Povey Prattle

Right temple, near hairline

My brother Martyn, his son Sam, and Sam's pal Toby were here for two weeks in September. Here is the nice thank you note I received from Sam and Toby.

I was at http://www.imgacademies.com/ today in the dining room as a guest of my good friends Kay and Barbara. Our mutual friend Bob joined us for lunch. The food was good.  Better still were the local water fowl – some utterly gorgeous roseate spoonbills, an anhinga, and an osprey who was enjoying his/her fish lunch on a barren tree. (And there was a big fat turtle). Here are the pics. Roseate Spoonbills 1 Roseate Spoonbills  2 Roseate Spoonbills 3 Roseate Spoonbills  4 Big Fat Turtle Anhinga Osprey (1)  with fish under her/his claw Osprey (2) Osprey (3) eating her/his fish prey

Fundamentalist Christian, Jewish and Muslim expressions of faith have much in common with regard to their attitudes and beliefs about women. They are dangerous peas in a pod. Here is a story from my experience. He used to be a guest at the homeless shelter where I am a chaplain. He is now working full time so we do not see him at the shelter.  He "loves Jesus" and all that crap.  I bumped into him downtown the other week as I left the library. He asked if I officiated at weddings. I replied in the affirmative. He said that he and his “old lady” (I hate that term) wanted to get married. I agreed to talk to the couple. When I talked by ‘phone to the intended bride she expressed a wee bit of surprise that he had begun to make wedding plans without first talking with her. In subsequent conversations with her she revealed that he often got very angry, and that scared her.  She also told me that he had once hit her. Of course I said that...

In these United States there is an un-holy alliance between the “Tea  Party”  (the tail which is wagging the Republican Dog), and the Fundamentalist/Evangelical Churches. That alliance seeks to put women in their place –  a place of submission under men. The Tea Party/Fundamentalist alliance would say that women should have no “say” in their reproductive choices; that they should not exercise leadership in politics or religion; and that they should submit to male leadership –  at whatever the cost. Sadly enough even some men who claim to be religiously or politically “liberal” are tyrants in their own homes or churches. I know some of them. The idea of male supremacy has a wee bit of backing in the christian scriptures: see “Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord ” (Colossians 3:18). But many Tea Party/Republican/ Evangelical leaders disdain the second part of the verse viz: “as is fitting in the Lord”. In so doing they have endorsed a...

All over and done in 2 1/2 hours at a pretty fancy surgical office on south trail in SRQ  (opposite the Honda dealership). "They" said that "we got it all".   I bled quite a bit cos the squamous cell carcinoma had placed itself on top of an artery. Pressure bandage for 48 hours, then simple bandages (plasters in UK) until the stitches come out  next week. Thanks for love and prayers.

My Moh's surgery has been brought forward from October 18th to October 9th.  Yippee

Our local newspaper had a story today about the sale of a property in the nearby Glen Oaks Manor. The story included a picture of Lloyd Paine, the owner, with his dog "Basil". Basil and his owner Lloyd. As it happens,  my dog Penne  is crazy about Basil. She gets so excited every  time she sees him. This picture is a wee bit grainy because I scanned it in from the newspaper,