Povey Prattle

He was ahead of me in a line (queue) at my local gas station and convenience store. I suspect that he was 28 – 30 years old. The body language of the clerk (cashier) indicated that he had little patience for this man who was ahead of me.   It appeared that this particular customer was purchasing a money order, and that the clerk (cashier) was either bored with, or disdainful of the transaction. The clerk (cashier) disappeared into the nether regions of the store, in order to make photocopies of the customer’s driving licence and social security card. In the interim, I greeted this man who was ahead of me in the line. I wanted him to know that though the clerk (cashier) seemed to be unkind, I was in no great hurry. He responded by saying “Now I have only $20 which will have to last me for the next two weeks”. Then, at my prompting, he told me that he had a girl-friend, and that they  had two children, aged 4 and 6. At this point my irrationality overcame my prudence. ...

I recall a cartoon which I saw many years ago.   It depicted a rear view drawing of “Adam and Eve” as they were leaving the Garden of Eden.   One is saying to the other, “It seems that we are entering a time of transition”. The myth of Adam and Eve aside, we humans have ever had to face transition.    Change is one of the “built in” factors for the universes, and for our own little planet, with its mountains, oceans, plants, birds, insects, fish and animals etc., etc., etc.   In the best of evolutionary terms this change is called adaptation. We human animals have ambivalence about change. It summons our best and worst reactions: e.g. 1.     We laud and welcome it when we believe ourselves to be the authors of change. 2.   We resent and resist change when we realise that it is being imposed on us by the oligarchs of politics, and of big business. 3. We scarcely understand the changes which “nature/evolution” determine. 4.   We ...

Stuff to view on your down days. http://allthingseurope.tumblr.com/countries http://50statesofamerica.tumblr.com/

I have nothing to say about anything tonight. But don't hold your breath. I am sure to rant again in a day or two!

SIMPLE THINGS A sweet and juicy “Bosc” pear, smeared with a bit of chunky peanut butter for breakfast. At lunch, a bowl of my home-made cabbage soup.  (Let me know if you’d like a copy of the recipe). In the afternoon – ten pin bowling – (which I’d not done in a year) . In my second game I achieved a “turkey” for the first time in my life.   (A “turkey” in American bowling parlance is three strikes in a row).  I ended this game with a score of 173.   But I will not brag! Some stir fry for dinner: – onions - mushrooms - carrots and parsnips (par-boiled in advance), with a bit of leftover chicken - seasoned with some low sodium" soy sauce. All this, plus the joy and company of my cats, and of my dog.

My grumpy blog entry of yesterday partly reflected what I did in the afternoon after Church. I hoved over to the New American Theater in St. Petersburg FL, and attended their final performance of “Songs for a New World”. “Songs for a New World” has lyrics and music by Jason Robert Brown. It was originally produced by the WPA Theatre in New York City back in 1995.   It is an all musical production which contains some 19 songs, each with the theme of a “New World” – understood both literally as the “New World” of the Americas, and symbolically as the “New Worlds” which we each face from day to day. It’s a show about our hopes, dreams and ambitions.   It’s also a show about our frustrations, limitations and disappointments. The music has its roots in gospel, jazz, and spirituals. The lyrics speak very deeply to the human condition of hope and despair. I found myself to be strangely moved – with joy and tears – as I allowed the production to enter my soul.   It all was ...

Easter is late this year, so many snow birds in the St. Boniface Choir have already gone north. With that in mind I signed up to rehearse and sing for today, for Palm Sunday (17 th April 2011), and for Easter Day (24 th April 2011). Self interest serves me well.  I am back in the choir again because I love to sing, and because on Easter Day we will sing a very lively setting of the Mass by Mozart.  It is called, in English, the “Sparrow Mass”. But before Easter comes the fifth Sunday in Lent (today), and Palm Sunday (next week).    So this morning I found myself singing the dreariest Lenten music:-  by the Italian composer Pergolesi, and by the English composer Thomas Tallis.  It’s the kind of music in which even singers want to go to sleep. I have come to the conclusion that “Lent” is a bogus season.  It’s supposed to be about fasting, self denial, and renewed works of charity and mercy.  Few of us buy into that, but we make up for our spi...