Povey Prattle

It’s been a time for reunions. Just a few weeks ago I had lunch in Lakeland FL with my niece Anne Weston and her husband Stuart, visiting from London. I’d not seen them since my mother’s funeral in 2001. Up in Boston I was present for the 20th anniversary celebration of the Ordination of the Rt. Revd. Barbara C Harris - the first female Bishop in the Anglican Communion. We were at the Cathedral Church in Boston, and as well as giving and receiving a great big hug with Bishop Barbara, I was able to connect with many friends and colleagues. And I went back to St. James’s in Cambridge for Sunday morning worship, my first “homecoming” since I retired from there as Rector in June 2006. Mostly I was happy to see the children – they are dear to God. I also got reunited with snow. Between 8 and 10 inches fell on Sunday night. I was not happy to be back in the business of sweeping that wretched stuff off my rental car. Tenderly and gracefully – from all side, I was able to spend some time ...

What is it with the letter “e”. That letter gets attached to all manner of words. Some of you have seen signs such as “Olde Towne”, or “Ye Olde Shoppe”. Here is SRQ we have developments such as “Georgetowne”; “Palm Aire”; “Olde Oaks”. I wonder why such good words as Georgetown, Air, or Old need the “e” suffix. Makese Noe Sensee toe Mee. Fond lee Johne Michaele Poveye

Army to review Fort Bragg's punishment for wounded By KEVIN MAURER, AP Wed Mar 11, 7:11 PM EDT The general in charge of the Army's more than 9,000 wounded soldiers said Wednesday he is ordering a review of how the ones at Fort Bragg are being punished for minor violations. Brig. Gen. Gary Cheek said he is asking the Army Surgeon General to look at all discipline that has been taken against soldiers in the base's Warrior Transition unit to make sure each case was fair. Cheek's comments come a day after The Associated Press reported that soldiers in the unit are being disciplined three times as often as those assigned to the base's main tenant, the 82nd Airborne Division. The AP also found that discipline rates vary widely across the Warrior Transition system; some units punish their soldiers even more frequently than the one at Fort Bragg, while others are far more lenient. "We are transparent enough in this that we want to make sure that we aren't doing an...

Washington D.C. is by any chalk a magnificent capital City. See the following for the concept of the City by French architect Pierre L’Enfant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Charles_L'Enfant I was in D.C. for a couple of days during my recent holiday. There I was able to visit the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art and view a wonderful exhibition from Pompeii. http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/pompeiiinfo.shtm#library And in the West Wing I enjoyed great photo’s “The Americas” by Robert Frank. http://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/frankinfo.shtm I also enjoyed one of the few fee-paying Museums, a museum of news known as the NEWSEUM. It is a fabulous place for news-junkies such as I. http://www.newseum.org/ After a surfeit of Museums I headed out, with my Brasilian friend Gabriel, to DuPont Circle. There we had a lovely and relaxing dinner with Gary, son of my friends (from 1976) Don and Barbara Hauler, and his partner Ed. “To heck” I say with Miami, Disney, California and al...

More about my holiday later. Yesterday I drive down to Ft. Myers, FL to officiate and celebrate at a Saturday evening service, and then three on Sunday morning. This was at St. Hilary’s Church, in the absence of the Rector, the Revd. Robert (Bob) Hennigan. It was lovely to be “back in the saddle”. I’ll also be there the next two weekends. My sermon is posted below, for what it is worth. (Sermons sound better than they read!) After the 11:00 a.m. service I hoved out to Cape Coral. There I had lunch with St. Hilary’s parishioners, Ray and Lori Uhrig. Lori grew up in Pittsfield MA and attended St. Stephen’s Parish in that town. I was the Rector at St. Stephen’s between 1984 and 2000. There I got to know and admire Lori’s Mum: Debbie Herrick Bessette. By the grace of God, Debbie was visiting her daughter in Fort Myers and I was re-united with her today. It was so lovely to see Debbie – 6 degrees of separation and all! She is a dear sister! Here is my sermo...