Povey Prattle

Judy Beers was the parish secretary at St. James’s, Cambridge. When I told her that I was retiring to SRQ she said “you must meet my friends Charlotte and Ron who live there”. I’ve done so, and I now count Ron and Charlotte as good new friends. Judy will be visiting them in early February, and that will give us (Judy and Michael) some time for joyous reunion. My very best friend Joe will visit me soon afterwards. He’ll fly down from Boston and visit with me over Presidents’ Day weekend. Soon after that he’ll return to his job in London, U.K. And a week later, Susan, a parishioner from St. Stephen’s, Pittsfield will come for a long weekend with her partner Lisa. Susan and Lisa live in Atlanta, so they will drive here. Friends are always welcome!

A clerk from my Doctor’s Office called this afternoon. Yesterday’s blood tests reveal that I am NOT diabetic, but that there was a “slight impairment” in my blood glucose levels. The Doctor recommends that I stick to a low carb, low sugar diet, and repeat the tests in three months. There is a bonus. I have already lost more than 5lbs in weight since taking up a new diet two weeks ago. =================================================== Not so good from my Dentist. Last November I had a root canal. A few days later my Dentist removed the temporary filling, and replaced it with a permanent one. I was at his office last Wednesday for some fillings on other teeth. I saw another Dentist who inexplicably removed the permanent (November) filling, and then filled the tooth again. I asked about this. No apology. No explanation. I simply got my money back. I think that I should find a new Dentist! ======================================================= Friends Lisa and Susan in Atlanta...

Lost World A haunting look at the everyday life of Sarasota's homeless. Robert Plunket Though names have been changed, everyone in the story is a real person who was homeless in Sarasota this spring. I had arranged to meet Rick in front of Resurrection House, a social service agency for the homeless that's located on the picturesquely named Kumquat Court, just north of downtown. A friend who knew a number of homeless people had introduced me to him, and he had agreed to be my guide for a day and a night as I pretended to be homeless myself. I was dressed in a baggy pair of jeans, a white T-shirt, a battered green baseball cap, and a long-sleeved flannel shirt. I blended in pretty well, but I wished I'd worn a dirtier T-shirt. Rick was late, so I spent the time watching people enter and leave the building. The men heavily outnumbered the women, and whites outnumbered blacks. There were very few Hispanics, which puzzled me until it was explained that most of the agencies requ...

It’s rained in South West Florida quite a bit recently. We are not in the “rainy season”, but we are more than 20” short of normal rainfall. Some say that we are in a drought, and certainly the streams and ponds have been very low. So this January rain has been most welcome. Except of course by homeless people. They came to “Res House” in droves on Monday morning: wet, bedraggled and cold. ================================================= The candidates, Democratic and Republican drone on. We are in a deep fiscal crisis, and our standing in the world is at an all time low. We need both a vision and a plan. Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama have engaged in some petty sniping at each other, sounding much like third graders in the school yard. And John Edwards is like the boy on the sidelines of a school-yard spat, saying “nah, nah, ne, nah, nah” to both of you. “Mr One-liner” 9/11 Rudy Guliani has little more to offer than that he was a good Mayor of New York City ( sez who?) ...

I heard that sound this afternoon. “Plop, plop”. It brought back many memories. The first was a bit off. I could have sworn that the first commercial on ITV in England was for Alka-Seltzer “Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, Oh what a relief it is”. You each remember that one, and can probably sing the ditty! I was wrong. So perhaps was it a commercial for Pepsodent? “You’ll wonder where the yellow went, when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent” Sing that along with me too! NO, the first commercial on Independent Television in England was for “Gibbs SR” Here is the script. It's tingling fresh. It’s fresh as ice. It's Gibbs SR Toothpaste, the tingling fresh toothpaste that does your gums good too. The tingle you get when you brush with SR is much more than a nice taste - it's a tingle of health. It tells you something very important, that you're doing your gums good and toughening them to resist infection. And as this chart shows, gum infection is the cause of more tooth loss...

Meanwhile, as you luxuriate amid palms, snowy egrets and the occasional sandhill crane, are you withstanding the campaign onslaught in good fettle? I really don't know what fettle is, but I hope it's good since that's the way our culture seems to want it. People we know in New Hampshire are evidently getting back to rationality, but many are still snarling about the barrage of phone calls from 'pollsters,' campaign volunteers, pranksters and weirdos who laid siege to the electorate up until the primary. One man said he hit on a response that seemed to give callers pause. This was a demand that the caller pay for any answers he gave. But, alas, we innocents have no idea. Callers seemed initially to be taken aback but the more aggressive got over the hurdle promptly by saying absolutely. This would be followed by the question, and then the answer that the money would have to be paid first, and then further negotiations and then, sometimes, the caller's exasperated...

What’s all this nonsense about hand sanitisers, anti-bacterial soaps, and anti-bacterial wipes? Thanks to the advertisers we are becoming a nation of germaphobes, (or is it germophobes?). I have visited many hospital patients whose immune systems are compromised. I have carefully followed hospital instructions about hand-washing, and wearing a mask, latex gloves, and a gown. That’s sensible enough. But now outside many of our supermarkets there are “wipes” to “cleanse” the handle of the shopping cart; and sanitiser dispensers to “cleanse” the hands. How come we never used to get sick from shopping? Who is kidding who? And why do we not “sanitise” our hands every time we handle coins and bills - filthy lucre indeed! Well, I’ve ignored this enforced germaphobia (and been sensible about hand-washing) until today. Then I was given no choice. The Rector of the parish where I “help out” decided, all un-announced until during the Eucharist this morning, that the members of the “Alt...