Povey Prattle

Afternoons are for reading in my home.  I immerse myself in books from the Sarasota Library. They are chiefly biographies and histories. One day last week I found myself to be bookless.  I had downloaded two books to my Tablet, (A new biography of President James Madison, and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s masterful book about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt).  But I wanted to save these for my (now postponed) trip to Australia. Not wanting to drive downtown to our Selby Library I stopped into a local second-hand bookstore which deals mostly in paper backs. There I picked up a book by Joyce Carol Oates.  I’d known her name, but had never read any of her works.  She is a great author, and I now “feel” that everyone else knew about her, but never told me. The book I bought is “We Were The Mulvaneys”, published in 1996 by Plume Books. It is set in the (fictional?) town of Mt. Ephraim, New York.  (There is a Mount Ephraim in New Jersey). The novel is about the Mu...

Most days when I walk out early in the morning  I encounter C.   She is a tall, lean, and very good looking woman, about my age. She walks purposefully, and with great energy, She is from the greater Boston area, so we often, in passing,  rejoice or lament the fate of the Boston Red Sox. Yesterday she chose to walk with me for a couple of circuits around a local pond.  She started a conversation with "You, being a Minister, I thought I could ask you....." At these words my heart sank a little.  I knew that something trivial (about Clerics), or serious (about her life) was coming up. It was about her life.  She has been married for 53 years to a man who is a spendthrift and an alcoholic. A  man who is orally very abusive. She wanted my advice as to whether or not she should seek a legal separation. I listened fairly well.  I tried to get her to tell me what she wanted.  I refused to tell her what to do. (In...

On many mornings I wake up with a song on my mind – a song which will be on my lips as I walk out with my dog. Many of these songs are from Sunday School and Children’s Meetings at Chelsea Gospel Hall on Devon Rd in Bristol U.K.  “Chelsea” was the home of a group of “saints gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus” a.k.a. “The Plymouth Brethren”. Although the Brethren (commonly known these days as “Peebs” ) rejected each and every Christian denomination, they often used books of “Choruses”  (simple songs – often based in Scripture) which had been published by the “Children’s Special Service Mission”  - a mostly Church of England organisation. And it is the CSSM choruses which are often in my mind and on my tongue in the mornings. There is the one which reads “Sweeter as the days go by sweeter as the days go by. Jesus’ love is sweeter, richer, fuller , deeper. sweeter as the days go by”. All well and good, except that as a five or six year old I did not hear “riche...

1.   It’s cooled down a bit here in South West Florida .  (at 7:40 p.m. its 70f/21c -  that’s cool here).  Penne and I have been able to resume our longer walks.  We did over five miles today. 2 .   Ginny C is an older woman (in her 90’s) who lives down the street.   I  do no more than to take her newspaper from her driveway each morning and place it on a chair outside her front-door; and to take her trash and recycling bins back to her car port after the weekly collections. She is so grateful for this that you’d think that I’d accomplished some enormous and onerous task. Ginny is so frail that you’d believe that a puff of wind would ground her. Her legal Guardian stopped by today to let me know that Ginny had been moved to a Nursing  – by Court Order -  (for her own well being) since she is unable to fend for herself.   This was a move that Ginny dreaded. On one hand I am glad that the law can be invoked to give prot...

Continued from yesterday.... I’ve been feeling just a wee bit sad today thinking that I should by now been on the ground in Australia.  But life goes on. As you saw,  I opted yesterday to postpone my reservation with Qantas.  They had a proviso that I would have to make up the difference should prices be higher.  They are! We are just entering into Australian Spring and Summer, and between now and next May fares are about 25% higher than I had paid.   The next time they come down to my price range is in late May/early June 2012. So I have asked for a refund.  I’d rather have the money in my bank account than in Qantas’ coffers! I will think about taking the trip next year.  As it happens, my friends Andrew and Felicity from Melbourne will be on sabbatical at Yale University, New Haven, CT next year Jan – May.  So I’ll get to see them here in the U.S.A.

If all had gone as planned I’d have been leaving my home in Sarasota about now (4:00 p.m. Monday 31 st October) and heading over to Tampa International Airport. From there I was to have flown to Sydney, Australia via Dallas/Fort Worth.  Unfortunately I had chosen to fly on Qantas  -  which airline was shut down by management for a few days.  So I’ve had to postpone -  to a date yet to be determined. Qantas will honour my ticket at any time until mid-June 2012.  I had to cancel a railway round-trip (Sydney-Melbourne-Sydney), and a day trip out of Melbourne along the Great Cost Road. Having Skype makes long distance calls inexpensive -  which is just as well as I was on the ‘phone to Australian numbers for just about three hours yesterday morning. I am happy to report the staff of Countrylink (Railway) and Great West Tours (day trip) were a delight to speak with.  They were understanding and incredibly efficient in cancelling my bookings and re...