Flummoxed

I simply cannot understand why people use tobacco today. It can kill. It is filthy. It can cause a person to lose control of their own life via addiction. It is now ridiculously expensive. Why?

Friday shuffle

1. Milhaud: Les Deux Cites, Babylon - Princeton Singers
2. Berlioz: Requiem, Hostias - Norrington
3. Christiansen: Beautiful Savior - St Olaf and Westminster Choirs
4. Einhorn: Voices of Light, Relapse - Anonymous Four
5. Handel: Israel in Egypt, Their bodies are buried - Taverner
6. You Don't Know What Love Is - Gene Harris, Jack McDuff
7. Britten: Gloriana Dances, Country Girls - Sixteen
8. A Groovy Kind of Love - Mindbenders
9. Villa-Lobos: Choro - Pepe Romero
10. Stay - Maurice

A little heavy on the "classical" this time. Appropriate since 6 choirs are combining efforts to sing Beethoven's Ninth tomorrow, Saturday 25 April, at 8 at Passavant Center, Thiel College, Greenville, PA. Fun!

Friday cat blogging

Tim came to breakfast yesterday but PuddyTat wasn't finished sleeping.

Later PT took up a strategic position on the office windowsill only five feet from the bird feeders. Hmmm.

Only Tom and Dude came for breakfast this morning during a very loud thunderstorm.

Comments on the Economic Stimulus Package

Apparently the American Medical Association has weighed in on the new economic stimulus package....

The Allergists voted to scratch it, but the Dermatologists advised not to make any rash moves.

The Gastroenterologists had sort of a gut feeling about it, but the Neurologists thought the Administration had a lot of nerve.

The Obstetricians felt they were all laboring under a misconception.

Ophthalmologists considered the idea shortsighted.

Pathologists yelled, "Over my dead body!" while the Pediatricians said, 'Oh, Grow up!'

The Psychiatrists thought the whole idea was madness, while the Radiologists could see right through it.

Surgeons decided to wash their hands of the whole thing.

The Internists thought it was a bitter pill to swallow, and the Plastic Surgeons said, "This puts a whole new face on the matter."

The Podiatrists thought it was a step forward, but the Urologists were pissed off at the whole idea.

The Anesthesiologists thought the whole idea was a gas, and the Cardiologists didn't have the heart to say no.

In the end, the Proctologists won out, leaving the entire decision up to the assholes in Washington.

"Anglican" purity

A number of clergy in The Episcopal Church have decided they and only they know all the truth about the Bible and Christianity. They are upset that many of us in TEC seem to believe that followers of Jesus are to love Godde and love each other leaving judgment to Godde. They believe they can't be part of TEC as we know it. They seek to divide the body of Christ into little segments according to how they judge the purity of each segment. Then they seek to put all the parts together yet separate under the "Anglican" banner.

I pray Godde finds a way to heal their Bibles so they may read and understand more than the snippets they use to prooftext their separatist goals.

To learn more about this group who would shatter the body of Christ according to their purity codes, read Mark Harris's blog Preludium and Thinking Anglicans.

I am beginning to believe that there are Christians and there are followers of Jesus and the two groups have little in common. What does this mean for the future of "the church"?

Late bloomer

My 40 year old poinsettia is nuts this year. Because it lives in the corner by the door and evening light from across the room is minimal, it "blooms" every year, usually after Valentine's Day. This year it bloomed in late February as usual. Much to my surprise, it grew more red for Easter and has just presented me with a third bloom. I love this plant!

I'm a bit embarrassed to post this photo of the entire plant because it shows the unfinished inside of my house. But it is as it is.

God is not a white man

The Michael Gungor Band "White Man"

Hat tip to EAK.

Finally, the daffodil fence

It is cold, dreary, wet so all the flowers are pointed down rather than smiling at the sun. They brighten the landscape significantly.

Happy Birthday, Padre Mickey

Church landscaping

Last year some volunteers put in many hours and much hard work landscaping around the newly paved parking lot at Christ Church. This spring their efforts are blooming beautifully with many surprises to come.

A spring walk

I went for a walk this evening. As regular followers of this blog know, I live on Pymatuning Reservoir on the Pennsylvania/Ohio border. A railroad used to run between my house and the bay. It has been gone for many years. The "tracks" are a great place to walk except when the various obnoxious motorized vehicles race up and down disregarding others, especially the fishermen.

There are few signs of spring in my neighborhood trees.

Down in the park, however, I found some trees with red buds. The view is from underneath the road over the tracks.

The next series of photos shows some of the many places which will be occupied by fishermen Saturday and Sunday mornings. They all look out on our bay. There are two islands between the bay and the lake proper.

In this photo, the small island and the breastworks of the dam are in the distance.

This is our "beach".

Looking back toward the tracks.

The greenery running diagonally from the bottom right should be my daffodil fence. The flowers are blooming sporadically and many have been flattened by snow, wind or frost.

You can't really see it but the ladder is still resting against the oil tank. I wonder if I can put it away. Might we still have a heavy wet snow which blocks the satellite TV signal?

Friday cat blogging

Yawn! Morning already?

Tim enjoyed scratching herself on the gravel.

Friday shuffle

1. Let's Live for Today - The Grass Roots
2. Those Oldies but Goodies - Little Caesar
3. Lonesome Ruben - Randy Scruggs
4. Barber: Violin concerto, III Presto - Isaac Stern
5. When God Dips His Pen of Love - The Cox Family
6. Come Softly to Me - The Fleetwoods
7. Polka Dots and Moonbeams - Ray Brown Trio
8. Snow! Medley - Christine Lavin
9. Green Tambourine - Lemon Pipers
10. You've Really Got a Hold on Me - Smokey Robinson

For some reason, Green Tambourine came up as Summer in the City by Lovin' Spoonful. I was only half listening as something interesting was on TV. But what I was hearing and what I was typing wasn't synching. I need to change that on the iMac. Wonder if the CD is wrong.

Great Turtle Race

From National Geographic:
Eleven leatherback sea turtles are taking part in the Great Turtle Race, speeding from foraging grounds in the frigid waters of Canada to nesting beaches on the sun-soaked shores of the Caribbean. The turtles are tagged with state-of-the-art satellite tracking devices that allow us to follow their incredible 3,700-mile (6,000-kilometer) journey.

Follow their progress on the Great Turtle Race website.

Irritants

I guess I'm not in a good mood today because I'm irritated by people who are making the news.

Irritant the first: Tea bag protest by the intellectually lazy. (That's putting it kindly.) I have yet to see a protester interviewed who knows anything about the subject(s) they are protesting. I hear the Fox News line. I hear the "Republican" line. I hear unwillingness to listen to anyone else's opinion. I hear gross stupidity about taxes and a collection of other prejudices. This is simply an effort to brag about the influence of Fox News. To me it means that far too many Americans have surrendered their intellectual abilities to the point of cult-like obedience. And they are proudly demonstrating their stupidity on TV.

Irritant the second. Republicans. All of them. The ones who bear no resemblance to the people like me who used to consider themselves Republicans. And the ones who find the current group repugnant but stay for some weird reason. I suppose like Roman Catholics who stay in the church yet don't agree with most of what is dictated by Rome and would be excommunicated if the Vatican were aware. Sometimes I wonder about their sanity. The party which has alienated most of the country has grown more and more strident and desperate. Anyone who listens to them with any sane thought process soon realizes the "conservatives/religionists" hate the country and all of the people who voted for a black man, let alone a Democrat. They will do everything in their power to cause chaos in the US, especially if it results in harming the poor, the helpless, the ill, the powerless. They are blind to the damage their failed policies have done both stateside and in the world. They believe their religion should make the rules and fail to see their similarity to the Taliban.

Irritant the third: Religionists who denigrate those with whom they disagree. The self-proclaimed "Anglicans" in the Fort Worth area are upset because the Episcopalians they rejected have filed in court to have their wrongly appropriated property returned. The departed claim to have more knowledge of Godde than the Episcopalians and are therefore entitled to keep whatever they can get their hands on. They claim that Jesus rejects the Episcopalians because, well, actually because TEC believes that we are to love all and leave judgment to Godde especially regarding women and LGBT people. Why do so many people who call themselves "Christian" refuse to do as Jesus taught - love Godde and others, feed, comfort, shelter, etc. - and set themselves up as judges seeking to impose their prejudices on everyone else?

Irritant the fourth: Adults who teach and allow bullying. Another boy has killed himself because of bullying. The parents of another have sued the school. Where are the school personnel? It would be nice if parents could volunteer to monitor the lunchrooms and other places students gather. Unfortunately those parents would probably either be the folks who are teaching prejudice or not approved because they are too "liberal"?

Irritant the fifth relates closely to Irritant the third: Much of the bullying is anti-gay. The people who are funding the efforts to deny rights to LGBTs are religionists. They teach others that LGBTs are hated by their god and, in some cases. don't deserve to live, let alone have any rights others take for granted. They will deny this but they lie. They are afraid they and others will be influenced, become gay and go to hell. They seem to believe that LGBTs are somehow not as human as they are. They teach this to their children in church, in the home and especially in conversation. Same sex marriage will wreck their homes. Sheez. They don't need help. Their own ugliness will wreck their lives.

Irritant the sixth: Christianists who blame declining church attendance on "liberals" who have denied the authority of the Bible. People don't attend church as often for a number of reasons. The people in mainline churches don't have as many children as they used to. Thanks to the internet and other means of communication, young people have more information available than those in prior generations. Propaganda is more difficult to impose. IMNSHO the primary reason for fewer butts in pews is societal. When companies began transferring people all over the globe, they broke up communities. I didn't know anyone who didn't go to church when I was growing up. We all did it - for group activities, for business reasons, for the approval of others. Once the opinions of others lose influence, it is easy to do something different. It was always easier to sleep in, read the Times and forget about church. Without the family and longterm friends who assume everyone goes to church, the impetus fades. As fewer are involved in church, secular institutions provide other activities such as community and school sports which make participating in both activity and church impossible.

Irritant the seventh: People who think they pay too many taxes yet want to call 911, drive on good roads, be protected by the police and military, enjoy orderly transfer of property, educate their children in public schools, seek justice in courts, etc.

Well, that's enough for now. I guess I'm basically irritated with people who are greedy and/or who use Godde to batter others when they seem to deny science and close their minds to any opinions other than those of their leaders. Sad state of affairs.

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

Easter Day 2009 began with Easter Vigil at 6 am at St Clement's in Greenville. No, the pictures of the dark turned out, well, too dark.

Then I went to Christ Church Meadville. I can never get the color in photos there to look the same for some reason. Oh well.

The choir processed followed by the kiddos who each had flowers

which they put on the cross.

Of course we had the wonderful brass quartet.

Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Two cherished gifts

with all the hymns marked by the ribbons and ready for Easter Vigil at 6 am on Easter Sunday at St. Clements in Greenville, PA.

The cross is from a friend I see at Curves. The BCP/Hymnal is from my New Bern, NC friends.

In case you might be concerned, I will have plenty of time to get to Christ Church in Meadville for the Easter celebration there.

Friday shuffle

1. The Beat Goes On - Sonny & Cher
2. Tacobel Canon - Christine Lavin
3. Nice 'N Easy - Gene Harris Quartet
4. Easy Living - Stan Getz
5. Clarke: Trumpet Voluntary (performer not identified)
6. Whitacre: Equus - Bach Choir of Pittsburgh
7. Un-wishing Well - Rajaton
8. Duelin' Banjos - Arthur Smith & Don Reno
9. Carrie-Anne - The Hollies
10. FU Airlines - Capitol Steps
I prefer the original Lavin recording of #2 but this is the best I could find on YouTube.
#10 is from I'm So Indicted, Capitol Steps' Songs of 2006.

Friday cat blogging

Why are you taking photos in our bedroom?

Agape meal 2009