Povey Prattle

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night. 2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings." 3. There is a very fine line between a hobby and mental illness. 4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them. 5. You should not confuse your career with your life. 6. Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance. 7. Never lick a steak knife. 8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip. 9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time. 10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment. 11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people...

The "check engine" light came on in my Hyundai car today. I had to wait for an hour today at the car dealership, for the computerised diagnostic test. Do not be shocked - it revealed that my car engine needs a new "oxygen sensor". D'ya ever have the feeling that every diagnostic test on cars/autos ends up with the the diagnosis of "oxygen sensor malfunction"? ================================================== I had an appointment with my Physician for 3 :00 p.m . ( a routine appointment - no crisis in my health! ). She finally saw me at 4:30 p.m. I'd probably "give up" on a lunch date should a friend be 90 minutes late. But my Physician is so wise and cool that I waited, and waited, and waited. The waiting itself was not bad, but the constant reporting of news from the waiting room T.V. drove me to distraction. It was the "same old, same old non-news". Lest I surrender to terminal old-cootiness, here are a few pictorials...

Yesterday I attended the closing Eucharist and lunch at the Episcopal Diocese of South West Florida annual retreat for Priests and Deacons. I wanted to be there to listen to OLD FRIEND 1 , Curtis Almquist, the (Father) “Superior” at the Episcopal Monastery on Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA - a “house” of the Society of St. John the Evangelist (SSJE). SSJE (a.k.a. “the Cowley Fathers”) was founded in Cowley, Oxford OK in 1865. It was the first Anglican (Church of England) monastic order to be established after the English Reformation. The Cambridge MA Monastery is a source of great wisdom for the Episcopal Church. Much of this is thanks to Curtis Almquist, so I was happy to be able to see and hear him again . I was not disappointed. His meditation at the service yesterday on “The dreams we have, and the dreams into which we live” moved me to be teary eyed. The older I get, the tearier I become. I welcome the tears with gratitude to Curtis. He speaks truth. OLD FRIEND 2 was the hymn...

South Carolina Representative Joe Wilson (R), is the man who cried out “you lie” during President Barack Obama’s address to a joint session of congress. Various folks: my friend and Episcopal blogger Elizabeth Kaeton, NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd, my friend and Boston Globe columnist Derrick Jackson, President Jimmy Carter - and I - have wondered aloud if there is a racist component to the widespread anger directed at our President. We wondered if Rep. Wilson’s verbal ejaculation was the tip of an ugly racist ice-berg. Rep. Wilson’s son commented as follows in response to President Jimmy Carter’s assertions. "There is not a racist bone in my dad's body," said Alan Wilson, an Iraq veteran who is running for state attorney general in South Carolina. "He doesn't even laugh at distasteful jokes. I won't comment on former President Carter, because I don't know President Carter. But I know my dad, and it's just not in him." And y...

Ok. I am an old fart. I knew that it would come to this. I had planned to be a “coot”, or a “curmudgeon”, but “old fart” will do. I realized this today when on “Face Book” I saw references to Kanye West and Taylor Swift. I had to “Google” these names in order to discover references to the MTV awards. Thank goodness I knew that MTV stood for “Maryland Transit Vehicles”, or maybe it is “Marcia’s Terrific Vulgarity”. You see, I do not watch T.V. for anything more than 30 minutes each week. That’s simply to tune into SNN (Sarasota News Network) to check whether or not my neighborhood has been taken over by Repuglicans. So what do I do in my spare time? Of some things I will not speak, lest you blush. But I read. I read books of history and biography. At present I am immersed in the 900 or so page “Dreadnought” by Robert K Massie (Random House 1991). Massie’s book is a “tour de force” of the events in Germany and Great Britain, which led to “The Great War”. (Here I wil...

Old, but good. Not sacrilegious but funny! If the disciples had been gay.' 1. The sermon on the mount would be a musical 2. Jesus would never wear white after Labor Day 3. Catholic Priests would get married … wait a minute..…never mind… forget that thought 4. The Gospels would be Matthew, March, Luke and Bruce 5. Mary’s hair would be flawless 6. The Temple would not have been cleansed of money-changers, just redecorated 7. The water at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee would have turned into dry martinis, with a splash of Curacao for colour 8. The triumphal entry would have included a drag number 9. The beatitudes would each begin “fabulous are they….” 10. The Eucharist would be a brunch

I stole this ta(i)le from Two Aunties" via "The Mad Priest" for those of us who's best friend is and was the four footed kind! A man and his dog were walking along a road. The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead. He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years. He wondered where the road was leading them. After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall, along one side of the road, it looked like fine marble. At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight. When he was standing before it he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the street that led to the gate looked like pure gold. He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side. When he was close enough, he called out, 'Excuse me, where are we?' 'This is Heaven, sir,' the man answered. 'Wow! Would ...