Dip your fevered mind and wearied limbs into the healing waters.
If you enjoyed your pilgrimage to the well, hit the collection plate!
Book on the Non-Forbidden Index
And Furthermore....
...and yet more.
Music of the Spheres
More Music, Different Sphere
BUY SOMETHING !!
Thursday, February 28, 2013
AVE ATQUE VALE
Effective today, Pope Benedict XVI descends the throne of Peter and leaves the Catholic Church with the task of praying itself into a new era, a new Pope, a man with the fortitude to guide the Barque of Peter through the treacherous waters of the present day. No one will pray more fervently for the triumph of the Holy Spirit than the retired Bishop Emeritus of Rome, who will live in peaceful seclusion on the fringes of the struggles, intrigues, and majesties of the Holy See. And we your children pray and give thanksgiving for the strength, wisdom, and love that you have lavished upon us these eight years, dear Papa. Ave, ave, ave.
[I say this because the new Blogger set-up irritates the bejeebers out of me -- because, being a good conservative, I believe that all change is bad, even change for the better.]
I continue to be bloggily flabby these days, putting my random thoughts up on Facebook, where my 50-odd friends can read them, rather than on my blog where they might reach my 8 or 10 regular readers (!) -- it's just so much quicker and easier, and that's what it's all about these days, right?
Very Busy doing Mother of the Groom stuff for a wedding just 6 weeks away on the opposite side of the continent. (Long-distance preparations for that just came back to bite me in the arse -- see below...) Also, I am ducking more serious thoughts, expressed at considerable length, until Cincinnatus is wheels-down on CONUS (Continental United States) soil, back from the 'Stan and all the hijinks (Haji-nks?) of Camp Bastion, just a short dusty ride from beautiful downtown Kandahar. When we have achieved that little maneuver within the next [REDACTED!!!!] I will breathe again, and then perhaps start breathing fire about all that sucks in the Cosmos.
Till then I will be content to say:
Oh crap -- just got a call from the bank (WAS IT THE BANK?????) telling me of three mysterious charges for $1.00, 78 cents, and $500 worth of Lego. Think it was a kid?! Grandson? Was that you? Yet another VISA card on its way to me. At least this time I didn't leave it at a cash register somewhere. (Or under a luggage cart at De Gaulle airport...) This time I just left it hanging out on the freakin' INTERNET!!! Mostly I love the modern world. Other times I think we should still be conducting all purchases via the Wells Fargo Wagon.
I broke into the blogosphere in 2003, via a letter to andrew sullivan (made me a minor celebrity in my family for a week) Call it my bio: My grandfather came to the US from Greece around 1905, alone, age 10, sailing into New York Harbor and entering at Ellis Island, like the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather. Before settling down he spent a couple of his teen-age years "hobo-ing" around the country. He insisted to me that a hobo is not a bum. He looks for honest work to earn his food and a place to sleep - he is NOT looking for a hand-out... When you (Sullivan) used the word "hobo" to describe Saddam Hussein in his spider hole, I thought "Saddam should be so lucky as to be a hobo--he could wish for so much dignity." My grandfather finished third grade, and spent his life as a railroad mechanic. He raised four sons, three of them old enough for WWII. The four earned two M.A.'s and two Ph.D.'s, and produced 15 accomplished grandchildren. Among the many great-grandchildren are two Naval officers and a Marine Corps Captain...the legacy of a hobo. Saddam, master of the palaces and father of the lion-cubs, is just a bum.
