Povey Prattle

REALITY At about 4:00 this afternoon I was in my kitchen doing some ironing. (Yes, I iron shirts, dress-shorts and pants [trousers] which come out of the dryer avec some wrinkles.) The kitchen window was open, and balmy (72 f) air was wafting in. It was a delicious moment. That delicious moment led me into fantasy. FANTASY Now I am in the U.K. It is 4:00 p.m. on a balmy June day. I am in a suburban or rural house. We are seated at an oval table. It looks out through opened French doors to a terrace or patio, and then to a typical English garden. The garden has a daisy be-clad lawn, a few small trees, and an abundance of roses. It is the scent of roses which wafts into the room. The table is clad in a linen cloth. On it there are bone china cups and saucers, plates and tea-pot. There is a sweet little milk jug, and a sugar basin with cubed sugar and delicate silver tongs. There is a tea-pot dressed in a cozy. We are eating delicate sandwiches – “Hovis” bread ...

“The most difficult part of attaining perfection is finding something to do for an encore.” “If you’re being run out of town, get in front of the crowd and make it look like a parade.” – Authors Unknown “What is a committee? A group of the unwilling, picked from the unfit, to do the unnecessary.” – Richard Harkness

At about 2:00 a.m. last Tuesday (16th March 2010) I awoke with the music called “Peter and the Wolf” running through my mind. I had not heard this piece in “oh so many years”, yet I could clearly hear the opening theme. In my semi-somnolent state I thought that it was written by Tchaikovsky. That memory took me back some 60 years to when Miss Lucy Fenlon, headmistress of Greenbank Infants School had us sit on the wooden floor of the school hall to listen to “Peter and the Wolf”. I was probably aged 6, and this was one of my early encounters with classical music. Next, in these wee hours on Tuesday I remembered the silly and lovely bit of music called “Tubby the Tuba” see http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7832527543874914097# That is another bit of music from my childhood which I had not thought about in years. The video above is from the original 1947 version which I had never seen before, (ain’t ‘YouTube’ wonderful!). Why, oh why should I remember these piec...

Owning a home means that there is “always something which needs doing”, and that “there is never enough money to do it!” In my case I try to make at least one improvement or renovation each year. Last year I was able to have tiles laid down on my screened-in porch (It measures 29’ x 13’). The tiles replaced a ratty old pink coloured carpet which I had disliked from the day I bought this home. This year our Condominium Association used one of our designated “Reserve Funds” to have the outside (stucco) walls re-painted for each of our 197 single storey units. My unit was duly painted. This gave me an incentive to undertake some external improvements. Two were simple – the replacement of a rusty mail box; and the installation of new outside lights (to replace the decrepit 35 year “original” lights). The other two were less simple. First, to pave the little patio area: this adjoins my car port. When I bought the condominium this was little more than a dirt patch in which ...

The photo' above is of British T.V. newscaster Jon Snow as he is about to mount his motorbike. I saved it from today's (March 16th 2010) "Guardian" newspaper. Snow had just attended the funeral of veteran Labour Party M.P. Michael Foot. ( Michael Foot, a semi-hero of mine, was one of the vanishing breed of true lefties in the U.K. and in the U.K. Parliament. He died in his nineties). Michael Foot was not silly, nor are funerals. But the Guardian's "tag" underneath this photo' made me grin. This is exactly how it read: "Newsreader Jon Snow leaves after the funeral on his motorbike" leading me to wonder how one could have a funeral on a motorbike!     It should of course have read : " After the funeral ,  newsreader Jon Snow left on his motorbike"

“In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans ”.  Thus wrote John Wesley about his experience on 24 th May 1738 when he attended a meeting of a Moravian Society in London, a meeting at which his “heart was strangely warmed” to know that Christ had died for him. This morning, I went somewhat unwillingly to an Episcopal Parish Church (which shall be nameless) here in Sarasota .   My “unwillingness” was not because of the event (a funeral), but because this particular parish Church is entirely unfriendly towards God’s gay and lesbian children, and because this parish church will not allow the ministry of my sister priests. I’ve been known to say that I would never lighten the doors of this place because of its opposition to women priests. (I like to think that I do not darken the doors of any place, but that I lighten them!!) But I was there for a funeral.  I did not ...

This morning's leaflet at St. Boniface on Siesta Key identified both the organ prelude and the postlude as being a "fuge" by J.S.Bach. An "u" was missing. The Revd. Andi (Andrea) Taylor preached a crackerjack sermon on "Being found by God". U or I were not missed in this good preaching. ------------------------------------------------------------- I truly like my cats, but I find it hard to be patient when Adelaide is in one of her whiny moods as she has been today. --------------------------------------------------------- Similarly, I find it hard to be patient when Penne has to stop every 20 yards on our walks to sniff and pee. How do canines manage to save up so much urine? ---------------------------------------- Nonetheless I do get a "charge" when Penne, Adelaide and Ada take over my bed, as they did this morning soon after I got up. I sometimes make meals not only for their nutritional value, but also for their co...