Shirelles
2. Surfer Girl - Beach Boys
3. A Girl Like You - Young Rascals
4. Rheinberger: Vier Sechsstimmige Motetten, Angelus Domini - Phoenix Bach Choir
5. New Fool at an Old Game - Reba McEntire
6. Villa-Lobos: Choro - Pepe Romero
7. Mendelssohn: Paulus, Herr! Der Du Bist Der Gott - Rilling
8. Oy, Chuck and Kate - Keillor and Von Stade
9. Brand New Key - Melanie
10. Chelsea Morning - Judy Collins

World Habitat Day

Along with the Carters, I support Habitat for Humanity. Monday, October 4, 2010 is designated this year's World Habitat Day by the United Nations. What can you and I do to help? See their web page here then get involved.

Sunset

This was the sky and the color when I came out of Giant Eagle last night. Several people were taking photos. There are white lights on one of the buildings for contrast.

I drove up to Liberty Street and took another photo because the colors were changing.

Then I went on to choir grateful for the wonderful earth we inhabit.

I'm blessed with such interesting friends

Updated 9.23.10
Updated again 9.26.10

If you are on Facebook and friends with Ozzie Clumber, you can see the identities of all or most of these people. The original story of the red hats is here. I've met more than a dozen of these folks in person. We are from all over. Our leader with the purple hat is MadPriest who lives in England. The gal with the drumsticks is Lindy who lives in Wuxi, China. Some of us are on the other side now. They have golden hats. As I said, I'm blessed with so many wonderful, caring and definitely interesting friends. And these are just some of my blog friends.

Make it illegal and it will go away

Republicans sure are obsessed over homosexuality. Why? Jealous? Scared? Ignorant? Or just misled by people who believe they know Godde better than anyone else and, at someone else's expense, need to believe themselves better than others?

Montana Republicans have it in their platform. Read about it here.

Texans are clinging to it too. Here.

There is much evidence of how making something something illegal makes it disappear. Prohibition effectively stopped the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, didn't it? And alcohol was optional.

Homosexuality is not optional any more than blue eyes are. Yes, eye color can be changed with contact lenses but the result is a lie. Homosexuality can be denied but the result is a lie which harms the person and others around them.

Religion seems to be the primary culprit which denies full rights to LGBTs. Perhaps it is religion that should be outlawed? Better yet, outlaw Republicans who either lie or color the truth in order to stir up the fearful and ignorant to get votes.

Activist judges and other stuff

Friday cat blogging

Oh, there's Mom. She's down at my level to take a photo. Here I come, Mom!

Normally Dudie just lies around in the grass. When I look at him to take a photo he comes. Funny since he really doesn't like to be petted. I can stroke him as long as I don't get near his head.

Jellico avoids PuddyTat and LittleOne.

Tommie is not happy that LittleOne always wants to eat at the same bowl someone else is eating. Tom heads for the canned food.

Since I was taking a photo of PuddyTat eating on the ground level for a change, Jellico decided to leave. PT would have chased him anyhow.

Finally Tim doing what makes her by far the fattest of the felines. This is a rather homely little shelter I made from some shelves and constructor bags. There is a kitty thing at the back. It is one of the most popular shelters for some reason.

Friday shuffle

1. Every Time You Say Goodbye - Alison Krause
2. Beethoven Chased by Rossini - Garrison Keillor, Frederica Von Stade
3. Flop Eared Mule - David Grier & Mike Compton
4. Anon: Kyrie, Kyria Christifera - Anonymous Four
5. Earth Angel - Penguins
6. It Ain't Me Babe - Turtles
7. Halloran: Witness - Concordia Choir
8. Hang On, Sloopy - McCoys
9. He'll Have to Go - Jim Reeves
10. Dupre: Variations sur un Nöel - Michael Farris

Interesting collection. #2 is from Songs of the Cat. 2, 3, 5 and 6 are sort of non-human related. Michael Farris was the organist at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church for a couple of years. He died tragically early while at Eastman.

Grump, Part 2

This is the tree and some debris from the car. The tree had a couple of damaged spots which makes me wonder if the car rolled the tree a bit which may have helped get over it. Where it was hit, the tree was about a foot in diameter. It was a poplar, I think, which is pretty soft wood.

This is what it did to the guardrail. The top of the tree and lots of branches are in the creek on the other side.

The owner of the only auto body place I will allow to touch my cars is away so I won't know more until next week sometime. They are approved by my insurer too. The Prius is at home there having been a deer magnet in its early life. I'm now driving a stealth Buick with Ohio plates and PA inspection stickers. I've never owned a GM car because they are made for people who aren't built like me. By the time I get the seat close enough to reach the pedals, the steering wheel is under my chin. But this car is old enough that I can barely see over the wheel.

Oh, yes, I removed and saved the bumper stickers.

Grump

This is what happens when you run over a tree with the Prius. I was on the way to a concert in Greenville in a storm that made it difficult to see. Less than a mile from home suddenly a tree fell across the road a few feet in front of the car. One second later and I would have been under it. Three seconds earlier and I would have missed it. I knew I was going to hit the tree and waited for the airbag to go off as the car came to a sudden stop. The car didn't stop. It bumped over the tree. And it was still running. And it continued to go and stop as it should.

I pulled off into the entrance to the park - the dam road - a few hundred feet down the road and called 911 on my iPhone. I was concerned someone else would run into it in the dark and downpour. She took the info and said she would contact the Jamestown Fire Department to get rid of the tree then connected me to the State Police. They took all my info and asked repeatedly if I was ok and if the car was drivable. I didn't want to check the damage until I could see in the storm. There had to be some damage even if the car was still running. The trooper asked if I was going home. I told him I was going on to Greenville since the car seemed drivable.

By the time I hung up the rain had stopped enough to take a look. A mess. But it looked like it was drivable if the radiator was ok. How that escaped damage is interesting to ponder. I looked and listened for problems all the way into town.

So I went on to the concert not liking the idea of walking in during. But it had not started so I had time to find a seat and exchange pleasantries (gossip) with some of my neighbors. It was in Holy Trinity, the Lutheran Church I belonged to before going to Christ Church. There were people there I hadn't seen in many years. I didn't get to talk to all of them tho.

The concert was a trio from Apollo's Fire, a Baroque Orchestra from Cleveland. It was excellent. I loved the "human" sound of the Baroque violin and cello. So different from the modern instruments. I wish the harpsichord had been a little louder but I forgot my hearing aids so it may have been ok for most. I left the program in the car. If you really want to know what they played, let me know in the comments. Vivaldi, Bach, Buxtehude, Handel and whoever wrote the last lively piece.

On the way home, I checked out where the tree had fallen as I drove by. A trooper had called during the concert and I returned the call during intermission. He said the tree was gone, nobody else was involved and thanked me for calling. The tree crushed the armco (what do you call those big metal barriers?) on the other side of the road so it wasn't that small. Only Godde knows how the Prius bounced over it.

I'm curious to see if Erie Insurance totals the car. It has 124k+ miles.

Three hours before the parade...

Friday cat blogging - updated

This nasty typical fall sky over Conneaut Lake didn't yield any rain but, with the chilly nights lately, it did urge me to make warmer shelters for my feline family. A few hours later the sky created a spectacularly gorgeous sunset but I couldn't find a place to stop to take a photo.

So... yesterday the cats got two new boxes. Only Jellico is home today but PuddyTat took possession of the larger one upstairs last night.

Maybe I'll make another one for downstairs in case Dudie will use it.

Tonight LittleOne and PuddyTat are home. Of course the smaller cat has the larger box. PT has taken over the newer box which I made larger either for LO or for when it is really cold and two cats huddle.

Friday shuffle

1. Poisoning Pigeons in the Park - Tom Lehrer
2. Saint Saens: Improvisation No 7 - Roger Nyquist
3. Heart of Glass - Blondie
4. In the Mood - Glenn Miller
5. Gounod: St Cecelia Mass, Sanctus - Christian Eisner, Münchner Chor und Symphoniker
6. You Belong to Me - Jo Stafford
7. Handel: Israel in Egypt, I Will Sing... - Parrott, Taverner
8. So You Want to be a Rock 'n' Roll Star - The Byrds
9. Whitacre: Hope, Faith, Life, Love - Cathedral Choral Society
10. These Eyes - The Guess Who

A new doctor

When it came time for Quasimodo's annual physical, he had to get a new doctor because his old one had retired. After the examination, the new doc told Quasimodo that he suspected back trouble. When Quasimodo asked the doctor why he suspected that, the doc said, "Oh, I don't know. It's just a hunch".

HT to our Senior Warden who seems to share my sense of humor on all sorts of things.

Friday cat blogging

An unusually civil morning greeting among Tim, Tommie and PuddyTat.

Dudie and Jellico were also waiting.

Friday shuffle

1. The House of the Rising Sun - Animals
2. Easier Said Than Done - Essex
3. Magic Carpet Ride - Steppenwolf
4. Hey! Baby - Bruce Channel
5. You Tried to Ruin My Name - Wilma Lee Cooper
6. Bach: Jauchzet Gott in Allen Landen - Emma Kirkby, Gardiner
7. Torelli: Sonata for Trumpet, Allegro
8. Berlin: Blue Skies - Chanticleer
9. Walton: A Litany - Trinity Choir
10. Near: O Magnum Mysterium - Cathedral Choral Society

Maggie Gallagher meets St Peter